Ancient city of Pompeii

Pompeii is a city frozen in time. It was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79. The eruption had already been going on for two days when a sudden change in the wind caused a giant cloud of burning ash to fall on the city, and it happened completely unexpectedly – most of the inhabitants were caught off guard. Aristocrats and slaves were dying side by side.

. Contents

General Information

Pompeii is a real ancient city, many wealthy Romans had country villas here. Walking through the streets, you see shops, villas, a theater, a gladiator school, forums and markets. Everything here is real. In the Garden of the Rescued, you can even see “people”: there are 17 plaster casts made in the shape of “air pockets” found during the excavations. We see here a woman stretching her arms forward as if she is trying to push away an inevitable fate, people with their mouths open in a mute cry, unsuccessfully trying to protect their children; there are even a couple of lovers.

It’s interesting to get to know the Vettius house, where the two merchant brothers lived. Even the flowers in the garden left clear prints in the ashes, as did the water droplets from the cooling system in the atrium. In some rooms, amazing, virtually intact frescoes were found.

.

The frescoes are one of the best testimonies of the inhabitants’ daily activities and festivities. Even in the brothel, above each doorway is a mural illustrating the activities of the visitors.

.

To this day, the excavations of Pompeii provide the most majestic example of the ancient Roman city and its daily culture – an inexhaustible source for research by archaeologists, historians of the ancient world, and classical philologists. In 1997, Pompeii was inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List, but this does not protect the city from further destruction. Decades-long neglect of antiquity, vandalism of monuments and excessive flow of tourists (it is the most visited ancient attraction in Italy, 2 million tourists flock here every year) have all combined to leave the excavations in a catastrophic state. Of the sixty-five dwellings and public buildings still visible in 1956, only fifteen are accessible today: the rest are simply dangerous because of possible collapse, abandoned and neglected. Therefore, many scientists and representatives of the tourist industry have created a kind of cultural institute – “Phoenix Pompeji”, which through various actions and collection of donations is trying to preserve both cities under Vesuvius: Pompeii and Herculaneum.

.

The modern city of Pompeii adjoins the excavation area on the eastern side. The temple Santuario della Madonna del Rosario, clearly visible from afar thanks to its five-story bell tower, was built in the late 19th century. – after the apparition of the Virgin Mary in this area. Especially many pilgrims come on May 8 and on the first Sunday of October.

.

Vesuvius eruption

We find a description of the horrifying events of 79 AD in the letters of the Roman writer Pliny the Younger to Tacitus: he observed what was happening from a neighboring village:

“It was already the first hour of the day: the day stood gloomy, as if exhausted. The buildings around were shaking, we were in the open but in the dark, and it was very frightening that they would collapse. Then at last we ventured out of the city; we were followed by the shocked crowd, which prefers another’s decision to its own; in terror it seems to her a semblance of prudence. A great number of people crowded us and pushed us forward. Coming out of the town, we halted. The wagons which we had ordered to be sent forward were tossed from side to side on perfectly level ground, though they were propped up by stones. We saw the sea drawing in upon itself; the land, shaking, as if to push it away from us. The shore was undoubtedly pushing forward; many sea-animals were stranded on the dry sand. On the other side a fiery zigzags of fire flashed and ran over and over in a black, terrible thunder-cloud, and it split with long streaks of flame, like lightning, but large. A little later this cloud began to descend to the earth, covered the sea, girdled the Caprei and hid them, and took the Cape of Mizena out of sight. The ashes began to fall, still sparse; I looked back and saw a thick darkness coming over us, which, like a flood, followed us over the land. It was dark, but not the darkness of a moonless night, as it is in a closed room when a fire is extinguished. Women’s cries, children’s squeaks and men’s shouts were heard…. Many raised their hands to the gods, but most affirmed that the gods were no more and that the last eternal night had come for the world…”

