entries
2002-2023, map graphic added late Oct.
2022
Pompeii- Consolidated page
illustration credit: M.Violante
this map is repeated at various places on this page
The Ancient Amphitheater of Pompeii
Few archeological sites are as impressive as Pompeii. Without engaging in a silly popular poll on archeological sites, we can all agree that the ruins of Pompeii are worth seeing. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and the Roman city was frozen in time. We are still thawing it out. The city itself is vast, and the amphitheater (or stadium) sticks out. It's off in a corner but you can't miss it. It is believed to be the oldest permanent stone amphitheater of the Roman world (previously, they were built of wood). Compared to the history of Rome, itself, the stadium in Pompeii is much younger and, indeed, did not last long. It was but 100 years old when it was buried by Vesuvius and had been built around a century earlier, in 70 BC, just before the colony was founded. For around 10 years of its history, it was closed after a bloody brawl in 59 AD (modern sports fans know what that's like!) Emperor Nero closed the place down for 10 years. When it was active, it was very, very active: gladiatorial games, public executions, wild animal fights, and the blood sports the Romans loved. The stadium lay buried for a long time and was not dug out until 1823. The statistics on the stadium are impressive: it could hold up to 20,000 spectators; the oval structure was 136 by 104 meters (445 by 341 feet); the arena (or pit or "playing field") was 67 x 35 meters and set 6 meters below ground level. My thanks to Peter H. of Wash. DC for this image.
This page
consolidates all entries having to do with the
archaeological site of Pompeii. There are
currently (Feb. 14, 2023), 25 entries going
back to 2002 and are in chronological order,
below. Most entries are also still in the site
pages separately, but may not be linked from
the general index. As of Nov, 2018, many entries,
below, are just links to other pages on the
site separately. The earlier items are only on
this page. The latest
entry is for Feb. 14, 2023.
(Dec 11, 2011 )
I'm not sure why anyone would think this is a
good idea; that is, to build a theme park
replica of the ruins of Pompeii in the eastern
part of the urban sprawl that is Naples. That
was the plan being oohed-and-aahed over the
other day at a conference held in the
Gambrinus café. It would create 50,000 jobs
what with all the construction of
"PompeiWorld" (the asinine name being proposed
—I'm holding out for Pompeii Two or Pompeiissimo!
) plus all the secondary facilities such as
new hotels and so forth. There are some
precedents for constructing replicas of
ancient and historical sites: for example, to
keep tourists from damaging the Lascaux Cave
in France, an accurate replica for visitors
was built; also, the Getty Villa museum in
California is a replica of an ancient Roman
villa excavated in Herculaneum. (I'm not
counting The Venetian hotel casino in Vegas
where you can take gondola rides, poled along
by some California surfer-dude singing
Neapolitan folk-songs!) But, still,
"PompeiWorld" would be only a few miles from
the real thing! Since there is no plan to
close the real Pompeii to protect it from mass
tourism, what's the point? Yes, they say, but
the theme park will also provide educational
facilities for archaeology and vulcanology
(which, of course, they could build anyway at
the real Pompeii). And speaking of things
Vulcan, are they going to build a replica of
the Great Ruin Maker, Vesuvius, himself, maybe
half-scale, but timed to erupt for the
tourists, covering them with styrofoam pumice
and ash? Maybe I'm missing the big picture.
(My thanks to Larry Ray
for pointing this item out to me.)
entry Dec. 2002
Pompeii
The National Archaeological
Museum is planning a major exhibit for
January on the great eruption of Vesuvius in
79 a.d. that destroyed Pompeii.
Unexpectedly, they will have something new
for the exhibit —the skeletal remains,
uncovered the other day, of a slave.
Archaeologists from the Japan Institute of Paleological Studies in Kyoto were working in the area of the presumed location of an ancient gate that led out from the city of Pompeii in the direction of Capua. The exact location is uncertain and has been the object of archaeological speculation for some time.
In the course of digging around, the team came across the remains of a male skeleton with a metal ring on the leg, showing where he had been chained at the calf. It was a common Roman punishment to keep unruly slaves chained at night so they couldn't flee. The skull shows evidence of having been crushed. Presumably, then, he was not suffocated by noxious fumes or overwhelmed by the flow of volcanic debris; he was probably struck by a heavier projectile thrown up by the eruption. The eruption occurred just after dawn. Still chained in place, he couldn't run.
