Today during our guided tour of the forum by Dr. Darius Arya, he spoke to another archaeologist colleague as we were looking at Trajan’s column, discussing the meaning of the carvings or perhaps the exact date of the completion of the column in relation to the Roman emperor Trajan’s death. Italian conversation complete with plenty of hand gestures ensued while we waited. Darius explained to us that they were debating specifics and that there’s always a counter opinion about Roman ruins.

“Since,” he said, “nothing is written in stone.”

Wait. What?

We’ve been looking at letters written in stone for ten days now. We’ve seen letters that were filled or cast with bronze or lead and then nailed in place that have since been removed. We’ve seen glorious examples of classic Roman letterforms ruined with spray paint, fire, earthquake and age.

We’ve also seen some examples where the carvings have been literally erased or changed to include a new title or a new leader. One example is in the Arch of Septimius Severus, where a line was changed on both sides of the column to remove one of the emperor’s son’s names when he was murdered by his brother.

The Romans left us many magnificent structures to consider, that’s true. And while opinions may vary about the actual history, it seems also true that nothing is written in stone forever.