Day 4 - Pompeii

We took the bus from the hotel to Pompeii.  During the trip, our tour guide, an archeologist, gave us background information on Pompeii and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in the year 79AD.  The eruption of the volcano buried Pompeii under 13-20 feet of ash and pumice.  The toxic fumes killed anyone who remained in the city.

A large part of the city remains unexcavated.  You can get an idea from the following picture.  The storefronts have been exposed, but the ash and pumice that makes the hill today remains.

The fronts may be houses or may be a shop, like the following picture.

It contains holes for amphorae holding food or beverages.

 There is a counter to lean on while you are waiting to be served or where you can stand and eat.

 Various interesting pieces of marble have been inlaid to make a terrazzo type countertop.

The streets from the hill down to the water are designed to carry rainwater and sewage.  Since the street may be wet, there are stepping stones to cross the street.  The space between stones is designed to accommodate the spacing of the wheels of carts and chariots.  This became standard throughout the Roman Empire (and has led to the spacing of railroad tracks in this country today).

The person in the picture is our dynamic group leader.

 Some of the 23 members of our group are in the distance.

Another shop has plain marble countertops.

There is also a superb fresco.

This particular building is closed today - they rotate the number of open buildings depending on the availability of guards.

Note the mosaic floor - note the image in the near part with what looks like an open shutter.   It is amazing to me that we were allowed to walk on two thousand year old mosaic floors.  The square in the middle of the floor is the impluvium where rainwater drops from the hole in the ceiling to provide cooling rainwater in the public rooms.  Note also the front and rear doors to provide air circulation.  There is usually a table near the pool with food and a place to wash your hands.

There are always some white tiles in the mosaics to reflect light at night.

That sounds like a good idea.

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This is the court in the forum.  

Note that there are no stairs to the "porch".  Since some decisions by the courts are not going to be popular with everyone, it is made difficult for the participants to reach the judges, who sit in judgment at tables behind the columns.  To increase the likelihood that judges cannot be bribed or otherwise influenced, the judge is appointed to the case immediately before being seated.  In that way, in theory, no one can get to him in advance.  

In 62AD, there was a huge earthquake that damaged or destroyed much of Pompeii.  It is estimated that it was 5 or 6 on the Richter Scale.  The city was largely rebuilt by the time of the eruption in AD79.  What is interesting is that they used the new material - bricks - for the repairs.  Note the column bases (above) and much of the oven (below).  In that way, you can tell, today, what predates AD62.

People did not cook food at home.  That explains the large number of food places.  The  picture below is a communal oven.  

People may have mixed and risen the bread at home and brought it to the oven for baking.  If so, it was marked in some way (perhaps with their initials) so that they could get the correct loaf from the baker.  (There are interesting youtube videos on baking bread as it was done 2000 years ago.  The videos show the shaping and marking as it probably was done then.  They know what the result was because some loaves survived in Herculaneum.)  On the far left of the picture above you can see part of a grinding wheel.  A log was put through the hole and animals turned the wheel to grind the wheat.

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At the entrance to the excavation, it may be advisable to stop for a potty break.

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This is a one-person, circular building with a skylight.

Note - there is no toilet seat.

This is the case in most of the public toilets we saw.

It is also a good idea to carry some paper with you, just in case. . . 

After a four hour hike of three miles, or perhaps it was a three hour hike of four miles. . . we were ready for lunch!