Here, one
thinks of Mark Twain's grand paragraph from
The Innocents Abroad:
| But perhaps the most poetical thing Pompeii has yielded to modern research, was that grand figure of a Roman soldier, clad in complete armor; who, true to his duty, true to his proud name of a soldier of Rome, and full of the stern courage which had given to that name its glory, stood to his post by the city gate, erect and unflinching, till the hell that raged around him burned out the dauntless spirit it could not conquer. |
[Read MT's complete
passage about Naples from The
Innocents Abroad.]
Courage is
a function of choice, and, certainly, the
soldier so described was courageous—
heroically so. Our recently-found slave, of
course, had no choice. Yet, there is no way
to know how he behaved at the end, even
chained as he was. "Unruliness" —especially
in a slave— is not necessarily a defect of
character. There was a second skeleton, that
of a woman, found close by. Who knows if or
how he might have tried to shelter her? Or
she him.
entry
Dec. 2002
Mummies, Evil Spirits &
Pompeii
In 1932,
Universal studios released a prototypical
horror film called The Mummy. It
starred Boris Karloff and was magnificently
eerie, much better than the slew of
potboiler imitations that followed. It was a
film loosely generated by popular buzz of
the day surrounding the curse supposedly
attached to the tomb of King Tuthankhamen
('Tut', for the tongue-tied), discovered (or
desecrated, depending on whether you are an
archaeologist or an ancient Egyptian) in
1922 by two Englishmen, Howard Carter and
George E.S.M. Herbert, fifth Earl of
Carnarvon. In the antechamber of the tomb
they found a plain clay tablet on which were
inscribed hieroglyphics reading, "Death will
slay with his wings whoever disturbs the
peace of the pharaoh." Within seven years,
22 persons involved with the discovery and
excavation of the tomb had died untimely
deaths.
In
Naples, we may have material for another film.
It is not uncommon for the superintendent of
the archaeological site at Pompeii to come to
work and find envelopes and small packages
containing bits and pieces of antiquity, items
from the ruins of Pompeii, pilfered and then
sent back by sticky-fingered tourists haunted
by remorse.
But are
they haunted by something else? Could be,
because sometimes letters accompany the booty.
Some time ago, a package arrived full of
objects stolen from Pompeii. It was from
Valencia in Spain. The penitent thief claimed
to have had nothing but terrible luck ever
since he swiped the objects. He lost his job
and was then plagued by family problems; the
sender was convinced that he was the victim of
a curse put on the objects two thousand years
ago by devious citizens of Pompeii who wanted
to protect their belongings down through the
ages.
The superintendent has had goods returned from as near as Castellammare and as far away as Poland. The senders' names and addresses are usually bogus, but a number of them contain letters with the same general message: "Bad luck ever since I took the stuff. Please take it back. Release me from the curse." The good superintendent, of course, refuses to pronounce judgment on such things as ancient curses, but if it gets his stuff back, who is he to tell you what you should or shouldn't believe?
Personally,
I think that the people who sell tissues, wash
your windshields and hustle cigarettes at
traffic lights in Naples are missing a golden
opportunity. In a city where astrologers and
soothsayers openly advertise, and where
everyone in my family, including me, believes
in the evil-eye, why not put curses on
personal property? Cars, for example. It would
be a symbolic way of saying, "Death will slay
with his wings whoever touches my wheels."
Maybe a brief incantation at the stoplight,
then a quick exchange of a euro or two for an
amulet, possibly in the image of Boris
Karloff, with an adhesive backing so you can
slap him up there on the dashboard right next
to whatever other medallions you happen to
have protecting you. Sort of a double-whammy.
Added
bonus: if your car is tampered with in the
middle of the night, ancient curses don't go
off with that annoying waah-waah-waah
burglar-alarm siren that keeps you awake all
night. There's just this single, long,
blood-curdling scream. It might be a
pleasant change.