“History

Pompeii is believed to have been founded in the 7th century BC by the ancient Italic people of the Osca. In the 5th century, the city was conquered by the Etruscans, and in the late 5th century by the Samnites, who were forced out by the Romans in the 3rd century. The favorable location – now because of sand deposits the sea is removed by 2 km – and fertile land at the foot of Vesuvius contributed to the rapid transformation of Pompeii into a prosperous trading and port city, where lived about 20 thousand people, half of whom were slaves. The first natural disaster occurred in 62 AD, at which time Pompeii was first destroyed by a strong earthquake. The restoration of the city was still in full swing when on August 24, 79 AD there was a new powerful eruption of Vesuvius, which buried Pompeii under a six-meter layer of ash and lava. Approximately 2,000 people died, but most of the inhabitants managed to flee, taking only their most precious possessions. The city was devastated, but even then the survivors managed to find many valuable objects under the still loose blanket of ash. For almost 1700 years Pompeii was as if mothballed. Excavations began in the 18th century. – and today it’s about two-thirds complete. Many buildings lie in ruins, and the most interesting finds are on display in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. With the beginning of the “new excavations” in 1911, archaeologists left the interior furnishings and household items in situ whenever possible. Despite many limitations, nowhere, perhaps, does ancient culture and its housing traditions, represented in rich and not-so-rich houses, as well as the market square and streets, theaters and temples, appear to visitors so directly and visually. In his “Notebook” (1787) Goethe wrote about the “mummified city” as follows: many terrible events have happened in the world, but very few can give posterity so much joy.

.

Antique City

The center of ancient Pompeii was the Forum, where, as everywhere in Roman cities, were located the most important buildings, and next to them – inns, taverns and kitchens, thermae, places of excommunication, up to thirty lupanarii – brothels, as well as numerous shops and craft shops: bakeries, dyes, clothiers and weavers. The roads were paved with pieces of petrified lava, with stone bridges for pedestrians to cross to the other side of the street, and deep furrows in the sidewalk testify to the lively movement of carts and chariots. The intersections were decorated with fountains, and the facades of many houses were decorated with frescoes.

.

A typical Roman town house was rectangular in plan. The outer walls had almost no windows: the rooms facing the street were most often used as shops or workshops. The entrance door led into a short gallery and immediately into an atrium with a basin for collecting rainwater. Around the atrium were sleeping and living quarters, and opposite the entrance were the tablinium – the living room and study. Inside the house, as a rule, there was a garden framed by a covered colonnade – peristyle. Sometimes another garden adjoined it. In the peristyle was a triclinium – dining room, and the kitchen and cellar were located in each house in its own way. Many dwellings had an upper floor with balconies. The preserved fragments of stucco decorations, fanciful wall paintings and mosaic floors speak of the taste and wealth of the former tenants.

.

Painting in Poimea

Although the heyday of Pompeii lasted only 160 years, it is customary to distinguish four styles in the art of urban mural painting. The first style, which remained relevant until about 80 BC, is characterized by the absence of figures. The walls are decorated with paintings imitating marble inlay, as can be seen, for example, in the Casa di Sallustio house.

.

The second style (until about 10 AD) is characterized by images with perspective; the most famous example is the Villa of the Mysteries. The third style, which took shape in the next 40 years, is characterized by landscapes and depictions of mythological subjects – instead of perspective painting, such as in the Casa di Lucretio Fronto. Finally, the times of the city’s decline are characterized by the fourth style: the walls are covered with paintings in the spirit of Mannerism, the spatial-perspective image returns; the frescoes are inhabited by mythical creatures and decorated with ornamentation – the most beautiful wall painting can be seen in the Casa di Loreius Tiburtinus.

.

Excavations at Pompeii

The city, which covers an area of more than 60 hectares and is equal to the area of a hundred modern soccer fields, is only allowed to be explored in some of its areas.

>

Antiquarium

Beyond the city gate on the right is the Antiquarium, which houses archaeological finds from pre-Samnite to Roman times. Especially impressive are the plaster casts of people and animals that perished in the eruption of Vesuvius. Their bodies were preserved in the cavities of the lava layer and were removed in the late 19th century when the cavities were filled with gypsum. The Via Marina leads from the Antiquarium to the Forum. Where the street turns into a square, on the right stands Pompeii’s largest building, the 2nd century BC Basilica, which served as a stock exchange, court or public meeting place.

.

Forum

The long Forum was formerly paved with marble slabs and surrounded on three sides by two-story colonnades. Here was the main sanctuary of the city – framed forty-eight Ionic columns temple of Apollo; a second temple dedicated to Jupiter – on the north side. It was just being restored at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius. Nearby were surrounded by market stalls or market stalls market pavilion, the temple of Emperor Vespasian and the building eumachia – presumably the shop of cloth merchants. On the south side of the Forum among the three columns was the city council.

