Naples stands at the edge of a fertile plain extending to the foot of Mount Vesuvius. Naples is Italy’s second largest port and one of the major industrial ports in the Mediterranean. Mount Vesuvius is famous for its eruption in 79 AD burying Pompeii in ash and rock. In an instant, Pompeii and Herculaneum were lost beneath a blanket of boiling lava and ash. Most of Pompeii’s population was evacuated before the explosion.
We walked for an hour to the train station from the Port of Naples in the cold rain. The language barrier and lack of street signs preluded our adventure. The train ride to Pompeii was 30 minutes.
The volcanic ash and rock buried the city, so most things were preserved. Not like an earthquake where everything was in ruins, such as in Greece. Pompeii is approximately 65 acres. It was a fully functioning town on a prosperous trade route.
This was their Forum, or city square. It is surrounded by all sides by religious, political and business buildings.
These are the public administrative buildings. They would come here to exercise their political rights.
This is the Produce Market (Forum Olitorio Granary built 62 AD) but now is used to store various archeological architectural elements, marble garden furniture and plaster casts of victims are on display here. The lava covered so quickly, they were cast in molds. When the excavator’s found a human bone, they stopped digging, created a plaster that they poured into these “molds” after drilling small holes, and were able to replicate exactly what these people looked like and what they were doing.
This is a pregnant woman shielding her head and laying facedown to protect her unborn baby; and a small boy, crouched and shielding his face.
A man laying on his back.
These are the Forum Baths. They were actually quite advanced! They had underground heat and underground sewer system. This bath was built in 80 B.C. Men and women were segregated. This was their dressing room, with separate cubicles. If they were wealthy, their servants guarded their belongings while they bathed. This was their cold bath.
There were hundreds of houses. Ranging from one bedroom to large mansions with interior gardens. This was the entrance stone to a home, it says “HAVE” which means greetings. Next is mosaic tiles in a dining room.
This was a residential street and a public drinking fountain.
As we walked through Pompeii, we could feel the presence of the people. We imagined what their daily lives entailed. We just can’t stress enough the devastation of an entire village.
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