Other
items on good & bad luck, superstitions,
magicians, fortune tellers, etc: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
(Dec 11, 2011 )
I'm not sure why anyone would think this is a
good idea; that is, to build a theme park
replica of the ruins of Pompeii in the eastern
part of the urban sprawl that is Naples. That
was the plan being oohed-and-aahed over the
other day at a conference held in the
Gambrinus café. It would create 50,000 jobs
what with all the construction of
"PompeiWorld" (the asinine name being proposed
—I'm holding out for Pompeii Two or Pompeiissimo!
) plus all the secondary facilities such as
new hotels and so forth. There are some
precedents for constructing replicas of
ancient and historical sites: for example, to
keep tourists from damaging the Lascaux Cave
in France, an accurate replica for visitors
was built; also, the Getty Villa museum in
California is a replica of an ancient Roman
villa excavated in Herculaneum. (I'm not
counting The Venetian hotel casino in Vegas
where you can take gondola rides, poled along
by some California surfer-dude singing
Neapolitan folk-songs!) But, still,
"PompeiWorld" would be only a few miles from
the real thing! Since there is no plan to
close the real Pompeii to protect it from mass
tourism, what's the point? Yes, they say, but
the theme park will also provide educational
facilities for archaeology and vulcanology
(which, of course, they could build anyway at
the real Pompeii). And speaking of things
Vulcan, are they going to build a replica of
the Great Ruin Maker, Vesuvius, himself, maybe
half-scale, but timed to erupt for the
tourists, covering them with styrofoam pumice
and ash? Maybe I'm missing the big picture.
(My thanks to Larry Ray
for pointing this item out to me.)-
April 6,
2014 - Pompei is
the second most
visited archaeological
site in Italy after the
Colosseum in Rome. As
such, it is subject to
quite a pounding, all in
addition to the natural
ravages of time. The
site is, quite
naturally, on the
UNESCO World Heritage
List and last year
received 50 million
euros from the European
Union to help finance a
conservation project.
None of that has helped
in recent weeks as there
has been an almost daily
rash of crumbling of
various bits and pieces,
large and small. Now,
the Italian aerospace
firm, Finmeccanica,
which provides advanced
electronics to the
military, has said it
will donate technology
for a project called
"Pompeii: Give it a
Future." The technology
includes upgrades to
security systems and
satellite monitoring in
order to assess "risks
of hydrogeological
instability" at the
44-hectare site (108
acres); the project is
expected to last three
years. (There is
a map of Pompeii
here.)
May 6,
2015 - Word comes from
various sources on the
successful restoration and
presentation of some
frescoes and mosaics in the
Villa of the Mysteries at
the archaeological site of
the ancient Roman site of
Pompeii. The treatment
involved the use of the
antibiotic amoxicillin to
treat a strain of
streptococcus bacteria that
was gradually destroying the
original pigment of the
frescoes. Restoration also
involved the use of lasers
to remove dirt from surfaces
soiled from the old
excavation of the site in
the early 1900s. The
restoration began in 2008
and some of the results were
displayed in March of this
year. Additional work
continues on a portion of
the site that collapsed in
2012 during a rainstorm. The
Villa of the Mysteries
probably derives its name
from what some scholars says
are representations of the
rites of female initiation
to marriage. The villa is
one of more than 100 such
structures discovered in
area of Vesuvius. They were
built beginning in the
second century BC up to the
mid-first century AD and are
in what is called the
"second style".
May 24, 2015
- At
Pompei work is almost
completed on the restoration
of 86 plaster casts of the
remains of persons who
perished in the famous
eruption of Vesuvius of 79 AD.
Some of them are already known
since they were uncovered in
the 1800s. This display,
however, will be part of an
exhibit set to open on May 26
as "Pompeii and Europe
1748-1943." The first date is
of the initial re-discovery of
the buried city under the
Bourbons and king Charles III
—the beginning of the
scientific rediscovery of
Roman antiquity in the area.
The second date is the year
before the last eruption of
the volcano, which took place
in the middle of WWII. The
victims were swiftly buried in
hot ash and apparently died
almost instantly. Modern X-ray
techniques, indeed, reveal
intact skeletal structures
preserved within a natural
case of pyroclastic materials
through the centuries, thus
making it possible to make
plaster molds. (photo, la Repubblica)
July
25, 2015- One
Small Step for a
Bow-Bow. Pompeii
is second only to the
Colosseum in Rome as
the most popular
tourist site in Italy,
year in and year out.
