Moana Kuewa

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		2009.01.04 ITALY Pompeii Location: ITALY: Pompeii Pompeii was forgotten until excavations began in 1748. On a bed of prehistoric lava, Pompeii was founded in the second half of the 7th century B.C. It was organized with the objectives of lookout, defense, and trade. It appears that Pompeii, at the time of its foundation and its first development, was much more conditioned, politically, by the Etruscans than by the Greeks. Before the 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius, Pompeii was a picture of roads, inns, taverns bustling with people, brothels in full activity, stall keepers in the forum, the amphitheatre cram-full of people, slaves of an irrational passion for sport, always ready for a brawl, walls covered with election slogans in favor of this or that candidate, graffiti with names, quips, love messages everywhere. The eruption of the Vesuvius, which raged from the afternoon of August 24th through to the 26th, was recorded by Gaius Plinius Secundus, who in 79 AD was seventeen years old and staying with his uncle, an admiral in the imperial fleet and a keen naturalist. He was persuaded to narrate the events by Tacitus in two letters when the latter was acquiring material for the second part of his "histories“. Those last days of August had been preceded by earth tremors, a common enough phenomenon in Campania that aroused no particular apprehension. But early in the afternoon of the 24th an enormous cloud in the shape of a pine tree appeared and it changed color continuously. The admiral was studying the cloud, not knowing its cause, when a call for help arrived from Rectina, the wife of Tascio, who lived at the foot of Vesuvius. She found herself hemmed in by the eruption, with only the sea offering a possible route to safety. The admiral ordered the entire fleet to put to sea, intending to take off as many as possible of the numerous inhabitants along that part of the coast. During the crossing the ships were covered in the ash pouring out of the volcano, which as they drew nearer the coast became hotter and denser, containing flaming pumice and lapillus. The force of the eruption was such that the ships could not land and had to sail on the port of Stabiae, four miles to the south of Pompeii. The admiral went ashore and had dinner as guest of Pomponiano, continuing to scrutinizing the spectacle that, with nightfall, had become truly awesome. There was no let up in the shower of ash, which built up in drifts in the central courtyard of the house, forcing the diners to leave the dining room before they were trapped inside. What is more, the tremors went on unabated, shaking the buildings to their foundations, and everybody chose to stay out in the open, covering their heads with cushions to protect themselves from the storm of scorching particles, rather than risk being buried under falling masonry. At dawn on August 25th the light of the sun was unable to penetrate the thick veil of soot hanging over the never-ending eruption, while the condition of wind and sea continued to make escape impossible. The admiral was overcome by the choking ashes mixed with sulphurous exhalations and he died along with approximately 2,000 inhabitants of Pompeii (22,000 escaped). The contorted corpses of some of them have been restored to us in plaster casts, bringing home the excruciating suffering of a death by suffocation from fumes. The tour guide explained that most of the victims were slaves that were locked into the basements or rooms to guard the owners possessions. The entrance to Pompeii’s ruins is the Porta Marina road leading to the gate that led down to the sea. The gate originally had two arches (one for pedestrian only) made into one barrel vault in opus cementitium (a compound of mortar and stones). The Forum was the center of the city, a large rectangular square rich of columns and bases of innumerable statues. Within the Forum was: Macellum Marketplace fronted by Portico; Temple of Fortuna Augusta; and Temple of Apollo. Just off the forum was the Temple of Vespasian and Jupiter and Sacrarium of the Lares (that housed status of Pompeii’s guardian deities). There were public thermal baths and a wine bar just outside the baths. A few yards from the baths were the House of the Faun that’s considered the most beautiful example of a private house of the ancient world because its greatness, the elegance of its architecture and the splendid mosaics and the House of the Vettii the most famous, perhaps by the famous because of the very well preserved paintings , statues, decorations and wonderful rooms. The House of Vettii was owned by two brothers who were at one time slaves that won their freedom and money by being successful Gladiators. Lastly, the Antiquarium is a museum used to assemble the evidences of the life and the civilization of Pompeii including the famous casts of the corpses of some inhabitants and animals died during the eruption. Archeologists were able to identify the skeletons of people & a dog before destroying the vacant space left around the skeletons that was tissue or organs. To preserve the integrity of the bodies, they poured plaster into the voided space, therefore preserving the position, composition, and the skeletons. Traveling Individuals Names: Jeff Cheske & Christine Bauman * Some of the descriptions are taken from http://www.kampanien.biz/pompei.htm