May 15 Positano Italy
I’m having to backtrack a bit to get the Blog caught up on some of our travels. This post covers our trip to Pompeii.
…Today we all woke up feeling refreshed. for once I wasn’t awakened at 230 in the morning and instead was able to sleep in until 545. It was nice taking it easy in such a beautiful setting as Positano. We are really pleased with our hotel. we’ve mentioned the excellent view and accommodations. Now we can compliment the excellent service. At 8:00 AM our breakfast was brought to our room and we were able to dine on the beautiful Terrace and watch the sunrise paint itself across the town of Positano.
After breakfast, we retrieved the car at around 9:30 AM from the parking garage. Our trusty GPS led us up the winding hill away from Positano and toward the bustling city of Naples. It was a little before 11:00 AM when we found nice parking area that offered welcome security and shade for our car. Shortly there after we secured the services of a private tour guide. Our wonderful experience in Rome with Roberta has forever spoiled us today we would be led by Claudia. She is a professional licensed tour guide and is extremely knowledgeable about the culture history and archaeology of ancient Pompeii.
First I’ll share with you some background on Pompeii that we learned today. The city’s beginnings date back to 500 BC. Sometime in the first century BC the city of Pompeii was conquered by Rome and became a Roman colony. Under Roman influence the city grew and prospered. By the first century A.D. Pompeii had grown to approximately 15,000 to 25,000 citizens and it covers approximately 25 mi.² The prosperity of the city was exhibited in its wide boulevards many buildings and numerous palatial villas. The city took advantage of the Roman aqueduct system and many of the buildings featured lead plumbing and numerous bathhouses. Much of the old lead pipes can still be seen among the ruins. The city sits in a wide Valley at foot of Mount Vesuvius.
The volcano looms nearby only 6 miles away. In about 59AD, Pompeii was at its peak. At that time, the terrain was quite different and the seaport lapped at the shores of Pompeii. The city was an active trading port where the wine and olive oil that was made in the city could be traded and shipped to throughout other Roman colonies. During the year 59AD Pompeii was shaken by severe earthquakes. This was an indication that Mt. Vesuvius was awakening. The earthquakes did severe damage in the city and many of the cities wealthiest people were frightened by the earthquakes and some sold their properties. Our entry point for our tour was an large sprawling building with a open-air grassy area in the center of the structure. This particulate building was at one time a large villa, but after the earthquakes it was converted into a training area for gladiators. The perimeter of the training arena is surrounded by small rooms, which is where the gladiators would stay. Some graffiti from the gladiators still adorns many of the walls.
After the earthquakes of ~59AD had subsided, the city of Pompeii had rebuilt and life had returned to normal, however I can only imagine that nearby Vesuvius at this time was releasing a small stream of smoke from its top. It was in about 75AD, that Vesuvius erupted. A written accounting of the eruption at that time was found in Rome. It was written by the son of a naval Admiral (Pliny) who died trying to rescue some of the panicked residents by sea. Lava from the volcano never reached the city of Pompeii, instead the city was quickly buried by a mountain of pyroclastic ash and earth. The blast unleashed torrential rains and the earth and ash from the volcano then rained down of the city for weeks. The ruins of Pompeii were so perfectly preserved because of the type of material that fell down of the city. The city was quickly covered by up to 33 meters (100’ of materials). The roofs of many of Pompeii’s buildings collapsed under the weight of the volcanic fallout entombing many of its residences and freezing the city, seemingly forever in a time capsule.
The City of Pompeii would lay buried and lost from history from that fateful day in ~75AD. Interestingly, when we were in the Vatican we visited the Hall of Maps. In the 1500’s the then Pope commissioned cartographers to assemble the most complete maps of Italy. When you get to the maps of the region of Naples, you can clearly see Naples and many other surrounding towns and cities that still exist to this day, but there is no evidence of Pompeii. This is because the ruins of Pompeii were not discovered until about 1730, when they were trying to construct a reservoir in the area and the excavators discovered the ruins of Pompeii.
With the discovery of the ruins, construction stopped and scholars from around the world would descend on Pompeii to uncover its history. The recovery and restoration continues to this day. Because lava never reached the city, the buildings were relatively easy to uncovered. During the excavation, archeologists would find strange cavities in the hardened volcanic ash. It was only when they would fill these hollow depressions with plaster and when it hardened they would chip away the ash material to learn that these hollow impressions were the negative castings that the fallen residents of Pompeii had left behind to tell the story of what happened on that day. Several thousand of these castings were made, but you should not assume that this means that many of the residents of Pompeii escaped, because a large percentage of the city has yet to be excavated. It is believe that citizens that did not perish by being buried by the ash may have died slower and agonizing deaths from the toxic gases that also overtook the city. This is why there was virtually no written history of Pompeii, except for the single account from the son of Pliny. In the mid-1700s and until the early 1800’s many of the finest artifacts recovered from Pompeii, were taken and sold to wealth people in Naples. In the mid-1800’s the government began to try to recover these treasures and they are now in museums in Naples. Regrettably, we would not have time visit that museum. Also, this means that what we will see at the actual site do not do justice to the majesty that was Pompeii.
This concludes my understanding of the history of Pompeii as explained to us. I apologize for any errors that may be here, and assure you they are due to my faulty memory and not our guide.