I don't know how the
tourists do it. Both
sites are on the UNESCO
World Heritage List,
and both are worth
seeing, but I can
think of no other
place in the nation
that ambushes
cash-laden clients
with such an array of
inefficiency,
chicanery and
corruption as does
Pompeii. Barely a day
goes by that you don't
read of this-or-that
many hundred tourists
waiting in vain for
the place to open, or
even of being locked inside
while the staff goes
on strike —or to
lunch— which is pretty
much the same thing.
It usually takes a
threat by UNESCO or
other European holders
of the euro-strings
that the whole damned
place will be removed
from the list unless
it shapes up. Then,
maybe, something gets
done. That is what
happened here, and it
seems to have done
some good.In this case they have restored and reopened for public view the famous mosaic of a dog on the premises of the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii. The mosaic bears the inscription cave canem—beware of the dog. Astute paleo-bowserologists are divided over whether this meant, Pwease don't step on widdle poopsum or, possibly, Amicus, if you step on Lothar, the Wonder Shredder, you will never believe that you ever owned a leg. In any event, the mosaic has somehow become iconic of the Pompeii site, and you now can get in to see it again.
The House of the Tragic Poet was discovered in November of 1824 and has interested scholars and writers for generations. The size of the house itself is not remarkable but the interior decorations of scenes from Greek mythology are numerous and of high quality. They are remarkable. They have inspired poetry and fiction, among which is Lord Edward Bulwer Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii (O he of "It was a dark and stormy night." Talk about tragic.) -thanks to Jeff Miller for bringing this item to my attention.
Aug 8, 2015 - The July/August on-line edition of Smithsonian Magazine contains a fine article by Joshua Hammer entitled "The Rise and Fall of Pompei". The lead is
"The
famous archaeological
treasure is falling into
scandalous decline, even as
its sister city Herculaneum
is rising from the ashes
[...] On a sweltering summer
afternoon, Antonio Irlando
leads me down the Via
dell'Abbondanza, the main
thoroughfare in
first-century Pompeii. The
architect and conservation
activist gingerly makes his
way over huge, uneven paving
stones that once bore the
weight of horse-drawn
chariots. We pass stone
houses richly decorated with
interior mosaics and
frescoes, and a
two-millennial-old snack
bar, or Thermopolium, where
workmen long ago stopped for
lunchtime pick-me-ups of
cheese and honey. Abruptly,
we reach an orange-mesh
barricade. "Vietato
L'Ingresso," the sign
says-entry forbidden. It
marks the end of the road
for visitors to this storied
corner of ancient Rome.""Just down the street lies what Turin's newspaper La Stampa called Italy's "shame": the shattered remains of the Schola Armaturarum Juventus Pompeiani, a Roman gladiators' headquarters with magnificent paintings depicting a series of Winged Victories-goddesses carrying weapons and shields. Five years ago, following several days of heavy rains, the 2,000-year-old structure collapsed into rubble, generating international headlines and embarrassing the government of then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The catastrophe renewed concern about one of the world's greatest vestiges of antiquity. "I almost had a heart attack," the site's archaeological director, Grete Stefani, later confided to me."
The entire article is available here.
(There
is a map of Pompeii
here.)
Sept
22, 2015
-
Pre-Roman era tomb discovered
at Pompeii. In spite of
the difficulties of
doing archaeology at
Pompeii (noted here and
here in two recent
entries), this second
most visited
archaeological site in
Italy (after the
Colosseum, in Rome)
continues to reward
researchers. With most
attention going
deservedly to preserving
Roman Pompeii, we forget
the layers that lie
beneath, from the days
before mighty Rome
existed. The Jean
Berard Center
in Naples has now
announced the discovery of
a well-preserved Samnite
tomb at Pompeii. It
contains a woman's
skeleton and many
amphorae. The Samnites
were ferocious enemies
of the Romans; they
fought each other for
centuries for control of
central Italy, with the
Samnites eventually
succumbing in 100 BC. At
one time, Samnite
influence extended from
the Adriatic to the
Tyrrhenean and included
the area where Roman
Pompeii would later
stand. This particular
tomb is from the fourth
century BC. The Jean Berard
Center in Naples has served
since 1966 as a
"Documentation Center of
historical research on
Southern Italy", "a research
platform for
French and Italian teams
working in Southern Italy
and Sicily with a focus on Magna
Grecia generally the
Greek colonization in the
West. The center's current
facilities in Naples include
equipment depots,
specialized
laboratories, a
library and as reception
space for visiting
researchers.
