Pompeii

Pompeii

Pompeii and Herculaneum were both preserved by the volcanic eruption in 79AD of Mount Vesuvius.  Pompeii was preserved because it was buried in tons of ash, pumice and lapilli.  These materials prevented the city being destroyed by the erosion of time.  Of course, its inhabitants probably did not see this upside to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.  Herulaneum was also preserved, but by the lava the spewed out of the volcano.

Outside the city, an internment for the ashes of the dead.

Love these umbrella pines.

Amphitheater of Pompeii

These pots would have been used to cook food in to serve to the people.  Most people did not cook at home, but picked up their food.  It would have been too hot most of the time to cook in their residences.

Stepping stones across the street for pedestrians to cross and not get their feet dirty from the street.  The stones were positioned far enough apart to allow carts, chariots, ...through.  This would have been a two way street, grooves enough for two vehicles.

More cooking pots.  The marble is so well preserved.

The colors in the ceiling are incredible

The bath house.

These tiles were to support the floor.  Steam and water would run under the flooring to heat up the baths.

There is also evidence that they had designed a way to keep the condensation from dripping on the bathers.

One of the victims of the eruption.  In order to preserve the bodies, the archaeologist, when discovering something, dig a hole in the ground and insert liquid plaster of some sort to preserve the form.  This is the result from one of these insertions.

There were many brothels found in Pompeii.  Some of the brothels were marked with a phallic like protrusion above their door, instead of a neon sign.

So much color was preserved.

This is a bed in one of the brothels.  The stone pillow looks ever so comfortable.

Another prostitutes bed.

Lots of murals painted on the walls in these brothels.

Hunter scene mosaic

This was one of the larger homes of Pompeii.

Such detail for the walls

This mosaic is exquisite.

A place to collect rain water.

More streets

Part of the Forum

Pieces of marble were put in the streets to reflect moonlight.

Outside the city walls

We visited Pompeii on a Sunday.  Big mistake.  Evidently this is one of the most crowded days of the week.  Also, our tour group was rather large.  By the time we were able to see what our guide was talking about, he was already on to another part of the city.  Listened to Rick Steves after the tour and was able to get a better grasp of what we had seen.

When you go to Pompeii, download the Rick Steves audio tour and go on a less crowded day. 

Even with these barriers, it was quite incredible to walk in this city and get a feel for life in first century AD.