Subject: Pompei
We arrived at the entrance to Pompei with the sun right overhead, beating down on us. It was definitely a tourist attraction, with souveniers and stuff just outside and hordes of tourists! (no kidding- this place is famous, and there is no real life going on here anymore)
We stood at the entrance for a long time, talking about this city, and what life here was like before the eruption. Which was definitely interesting, but I couldn't wait to get moving to a shadier spot- the sun was so hot, and the air so still, we all had sweat dripping down our faces and backs- yuck!
But I learned a lot standing there- about the building materials used and how and when, that there were different groups and types of houses built here, and that today you can tell the different time periods they came from. It was originally a Greek fortification, and as a result does not have a completely Roman grid layout. But it is considered of Greek/Roman city layouts. It had sewer lines, fortifications, and all sorts of stuff to care for the pedestrians- the sidewalks were raised, and had white stones along the main roads so they could be seen by moonlight. When we walked down the streets we could see their crosswalks as well- big flat rocks as stepping stones to cross the streets without stepping in all the dirt and grime.
Even at the gate where we were standing there was a clear division between pedestrian and vehicular traffic- the ped. part was raised, far off to one side, and had its own openings in the gate. And on all the streets we could get on idea of just how much traffic went through the city- all the stomes were so well worn!
Pompei was in a rich and fertile area, so many of its inhabitants were very wealthy. Consequently it had some amazing mosaics and frecoes- the best of which were brought to Naples to be protected-,
a lot of decadence and erotic art- much of which is now sold as postcards out front-in their "Pagan celebration of life."
The houses were typically closed to the outside and had open atriums in the center.
This type of housing is found in many parts of the world where there is bright harsh sunshine and a lot of people, ex: Japan, Arabic lands, and the North American Southwest. It provided for a soothing oasis away from the commotion of daily life (thought: kind of like the Room of Silence in Berlin)
So enough background info from my notes. We walked in and saw the Forum, which was in ruins, but so pristine, so still. There was grass growing in the open part in the center, and we could see so far off into the distance.
When we looked down the forum in the long direction towards the temple that was the focal point (all the rest of the buildings had blank facades, all the same height, so that this temple would stand out), Vesuvius was there in the background.
It made for a nice setting-I can imagine it would have been nice when this city was alive- but knowing its role in the city's fate, it was more like it was looming in the distance.
All the original marble pieces were standing where they would have 2000 years ago, and where pieces were missing the rest of the form was filled in with brick, so that you could see quite clearly what was original and what was replaced, but yet get a better idea of what the whole looked like.
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, what ever happened to those missing pieces? Were they badly damaged during the excavation, or was the forum in ruins to begin with? Were these structures toppled and only some of the pieces recovered? Because after seeing what else "survived" the eruption, I can't believe that a slab of marble could have disintegrated under the lava and ash-especially since the surrounding pieces are intact! (if you have any thoughts on this let me know- I'm curious!)
It really is amazing what they recovered- this city was immense! We spent the whole afternoon there, but only saw a tiny fraction of the city. At one point we saw detailed models of what was excavated about 100 years ago, and what is now uncovered- I don't remember if this was at Pompei itself or later in a museum in Naples, but that doesn't really matter- I just remember staring at the models for a while- they were at such a tiny scale, but so HUGE! And so detailed too. Whoever built them had an incredible amount of patience!
Anyway, the point of me saying this is just that I had no idea before just how massive a city Pompei was- I had always envisioned something much smaller- a few buildings with bright red frescoes, a temple or two, not much more. Those frescoes were definitely there, and just as bright as I had seen in photos, but certainly not as cheesy and artificial as they looked in some of the postcards I had bought.
The colors were actually quite warm and rich. We went in one villa that had whole rooms painted with false perspectives in these deep rich colors. They were beautiful paintings, and amazingly detailed, but with all four walls painted like that it made the room so dark. Which I didn't like so much, but I wonder if it had to do with a contrast to the harsh sunshine outside, like I was telling you about with the atrium. But the deep, almost orangey-red that was used in so many of these frescoes is famous- and still called Pompei red today!
In one of these rooms I remember Fran pointing out two things: one, that the doors were so short (I didn't really notice to begin with, but then again, I also didn't have any trouble walking through them!) which implies that we are much taller on average than people were at this time. The other was that they had closets- implying that they had enough clothing to need a place to store it, at a time when most people had one outfit that they would wear all the time, until it was completely worn out, bc clothing was so expensive! Which is another indication (besides the frescoes, the size of the house, etc) of the wealth of this family.
As we walked down the streets and in some of the houses, there were several that had wooden roofs on them. This wood obviously didn't survive the eruption, it was put there recently as a part of the restoration process. But the archaologists had found that plaster moulds could be made of these things: wooden roofs, people, etc- when they were buried, the actual bodies disintegrated, but the hollow form was left behind. So by pouring plaster into to holes in the lava before chipping it away, the archaologists could recover more of what was here. Which made it possible for them to see how the roofs and things were built, but it also gave a glimpse into the last moments of life here- there are some really gruesome casts of people screaming as they try to escape and are buried alive, a dog biting at its own chained leg to try to escape. uuaah. Really scary.
But even with the houses that didn't have roofs, as we walked along I could really imagine this as a bustling community, people everywhere. All that was left was a ghost town, but if you think a bit, it very much alive.
We hurried along to see all that we were supposed to, and then hopped onto the bus to head to our hotel in Naples.
Talk to you soon!
Lots of love,
Cor :)
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