[Thanks to Jeff Miller for calling my attention to this.]
Sept
22, 2015
-
Pre-Roman era tomb discovered
at Pompeii. In spite of
the difficulties of
doing archaeology at
Pompeii (noted here and
here in two recent
entries), this second
most visited
archaeological site in
Italy (after the
Colosseum, in Rome)
continues to reward
researchers. With most
attention going
deservedly to preserving
Roman Pompeii, we forget
the layers that lie
beneath, from the days
before mighty Rome
existed. The Jean
Berard Center
in Naples has now
announced the discovery of
a well-preserved Samnite
tomb at Pompeii. It
contains a woman's
skeleton and many
amphorae. The Samnites
were ferocious enemies
of the Romans; they
fought each other for
centuries for control of
central Italy, with the
Samnites eventually
succumbing in 100 BC. At
one time, Samnite
influence extended from
the Adriatic to the
Tyrrhenean and included
the area where Roman
Pompeii would later
stand. This particular
tomb is from the fourth
century BC. The Jean Berard
Center in Naples has served
since 1966 as a
"Documentation Center of
historical research on
Southern Italy", "a research
platform for
French and Italian teams
working in Southern Italy
and Sicily with a focus on Magna
Grecia generally the
Greek colonization in the
West. The center's current
facilities in Naples include
equipment depots,
specialized
laboratories, a
library and as reception
space for visiting
researchers. [Thanks to Jeff Miller for calling my attention to this.]
Mar
23, 2016 - New
Itinerary at Pompeii
- Myths and Nature:
from Greece to Pompeii
is the name of a new joint
exhibit now open at the
Naples Archaeological
museum and the
archaeological site at
Pompeii, itself. The
museum side will host 100
archaeological finds at
the Sala della
Meridiana (the Hall
of the Sun-Dial) and focus
on landscapes, gardens,
and the semiotics of
nature—that is, the signs
and symbols in nature. The
itinerary at Pompeii will
present five newly
restored Domus (that's the
plural but also the
singular). In ancient
Rome, the domus was the
type of house lived in by
the upper classes. We
might just call it a
villa, except that a true
villa was outside the city
walls or limits and was
much larger. The domus was
a luxury home within the
walls or city, itself. The
emphasis is on the green
spaces, the gardens that
residents created for
their domus as well as on
the frescoes and objects
that decorated the
interiors.
Apr 10, 2016
- The Pompeii
Antiquarium (pictured)
has reopened. Many
archaeological sites are
giant outdoor museums,
themselves, but many of them
also have indoor museums to
go along with them. Pompeii
was one of those. It opened
the Antiquarium in 1861 and
for many years it was
renowned for its displays,
including the plaster molds
of victims from the eruption
that destroyed the city in
79 a.d. The museum was
destroyed by bombing
in WWII but managed to
reopen in 1948. It was then
closed in the wake of the Irpinia
earthquake of 1980
east of Naples, which
rendered a great number of
buildings well beyond the
immediate area unsafe. (The
earthquake was centered 80
km/50 miles to the east.)
The museum has reopened with
the latest in modern
audio-visual displays, a bookshop,
and all the amenities for
those who are tired of
slogging through the site in
the summer heat. It features
a permanent exhibition
dedicated to the places of
worship in pre-Roman Pompeii.
Apr 12, 2016
- Giuseppe Fiorelli
(pictured) (Naples
1823- Naples 1896) is best
remembered as the inventor of
the process for making plaster
casts of the victims of the
famous eruption. That process
was to pour plaster of Paris
into the cavities left after the corpses of
the victims covered in ash had
rotted away, thus producing
plaster replicas of their
positions at their final moment.