After we viewed the gladiator training area and dormitories we were shown on a map the location of the cities major amphitheater where these gladiators would have engaged in their deadly sport. It lies to the north east of the city and was quite large. It is approximately 1 mile from where we are standing at the training arena. This gives you some idea of the size and scale of the city that was Pompeii. We would not visit the amphitheater on this day, however Elisa and I had seen it on a previous trip. It is large but not rivaling the size of the Coliseum in Rome – I’m guessing that it is less than ½ the size of Rome’s. The Pompeii amphitheater has not been as completely renovated as many of the other structures in the ruins.
From the gladiator school we take steps up to higher level that looks down on the training arena and also give a view of part of Pompeii. Away in the distance a modern building can be seen high up on a bluff. We are told that that is the building that was constructed in the 1700s and would serve as a base of operations for the excavation. By looking at the difference in height of that building and the level of the gladiator school, you can understand just how deeply the city was buried under the ash.
We then proceed to one of several smaller amphitheaters that were in Pompeii. This one would seat several thousand patrons. The layout of the amphitheater was very well preserved. We were told that the design was a direct copy by the Romans of Ancient Greek amphitheaters. The construction would provide great acoustics, allowing actors and musicians to be heard from all part of the amphitheater. The design featured a moat like structure that separated actors and musicians from the audience and it is believe that the water would have an amplifying effect on the acoustics. Genius!
From the amphitheater, we are led up one of Pompeii’s many side streets and the street design is discussed. Interestingly, the sidewalks are substantially elevated above the street level. This is because Pompeii was plagued by poor drainage. As such the people that constructed the city laid out the streets so that waste could flow downhill. The fountains that dotted the streets that were fed by aqueducts would slowly overflow and wash the waste (animal and human) to the lowest part of the town where slaves would remove it. I can only imagine what things may have smelled like back in those days. Back to the street design. So that the residents would not have to sully their shoes, to cross the streets, there would be large stepping stones laid out. These stones in turn were designed and spaced in such a way that the wheels and chariots that would be on those streets could pass between the stones. Interestingly, the spacing of the wheels on Pompeii chariots was unique. This meant that visiting chariots would have to be parked outside of the city to keep traffic down. Sort of an ancient valet parking system. Genius! It had me wondering if ancient Pompeii had an early Uber / Lyft network to get patrons from point A to point B.
We stop along the way to look into and learn about many different structures. We are amazed to see beautiful marble mosaic floors and wall murals along the way and they are all original. We happen along one street that is very well preserved. The archeologist have determined that this particular street would have been one of the many areas populated with brothels, which were legal at the time. The prostitutes of ancient Pompeii were respected citizens and as women they would hold far greater influence in the ancient city than most other women. After all, in the amphitheaters, women would be relegated to the highest and furthest seats where they would have to sit among the slaves that were allowed to go to the performances. They know that this street was dedicated to a brothel because of the unmistakable phallic graphics that would adorn the street and the buildings. One building was likely one of the towns largest brothels, boasting about 20 rooms on 2 levels. Inside the main entry way to the building were very sexually graphic paintings – sort of like a large menu at a modern day McDonald’s – you didn’t have to speak the local language to order what you wanted, you could simply point at the picture. Genius. In those days, prostitutes were referees to as Lupas, which translated from Latin means “she wolf” and the brothel was called a Lupanara.
From there we make our way up to the main forum. It is quite large and likely spanned 1 mile in length. The forum would have been a main gathering place and where public and civic buildings would be. There are ruins to what was believed to be a court house complete with a jail where accused would be held. One of the largest and most elaborate buildings on the forum was determined to be a bank. The bank was privately owned and the owner was also a money lender. Although much of the bank was was destroyed the home of the owner was found and among the ruins of his home was discovered a large stone protected structure that served as a safe. Inside this structure, preserved tablets were found that showed the names of various borrowers. The records were complete along with the amounts and the interest being charged. The records indicate that some patrons were charged a whopping 47% interest. You certainly didn’t want to fall behind on your payments as debtors, were often cast into a form of slavery / servitude so that they could work off their debt. The good news is that these slaves wore special identification and they were not subject to corporal punishment and could not be summarily sentenced to death. Oh Boy – and I though getting a call from a bill collector was bad.
From there we parted ways with Claudia and she pointed us on to the Villa de Misteri. It is a very large and well preserved villa near the outskirts of Pompeii. It is about a mile walk for us to get to the Villa. The walk also takes us through what would have been a cemetery for Pompeii, it is lined with monuments. We are not disappointed with our walk because the Villa is amazing. The mosaics and wall murals are amazingly detailed. The villa boasts mor than 90 rooms on what would have been 2 levels. It gets its name “House of Mystery” because many of the elaborately detailed murals include Egyptian symbology and other painting seem to depict an initiation rite of some mysterious cult. The details of the cult or society is not understood until this day.
After we explore the Villa, we make our way back to the car, which is now approximately 2 miles away. We find a little cafe near where we park and are treated to a delicious “light lunch” of pasta and entrees. As we exit and walk next door near where we parked, I am chastised and receive the inevitable “international eye-roll” from the attendant at the parking lot. Apparently, he is upset that I ate at the restaurant next door and not at his that is attached to the parking lot where we have parked. I give him the equivalent of the eye-roll – the “American shoulder-shrug” and walk away.
So ended our fantastic day in Pompeii.
More later
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