Pompeii

We have forsaken our flock for a few days. Our students are adults, they should be able to get by without us now that that have lived in Malta for almost four months. So Mary and I boarded a cheap flight for Rome, then caught a fast train to Naples, and from there a decidedly slower train to Sorrento.

The main street in Sorrento is a ped-mall on Sunday evenings.

We found a delightful little hotel (an overgrown B and B, really) a bit off the beaten track in Sorrento. And the track in Sorrento is well beaten, indeed! The place is packed with tourists. We have heard more American accents in the last 24 than in the previous three months.

View of Mt. Vesuvius from Sorrento in evening

From Sarrento it's only a 30 minute ride on the commuter train back to Pompeii Scavi (we passed it once already on the trip from Naples to Sorrento), and from the rail station, a very short walk to the main entrance to the archaeological site.

Paint on the exterior of this home urges a vote for "Cornelius" in an upcoming election

But we had signed up for a walking tour that met outside the secondary entrance, so we walked another 10 minutes or so. It would have been less, but we were walking slowly. We were quite early for the appointed meeting time for the tour.

Gladiator exercise and training facility, Pompeii

Our tour had ten people, all Americans, plus Carmine, our guide. Carmine provided background on the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

Before 79 A.D., Vesuvius had a nice cone shape with a single peak, but its top was blasted away.

This was a "Plinian," or explosive eruption (think Mount St. Helens in Oregon back in 1980) that sent a wave of super-heated gasses across the city, killing all humans and animals in its path within seconds. The wave of gas was quickly followed by the deposit of tons of volcanic ash (formerly the top of the volcano itself) that accumulated to 20 feet and deeper within the next three days. 

The odeon, or theater, in Pompeii

Some of the city remains undisturbed beneath this ash even today, but about two thirds of the city has been excavated, beginning in the middle 1700s, but in a more intense and systematic way beginning in the mid-1800s.

Stepping stones allow Pompeians to avoid stepping water or muck in the streets

In many ways, it would have been better if these early archaeologists had not uncovered so much. The challenge now is to preserve what has been uncovered. 

The amphitheater is remarkably well-preserved

Exposure to wind, rain, sun, and thousands of human visitors has not been kind to the ruins. But it remains the best preserved and most remarkable of all Roman sites.

The locker room in one of the baths at Pompeii

Pompeii has allowed researchers to see exactly how Romans lived 2000 years ago. Because people did not have time to flee, stove-tops have been discovered with the last meal covered in ash when it was still warm. Eggs were preserved, unbroken. The first century equivalent of "fast food" remained on the serving counters of shops along the main streets. 

Erotica decorates the walls of a brothel in Pompeii

Even the bodies of the dead were preserved -- sort of.

One of the plaster casts encasing skeletal remains

When the ash covered the body of a victim, human or animal, it clung close, then hardened. As the flesh decayed, the skeletal remains were left in a cavity that matched the exact shape of the body at the moment of death. The 19th century archaeologists figured out that when they encountered one of these cavities, they could inject plaster into it. The hardened ash acted as a mold.

Detailed plaster work in another bath

A number of these plaster molds remain on display at the site. On many, the detail is such that the facial expression, and even the folds of their clothing, can be clearly seen.

Frescoes on the wall of a villa just outside of ancient Pompeii

Other organic materials, such as wooden doors, wagon wheels, and even tree trunks, were molded in the same way, long after the wood itself had decayed to dust.

A dining room. Romans reclined on cushions to eat from a table placed in the middle

The finished plaster walls of homes and businesses were preserved with their shape and their paint intact. Sometimes, even graffiti was preserved, or the equivalent of a political yard sign, the candidate's name painted on the exterior plaster wall of a house.

At the Temple of Venus, Pompeii