That revolutionized archaeology
at Pompeii because you can use
the same process for any organic
object, such as pets and even
wooden tables and chairs. You
can build up a picture of the
way the people lived. It
strengthened the position of
those who felt that sites should
not be broken up and items
simply moved away for study
(which had been the norm) but
studied as much as possible
on-site, now the accepted
approach. Fiorelli did the first
large-scale precise mapping of
the Pompeii site, cataloging and
ordering everything and is
responsible for eventually
opening the site to visitors. He
held various posts in his
lifetime: Professor of
Archaeology at the University of
Naples, Director of the
Archaeological Museum, Director
of the excavations at Pompeii;
as well, he founded the
Archaeology School at Pompeii,
which then became the Italian
School of Archaeology. He
founded archaeological journals
and also founded the San Martino
Museum in 1866. - - -
- - - - - - - - - - -
Aug 21,
2018
Stabiae
...the exhibit presents a voyage of discovery through the history of Ancient Stabiae, using evidence left to us by the finds from the Necropolis of Madonna delle Grazie, with its numerous burials, as well as...with the votive offerings found there which were connected to women, and the protection of fertility and of giving birth... Together they are of great importance in the reconstruction...of the Stabian territory...in pre-Roman times.To clear up confusion, Stabiae is the ancient name for Stabia. The name probably comes from Stabilum the Latin and Oscan word for a stable, animal shed. You can use whatever you want. The exhibit says In Search of Stabia and goes on to talk about Stabiae. The same thing happens in Baiae/Baia across the gulf of Naples to the west.
Stabia and other cities affected by the eruption of Vesuvius. The black cloud represents the general distribution of ash and cinder. Modern coast lines are shown. credit: MapMaster, Wikipedia.
With that, Albert Einstein and I remind casual visitors to the area around Mt. Vesuvius to take advantage of the fourth dimension, Time, and remember that as you wander from, say, Herculaneum over to Pompeii and up the coast to Stabiae, you are moving up and down the valleys and peaks of time that all got pretty much time-flattened by a single great volcanic eruption in 79 AD. The towns you see in the image (right) were just blanked out into an anonymous dimensionless grey. But remember that the Romans did not found Pompeii; they just found it and took it over. Between the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 6th century BC, changes in settlement dynamics were triggered by the arrival of new peoples onto the coast, such as the Opicians, Greeks, Oscans, and Etruscans, all different peoples living at different times, but sequentially in the same places. Then came the Romans. They were late-comers. Not last-comers, just late. (Remember that the 7th century runs from 699 down to 600. It runs backwards, I know, but you're traveling in time, anyway, so what do you care? Also, the "end", that is, the "second half" of the 7th century BC is 650 down to 600. The last half is logically the one that comes later in time. I use BC and not BCE (Before Common Era) because it's important to our cultural history to acknowledge why we have the calendar we have. I mean, no one actually says "Bee Cee Ee", right?
So, there are two ways to learn about Stabiae. One is to go to the display in Pompeii of the necropolis of the Madonna delle Grazie. It offers us information on the inhabitants of the ancient centers which surrounded Pompeii, one of which was Stabiae. These are largely ceramic finds (image) from around 300 tombs spread out over an area of around 15,000m2 (around 4 acres). They span a period from the second half of the 7th century BC (650-600) until the end of the 3rd century (450-401 BC); they are pit grave, stone coffin or tile-covered burials.
Villa San Marco, peristyle, that is, a continuous
porch formed by a row of columns, often around
a courtyard. Photo credit: mentnafunangann
The archaeological remains of Stabiae were originally discovered in 1749 by an engineer working for king Charles III of Naples. The ruins were partially excavated, but then reburied and forgotten about until shorty after WWII. The site was declared an archaeological protected area in 1957, and by 1962 many of the ruins had again been uncovered. Much of the work is recent and has come to light by construction to lay a second set of underground tracks in order to "double" the Torre Annunziata-Sorrento line of the Circumvesuviana railway. Archeology has uncovered only a small part of the villas and farms that are there. You can visit at least Villa San Marco, Villa Arianna (both sections), and a few others.