Stabian Thermae

Following the Via dell’Abbondanza, the main shopping street of ancient Pompeii, Decumanus Maior, one comes to the Stabial Thermae, the largest and best preserved Roman baths. First, the visitor enters the columned palestra, a room where young men were physically educated. To the left is a swimming pool with a room for changing clothes, to the right is the men’s bath, to which the women’s bath adjoined, they are separated by heating rooms. The baths were heated by a special system of pipes (hypocaust) placed under the floor. These pipes carried hot air from the furnace – the system can be studied quite well. The men’s bathhouse had a round bathing room with cold water; there was a dressing room with niches where clothes could be folded and a passageway, poorly heated room, as well as a steam room adjoining the men’s and women’s halves. In the alley to the left of the thermae is a lupanarium, the rooms of which are painted with frescoes of erotic content.

.

Triangular Forum

Via dei Teatri ends in the theater quarter, located in the Triangular Forum. Nearby are the ruins of a 6th century BC Greek temple; the barracks opposite was where gladiators lived and trained. The Great Theater (Teatro Grande, 200-150 BC) had a capacity of 5000 spectators. The nearby Small Theater, the Odeon, is better preserved; it is the oldest example of a 1,000-seat indoor Roman theater. Around 75 B.C., it was used mainly for musical performances, but also for reciters and announcers. A little to the north on the left is the small temple of Jupiter Meilichia, followed by the temple of Isis, built in 62 AD, whose magical wall paintings can be seen in the National Museum of Naples. A certain Henri Baille, the famous French writer known as Stendhal, also immortalized his name on the wall of the temple in 1817. Via Stabiana leads out to the House of Cepharedes, one of the largest in Pompeii, and attached to the house were also a clothier, a bakery and a tavern.

.

New excavations

Ha Via dell’Abbondanza, about 100 meters on the right side, begins the so-called New Excavations (Nuovi Scavi), which means: wall paintings and household furnishings are left where they were found; in this way many upper floors with balconies and loggias were preserved. The many inscriptions found allowed the compilation of the so-called “Address Book” with five hundred and fifty names. Quarter, which settled mainly traders, belongs to the last period of Pompeii.

.

Artistic delights await visitors in front of the Casa di Lucius Ceius Secundus, where the stucco on the facade of the house imitates hewn stone masonry; the house of Fullonica Stefani was clearly more beautiful; in the Casa del Criptoportico there is a passage laid in the underground floor, protected from the weather.

.

Well-preserved and decorated with wall paintings and mosaics, the House of Menander belonged to a wealthy merchant, and owes its name to the depiction of the Greek comedy writer Menander in the niche of the magnificent peristyle. Next on the left but Via dell’Ab-bondanza is the house of the Termopolio di Asellina, it was a tavern where drinks and food were served. Pots and vessels were inserted into the counter facing the street. The façade with many inscriptions refers to the house of Trebius Valens; the house of Loreius Tiburtinus, one of the largest private houses of Pompeii, standing next to the right, had a magnificent garden.

Further south and east of the Via dell’Abbondanza are the newest excavations; particularly interesting are the Gardener’s House, the Venus House with its magnificent depiction of Venus, and the Julia Felice House, which is a city villa later converted into a revenue house.

.

Next to the house of Loreius Tiburtinus is the city’s sports square, called Palestra, it is surrounded on three sides by porticoes with columns, with a swimming pool in the center. Adjoining the square is an amphitheater for 20 thousand spectators, which began to build around 80 BC. This is one of the oldest Roman amphitheaters, in it, unlike later, there are no underground structures. Nearby is the city wall with the Porta di Nocera gate, behind which, as in all ancient cities, along the street leading out of the city, there were necropolises and tomb structures.

.

In the northern part of the excavation, other famous houses can be seen, among them Casa del Centenario, with many picturesque images of animals and landscapes, and Casa di Lucretius Frontone, where the image of Eros is repeated many times in the medallions decorating the walls. The Casa delle Nozze d’Argento (or House of the Silver Wedding) has a beautiful atrium and peristyle; in the garden of the House of the Gilded Cupids a marble decoration has been preserved.

.

