POMPEII – devastation and discovery

Tuesday – the alarm wakes us at 5.30am – yes you heard correctly because today is our full day excursion to Pompeii and we must get moving early as we need to get a cab to Rome Termini where we get a train to Naples then change to a private rail line for another train to Pompeii.

We are taking along our mate Rick Steves so that he can inform us on what we are seeing once we get to Pompeii  His audio tour has been listened to quite a few times so it will be great to actually see what I have been hearing about all these many months. Much of the information below will be from Rick.

This is going to be a really big informative, historical day so this post will be split into three.  That way, hopefully, I can show you everything we saw.

The day is fine, a bit windy but at least it doesn’t look as if we will get any rain. It is an interesting trip to say the least and we arrive at Naples station.  I must admit it is a rather grotty looking place and it is the only time I felt uncomfortable in the surroundings and really watched my bag every minute I was there.  We have to purchase our tickets for the next leg of our journey, only about $4 round trip so that’s good.

We find our platform and next thing you know we are on the train and heading to our destination.  It is only a short trip, about 30 minutes and we arrive all in one piece with our belongings.  A short walk takes us past a few vendors selling drinks and snacks and telling us that there is nowhere inside the Pompeii ruins that we can purchase refreshments.  Little did they know that we had done our homework on the internet.

Lining up with the tourist groups, there are many local characters asking if anyone needs guides for the area – we gracefully decline because we have Rick.  Admission is 11 euro per person for which we expected a map free of charge, but when we ask about the map we are directed to the tourist information shop that wants to charge us 2 euro – no thanks.

Past the ticket taker and we are on our way.  The Porta Marina entrance is the main entrance and the photo to the left is the pathway leading up to the main section.  From where we are here at the bottom of the path is where the water line was hundreds of years ago and where the ships used to dock before Vesuvius blew her top.  A long climb to the top but we take our time and stop every now and again to look at the scenery.

It is on one of those stops that I get my first glimpse of Mt Vesuvius.  Yes, it is a long way off in the background but it is still exciting plus it gives one a sort of perspective on how far away Pompeii was and it was still destroyed.

HISTORY LESSON : Pompeii was partially destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 metres of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Pompeii was lost for nearly 1700 years before its rediscovery in 1748.

Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during Roman times.  For a more complete run down of history click here.

At the top of the pathway is the original town gate.  The gate has two openings – both gates were open during the day to allow major traffic through but at night the larger gate was closed for extra security.

Once through the gate the city sprawls out in front of our eyes and we just look and take stock of the situation not like some of the tourists that are rushing hither and yon.  The three of us spread out and with Rick warbling in my ears I am on my way to discover another magic place.

Rick’s first point for me to notice is the basalt stones on the footpaths. These are of original roman construction and they hide the plumbing underneath.  The footpaths were made of all sorts of materials including broken pots and chips of white marble or ‘cat’s eyes’ that would light up’ at night when the moon was shining or when people walked around with lamps.

The roadways are narrow and at certain points there are raised stones which were and still are used as crosswalks.  Every day the city would flood the streets to keep them clean and free from disease and pedestrians could cross without getting their sandals wet.

The stones also had traffic meanings.  One raised stone meant that it was a one-way street, two stones meant a two way lane and three raised stones denoted a major thoroughfare.

The chariots would straddle the stones quite easily as they all had standard axle sizes.

Before going into anything else we take stock of the situation and get some great views of the surrounding district.  People continue to live in this area – hopefully the eruption alarms will be working if they are ever needed.

Across the road from these views is the Casa di Trittolemo.  Pompeii was a city where rich lived side by side with the ‘ordinary’ citizens.  There was no certain area put aside for affluent citizens and there were no ghettos.  Everyone lived side by side without any trouble whatsoever.

Next stop is The Basilica.  Constructed in pre-Roman times 120BC, it was the most important and busiest building in Pompeii and served the administration of justice and for meetings of the business men to discuss their affairs.

The big central hall was flanked by rows of columns that marked the narrower side aisles halls.  All that remain are the column stumps all about the same height.  They were part of a rebuilding project after being destroyed by an earthquake seventeen years earlier and were left like this when Vesuvius erupted.

Bricks were stacked around a cylindrical core and once the columns were finished they would have been coated by a stucco of marble dust designed to look like the genuine article.  Cost cutting measures even in those times!

The side walls, however, did have real marble panels, pieces of which we can see today.

Unfortunately Pompeii suffered at the hands of early invaders, Spanish plunderers,  souvenir hunters, World War II bombs and another earthquake in 1980 but the original eruption in 79AD helped preserve the city.

Leaving the Basilica, back onto the main street – via Abondanza – cross the square and we are at the Temple of Apollo.

From this view and to the left of the Forum is the Temple of Apollo.  Facing the north side of the town it is the town’s most important religious building and has very ancient origins.

The cult of Apollo, imported from Greece, was very widespread and was known in Pompeii since the 6th century BC.

The sanctuary gained its present appearance in a 2nd century BC rebuild and another reconstruction to repair the damage from the 62 earthquake.

Repairs were incomplete at the time of the eruption.  The temple, in the center of a sacred enclosure, was surrounded on all four sides by a wide series of columns painted in yellow, red and dark blue.