Entrance to
the city of Stabiae.
photo credit: mentnafunangann
photo credit: mentnafunangann
There is an NPO (non-profit organization, called an ONLUS in Italian) by the English name of RAS, for Restoring Ancient Stabiae where you can donate to adopt a fresco, adopt a project, adopt an ancient Stabian, whatever. These non-profit organizations have a patchy track-record, though, and one gets the impression that there is an atmosphere of "Let's hurry before all this goes away again." They had some successful "Stabiae Nights" tours this month but are up against the BPOs (big profit organizations! My term!) of illegal building right where they want to uncover the past. But, they have to try.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
added Sept 26, 2018
Pompeii and Delos, Sister Cities
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
added Oct 10, 2018
Spectacular Fresco Finds at Pompeii
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
added Oct 23, 2018
Date of Famous Vesuvius Eruption is Wrong!
- - - - - - - - - -
added Nov 11, 2018
off-site Wine and food gardens in Pompeii
by Jason Urbanus, Archaeology Magazine April/May 2018
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added Nov 20, 2018
Leda and the Swan
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Dec.7 , 2019 -
Archaeology News Network reports on the recent digs in Pompeii in a section that still has not been completely
excavated and continues to amaze us. This time the case in point is the large bathhouse, grander and more
opulent than Emperor Nero's thermal baths in Rome, itself. It was destroyed by the great eruption of 79 AD
before it was ever used. Much of this still hidden part of Pompeii is in an area restored under the Great Pompeii Project, launched in 2012 to save the historical site after the collapse of the 2000-year-old "House of the Gladiators."
This discovery was emotional, as well. They found the skeleton of a young child who obviously had been seeking refuge from the eruption. The site is open to visitors. There are currently 50 people — restorers, archaeologists, architects, engineers — on the Pompeii site permanently. With four million visitors (in 2019) Pompeii is the second most visited tourist site in Italy, after the Colosseum in Rome.
Thanks to Jeff Miller for pointing this out to me. Photo: Rex Features
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Jan. 3 , 2021
Ancient Roman Snack Bar Discovered in Pompeii
It is easy to overlook the fact that much of what was buried by the famous eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD —such as the major Roman towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii— is still buried and, indeed, will remain buried because, as in the case of Herculaeum, a modern town (Ercolano) has been built on top of the old one, and you don't just march in and tear down the homes of tens of thousands of residents just to uncover the marvels of antiquity. In the case of Pompeii what you see as you go through the ruins is, indeed impressive, as you can check by going to the top of this page and scrolling down. Much of the recent work has been in a section that is currently being excavated for the first time. The new discovery is of a Thermopolium, essentially a snack bar serving hot fast-food and beverages to seated customers in a hurry to grab a bite and then rush off to build an empire. The site was buried in volcanic ash, and is exceptionally well preserved. Massimo Osanna, director general of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii spoke with news media about
the new discovery: “As well as bearing witness to daily life in Pompeii, the possibilities to analyze this thermopolium are exceptional because for the first time we have excavated a site in its entirety."
Oct. 3, 2021
Greek in Ancient Pompeii
In August, 2021, he director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, announced the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved skeleton during excavations of a tomb that shed light on the cultural life of the city before it was destroyed by the volcanic eruption in AD 79. A skull bearing tufts of white hair and part of an ear, as well as bones and fabric fragments, were found in the tomb in the necropolis of Porta Sarno, an area not yet open to the public in the east of Pompeii’s urban center. The discovery is unusual since most adults were cremated at the time. An inscription in the tomb suggests that its owner, a freed slave named Marcus Venerius Secundio, helped organize performances in Greek in Pompeii. It is the first confirmation that Greek, the language of culture in the Mediterranean, was used alongside Latin. “Performances in Greek are evidence of the lively and open cultural climate that characterized ancient Pompeii,” said the director, adding that Marcus Venerius clearly had been able to make a living after he was freed as a slave, given the “monumental” size of his tomb. “Maybe not super rich, but he reached a considerable level of wealth."
Nov. 8, 2021 A similar discovery, a recent find of slave quarters, is at this link.