House of Vettius

One of the most famous houses is the House of Vetteneuve; it dates from the last decades of Pompeii. The owners of the house, decorated with many wall paintings, were brothers – wealthy Vettius merchants. At the entrance on the right is a fresco depicting the fertility god Priapus with a huge phallus; frescoes in the triclinium – to the right of the peristyle – represent mythological scenes. The courtyard surrounded by columns with statues and pools is beautifully planted; the room on the narrow side of the house is decorated with a black frieze with figures of cupids imitating the occupations of men. Ancient cooking utensils are preserved in the kitchen. The neighboring house of the Labyrinth dates back to Samnite times.

.

House of Faun

Across the street is the House of Faunus, which occupies an entire nnsula. Its entrance is from the Via di Nola. Next to the impluvium, a pool in the atria, is a copy of the statue of the dancing Faunus found here (hence the name of the house). In the room with the red columns was found the famous mosaic depicting the battle of Alexander the Great – both masterpieces can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Located a stone’s throw away, the Thermae of the Forum is slightly smaller and more modest than the Stabieva Thermae, but similarly occupies an entire insula.

.

House of the Tragic Poet

The luxuriously appointed House of the Tragic Poet has become famous for the floor mosaic at the entrance: it depicts a dog on a chain and reads “Cave Sftui” (Latin for “beware of the dog”). It borders the house Casa di Pansa (of the Vibius family) from the Hellenistic era, later converted into an apartment building. North of the House of the Tragic Poet is the Fullonica (clothier’s house): next to the left are the House of the Great Fountain and the House of the Small Fountain – both have really beautiful fountains.

.

House of Sallustius

From the House of the Small Fountain along the Vicolo di Mercurio you can walk to the House of Sallustius, decorated with beautiful paintings. Many medical instruments have been found in the Surgeon’s House on Via Consolare; apparently a surgeon practiced here about 2,000 years ago.

.

Street of Tombs and Villa Diomedes

Beyond the city wall and the Herculanean gate begins the cypress-lined Via dei Sepolcri, the so-called Street of Tombs. The impressive tombs here, along with the tombstones on the Roman Appian Way, are among the most impressive examples of the burials of noble or wealthy citizens along public roads. At the northwest end stands Diomedes’ villa; in the garden, embraced by a portico, is a pavilion with a pool. In the cellars of the villa were found eighteen bodies of women and children who died here. Near the now bricked up doors, formerly leading from the garden to the sea, two men were found; the supposed owner of the house with a key in his hand, and next to him a slave holding a purse of money.

Villa of the Mysterium

The most beautiful ancient frescoes have been preserved in all the freshness of the magnificent colors at the Villa of the Mysterii. In the spacious triclinium, a cycle of frescoes (17 meters long) with figures depicted almost human-sized and painted most probably between 70 and 50 B.C., based on models from the 3rd century B.C., can be clearly seen. The cycle is thought to represent the initiation of a certain lady into the mysteries of the cult of Dionysius.

.

The neighborhood of Pompeii

Among the many antique villas located 4 km from Pompeii in the neighborhood of Boscoreale, one should visit the Villa Regina, a small but well-preserved country house. Nearby, at Via Settembrini 15, stands a little-known but nevertheless very interesting museum of antiquities – Antiquarium di Boscoreale, whose expositions tell about the settlement of the Vesuvius region and the life of the inhabitants of Pompeii, as well as the history of excavations.

.

Viewpoint

Around the city walls of Pompeii there is a long (3.5 km) road, up to 8 meters high, which offers interesting views. The high bell tower (80 m) of the temple Santuario della Beata Vergine del Rosario, in what is now the city of Pompeii, also gives a good view. An elevator takes you to the observation terrace.

.

Opening times:May-Oct. 9.00-13.00,15.30-18.30;Nov.-Apr. 9.00-13.00

The last eruption of Vesuvius

On April 24, 1872, one of several violent eruptions of the Vesuvius volcano occurred: two villages were buried under fiery lava, and the last major eruption was in 1944, at which time the lava destroyed the city of San Sebastiano.

.

Arrival

Pompeii is best reached by public transportation, such as the Ferrovia Circumve-suviana Neapel-Sorrent railroad to Villa dei Misteri station. Another option is to take the Naples-Salerno train to Pompei Scavi station. By car you have to take highway A 3, exit to Pompei-Scavi.

.

Information

Via Sacra 1,80045 Pompei;Tel: 08 18 50 72 55;www.pompei.itwww.pompeiisites.org

.