A Georgia Girl in Germany

I’m sure most of you have learned how Pompeii was destroyed under nearly 10 feet of ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted on Aug. 24, 79. The eruption and its enormous rain of ashes brought the city’s life to a sudden end. Ongoing modern-day excavations are shedding light on a unique document of the ancient world, and I couldn't pass by an opportunity to step back in time and explore the (relatively) newly-unearthed city.

We began our tour at the Palestra -- the exercise court -- before delving deeper into the ancient city.

Below is the Teatro Grande -- the large theater -- which could seat 1,200 spectators. It used to have a top on it like Rome’s Colosseum once did, and was built at the beginning of the Roman Colonies and dedicated to music and recital of verses.


These terra cotta pots were interesting, especially how they were imbedded into the counters...indicative of a “fast food” establishment. I suppose you could call it a first century equivalent of McDonald’s. In some places, you can even see the grooves that were used for sliding doors.





We passed Cornelia’s house…I wonder if Mom would feel at home here {smile}.


You can easily see the remnants of the walls delineating different houses and businesses. It’s amazing how everything was right on top of everything else -- often separated by nothing more than brick walls.

MacKenzie really liked seeing all the stray dogs wandering (and resting) throughout Pompeii.

Public fountains abounded in Pompeii. This one still worked and was pretty to look at, but we didn’t take a sip since they used lead pipes for the aqueducts.

Below is a typical sloped street. The high stones were designed to allow people to cross the street while water flowed in the street. Benjamin sure liked jumping across them, even without water flowing beneath his feet!


Benjamin also liked climbing in just about every nook and cranny he could find, which meant I often lagged behind the tour group while waiting for him to climb up the steps and back down the steps...then again at the next interesting distraction.


You can really envision the city’s layout by looking at the streets, which were considered wide for their time.




Then we came to Pompeii’s red light district. Nice architecture here with the overhanging second story.







This is the entrance to the Vico del Lupanare, which was the largest brothel in Pompeii with 10 rooms. If you look closely inside the doorway, you can see a fresco of Priapus, the ancient god of sex and fertility. The rest of the frescos in the building each depicted two individuals. It’s not clear whether the images were advertisements for the services offered or merely intended to heighten the pleasure of the visitors. In either case, they were rather explicit...hence I’m not including them in this post.

Every house needs a toilet...and this was one inside the brothel.


Benjamin wandered into one of the brothel’s bedrooms -- at the tender age of 3. Egads! They would place mattresses atop these brick platforms to serve as beds. Talk about sleeping on a hard bed, although I don’t think sleep was first and foremost in their minds...at least not inside this building.

And if you weren’t sure where to find the red light district, you could simply follow the signs, like this one, in the cobblestone streets.

I liked this mosaic in the Casa del Cinghiale -- it’s in the floor!

Next, we came to the Edifici Amministrazione Pubblica, essentially the main market or city square, with political, religious and market areas. The streets were narrow enough here that carriages couldn’t fit through.

This is the Edificio di Eumanchia area.

We had to take a family shot in the Forum with Mount Vesuvius in the background. To the north on the eastern side of the Forum (behind us on the right) was once a covered market used for selling food-stuff. The Edificio di Eumanchia is on the right, the Temple di Giove is directly behind us and the Granai del Foro -- the Forum storehouses -- and Mensa Ponderaria are to the left.


Here are more details of the Granai del Foro area.

And closer to the Temple di Giove.



The covered Granai del Foro now houses many statues, terra cotta pots and other preserved signs of a once-prosperous city. There are even plaster casts of victims of the eruption still in actual Pompeii -- lots of them.





This is the Tempio di Apollo -- Temple of Apollo, specifically where they would sacrifice animals.








The statue of the god Apollo is in pretty good condition.

However, the statue of Apollo’s twin sister, Artemis, has seen better days.

Just across from the Forum is the Basilica.


And the other end of the Basilica.


Benjamin found more stones in the street to jump across. By now we had made it to the seaport area of Pompeii -- which is no longer near the sea.

There are literally acres and acres of the city yet to be unearthed, studied and revealed. This part of the city seems to simply jut out of the side of a hill.


We only spent a few hours touring just a small section of the city that has been unearthed, but it definitely gave me a feel for how the inhabitants lived. I could have easily spent several more hours wandering around taking it all in... Benjamin’s leisurely pace and penchant for distractions would have been perfect!

Labels: Benjamin, Italy, MacKenzie, Travel, Zachary