Feb. 13, 2023
HOUSE OF THE "SILVER WEDDING "
The name has nothing to do with ancient Pompeii. It was named in honor of the Italian royal couple, Umberto and Margherita of Savoy, on their silver wedding anniversary in 1893, the same year the house was discovered. It's on the last side street off Via Vesuvio, next to an area which has yet (2023) to be excavated. It was built in the 2nd century B.C. and features a high atrium (central court or main room) with four large columns that support the roof. It is a fine examples of a gentleman's residence: the architecture is sober and classical, the decoration magnificent. The house was renovated in the early 1st century A.D. There are two gardens. The first is in line with the atrium and has its own private bath-house and open-air swimming pool. There is a large kitchen and garden and an elegant living room decorated with a mosaic floor and has four octagonal imitation porphyry columns. They support a barrel-vaulted ceiling that is higher on the side which receives most sunlight, providing a pleasant area to sit on winter days. The second garden is much larger and completely surrounded by a wall. This garden has a pool in the center and an outdoor triclinium, i.e., a couch on three sides of the rectangular garden.
Feb. 14, 2023
Director Zuchtriegel has announced his plan to set up a "new system of monitoring" the archeological site of Pompeii.It will consolidate the state of conservation of the site and keep track of the maintenance. He hopes to involve volunteer university students to run cameras and catalogue information. Ideally, this will lead to a point where you, the interested researcher or teacher or tourist will be able to stop anywhere in the ancient city and ask, What was this building? When was it built? Who lived here? -- and get an answer thanks to the running stream of new information and tabulations fed into the system. It goes without saying that this a very ambitious project.
The Instant and Eternity: exhibit from 4 May to 30 July 2023, National Roman Museum, Rome.
Display to include this bridal chariot, found and restored in Pompeii
The first time in the world that a "pilentum" has been rebuilt and studied.
The exhibit has 300 pieces of Greek, Roman, Etruscan and Italic, medieval, modern and contemporary works and explores the complex relationship we have with the ancients. Some of the Great Halls of the Baths of Diocletian are reopening to the public. The exhibit is promoted by the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sport. The event is curated by, among many others, Massimo Osanna, Director General of Museums with the help of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. They bring with them this magnificent, recently restored, bridal carriage (called a pilentum in Latin) as an example of how important Pompeii still is. The vehicle was restored in the workshop of the Pompeii Park.
Indeed, for a city destroyed by fire and ash 2,000 years ago, Pompeii still has a lot to teach us about the ancients. Maybe 2,000 years isn't really... well, maybe we can bridge the gap a bit. This pilentum was found in Villa Civita Giuliana a wealthy suburb of Pompeii located about 700 meters (2300 ft.) northwest of the city walls. A pilentum was used chiefly by women of the upper classes and was furnished with cushions. It had a covered top but open sides. Besides being a traveling vehicle, the pilentum was also used on state occasions by Roman matrons, priests and vestal virgins. This particular pilentum was found in 2021.
Mr. Osanna says the restoration has been remarkable and "has recovered an artifact unique in the world...a vehicle shining anew with bronze and silver". The underlying wood of the undercarriage has been rebuilt with some plexiglass to indicate the missing parts. "What we find before our eyes is to all effects a vehicle of 2,000 years ago, marvelous, complex and delicate." The work encompassed the large wheels, the iron rims, the truncated wooden hubs, and even the long iron linchpin that ensured the movement of the front wheels and made steering possible.
There is a painted wooden seat, made for two persons, adorned with shiny medallions with erotic scenes of both male and female figures doing what you think they'd be doing on their wedding night. Maybe this was a moveable users' manual. The back of the seat still had the iron frame but it's easy to imagine with leather and comfortable cushions, with the two arm-rests to make the ride of the bride and her companion easier. Yet the bride's companion —this gets complicated— can't be her husband, at least not yet, because if she is going to her wedding in this thing...hmmm, maybe she weds and they both ride off together. Beforehand, was there anyone else? A bodyguard? "Who knows, maybe her mother," says Osanna, [to explain all those pornographic pictures?] Ludovica Alesse and Paola Sabbatucci, the restorers of the archaeological park of Pompeii park said, "We were there when the carriage came out, impressed into the cinerite [volcanic-ash rock]. There were still traces of the ropes, the fabrics, and the wood."
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