The bronze shown here is a replica, the original being in the Naples Archeological Museum with just about everything else in Pompeii.  To the Greeks and Romans, Apollo was the god of prophecy, music, and healing.

There is also a copy of a bronze statue of Apollo’s twin sister Diana (Artemis to the Greeks), goddess of the hunt. Only the upper part of the original statue survives. It was discovered in the Temple of Apollo at Pompeii in March 1817, just months before the Apollo was found.

Diana’s pose, with her arms outstretched to hold a bow and arrow, matches that of the statue of her brother; the two sculptures were likely created as a pair.

Unlike the statue of Apollo, this figure preserves its original eyes, which are made of bone for the whites and glass paste for the irises and pupils.

Exiting the Temple of Apollo, we are in the Main Square or The Forum.  Rick tells me that this is the most ruined part of the complex.  From here if you look north you can see Mt Vesuvius – 5 miles away.  Mentally draw lines angled upward on each side until they meet to get the volcano’s true height.

On August 24th 79AD Vesuvius erupted sending a cloud of ash, cinders, rocks and dust twelve miles into the air. This photo with the cloud looks a bit of a flashback doesn’t it?  The city had heard rumblings for days and the people were astounded when the eruption happened because they had no idea they were living under a volcano as it had not erupted for 1200 years.  Definitely a rude awakening for all.

For 18 hours Vesuvius erupted, then as the winds blew the cloud towards Pompeii – the debris fell like hailstones or rain or powder. As it landed it collapsed the roofs and wooden floors but left the walls standing and eventually the debris completely buried the city. Many of the 20,000 inhabitants escaped but 2,000 were entombed forever but more about them later.

The city remained buried until it was rediscovered in the 1600’s – excavation began in 1748 and they discovered that the town had remain unchanged since the day of the eruption all those years ago.

As in all ancient Roman cities, Pompeii’s Forum was the heart of the community.  This was where the townspeople came to conduct their administrative and legal business; to take part in solemn religious ceremonies in honour of the gods who watched over the town; to elect magistrates every year to represent the community; to find out about municipal edicts and those isssued by the central government in Rome; to watch gymnastic and gladiatorial games, and to hire specialist personnel like lawyers, and doctors.

All kinds of goods were traded and all sorts of market traders and idlers gathered here, this was also where masters gave their lessons and handed out their pupils punishment.

At the north end of the Forum was also a great temple dedicated to Jupiter, King of the Gods.  This stood silhouetted against the slopes of Vesuvius.

If you look hard enough at the photo on the left, you can see a little white marble head – that is Jupiter. People came here to make offerings to please the gods.

On the eastern side of the Forum, there’s a majestic and elegant building with a marble frieze above the portal.

Two inscriptions attribute this building to Eumachia, a priestess of Venus and owner of a flourishing business operating in the wool industry, which she had inherited from her husband.

Indeed this is thought to be the seat of the Corporation of wool and cloth manufacturers, although another interpretation claim that the building was dedicated by the priestess to the Gens Iulia and was used for cult worship of the Emperor Augustus through the statues of his ancestor.

The building itself dates from the Tiberian age and looks onto the Forum from a façade with two apses and four rectangular niches which housed statues. A large courtyard inside the building was surrounded by a two-storey colonnade with an apse that housed a statue of the Concordia Augusta on a podium. Behind the apse, was found the statue of Eumachia.

Where the via Abondanza meets the forum there are three stones jutting up from pavement.  These ‘beaver teeth’ stones signify pedestrians only.  This was the main Street that had many shops, bars restaurants.  It was a lively pedestrian only place for action and shopping. The citizens were served by forty bakeries; thirty brothels and one hundred and thirty bars, restaurants and hotels.

Heading down the pedestrian mall towards the Temple of Jupiter, there is a doorway on the right that leads to the Temple of Vespasian or sometimes referred to as the Sanctuary of the Genius of Augustus.  A marble altar, its four sides decorated with reliefs, stands at the centre of the courtyard.  The principal side records the ritual sacrifice of a bull.  A priest performs a ceremonial offering on a tripod aided by his assistants.  In front of the priest, the executioner carrying an axe, leads the bull to the sacrifice.

Our next stop is where the citizens came to buy their food – the Market Hall or Macellum.

There are frescoes of fish, bread and chickens etc. denoting what is on sale. As the city continued to grow, it was necessary to relieve pressure on the Forum so they built a special market area.

When the Market Hall was first discovered, because of the twelve column bases in the centre, the excavators at first believed it was a kind of temple dedicated to many gods.  However, when subsequent excavation turned up the remains of cereals and fruits in the north side of the building and fish scales and bones in the middle of the courtyard, the archeologists realized that this was a market.

There are interesting statues in niches around the outside of the market and also padlocked enclosures filled with amphora and other items unlocked from their volcanic tombs.

Speaking of which there are also on display plaster casts of victims who suffocated and were buried under the ash and debris.  Their bodies decomposed leaving hollow cavities and when the modern day excavators found these cavities they filled them with plaster giving them exact replicas.

You can see the plaster that is mixed with the ancient bones of those poor unfortunates that were lying beneath.

Yes, rather gruesome to think that I am looking at someone whose life was taken in an instant but on the other hand it is rather incredible.  What is also incredible is that there are a lot of people who come here to look at the frescoes but do not even glance at the plaster remains.

Time for a rest before proceeding to Part 2!