Historical notes One
quick glance at the lay-out of the city and a fundamental fact
immediately catches one's eye: Pompeii, unlike Herculaneum and ancient
Naples, is not the fruit of an organic design of city planners. In the
regular town design two atypical nuclei stand out: one, roughly
quadrilateral, around the "civil forum" and the other around the tiny
"triangular forum" next to the theatres district. To those nuclei is
linked the rest of the city which by contrast looks "new": all this
enclosed within solid city walls.
This observation reveals the secret of the origins and development of
Pompeii: its port on the mouth of the river Sarno is evidence of its
Mediterranean vocation - from the earliest history - with respect to
its vast hinterland which in time came to include Acerra, Nola,
Nuceria, as the ancient historian Strabo attests.
On a bed of prehistoric lava, Pompeii is founded in the second half of
the VIIth century B.C. with an organization effort that presupposes
objectives of lookout and defence connected to the nature of the
relations between the Greeks and the natives.
The natives, peaceful when first colonized, later matured notions of
armed action when the Chalcidenses, who held defensive posts along the
sea-coast, threatened to cut off for ever the peoples of Campania from
access to the sea. Despite the documented existence of a Doric temple
dating from the second half of the VIth century B.C. on the terrace of
the triangular forum, and other indications that were held valid until
only a few years ago, Pompeii was not a Greek city, even though it had
been influenced by Greek culture ever since the most archaic epoch. In
the light of the
results obtained from the stratigraphic researches carried out in
these last years, 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.
There is also evidence that it was connected to an "Etruscan territory"
centred on Capua (Santa Maria Capua Vetere), which comprised large
portions of inland Campania and, through the Sarno valley, the
Sorrento peninsula. Disconcerting evidence of this has been found at
Vico Equense.
Pompeii's commercial vocation upsets completely the former
architectural and decorative order, transforms the habits of its
inhabitants, generates self-made entrepreneurs and exploiters.
A "vertical section" of the city in the last decades of its life
before the 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius, would offer a picture - in
contrast with the calm of former times - of roads, inns, taverns
bustling with people, brothels in full activity, stall keepers in the
forum, the amphiteatre cram-full of people, slaves of an irrational
passion for sport, always ready for a brawl, walls covered with
election slogans in favour of this or that candidate, graffiti with
names, quips, love messages everywhere.
House building in the meanwhile was capriciously spreading beyond the
walls, it consolidated westwards in dismal phalansteries. Painting
lost its capacity of perspective. The former articulation which can be
seen in the vast cycles of paintings of the "Villa of the Mysteries"
(Villa dei Misteri), is often reduced to nothing but commonplace and
poor quality decoration. In the
last few years every possible effort has been concentrated on
restoration but excavations have also been going on the city walls,
bringing to light the walls from "Porta di Sarno" to "Porta di Nola"
and beyond towards "Porta Vesuvius".
Stratigraphic research work has also been given a substantial boost.
The four-storey building that incorporates the walls, north of "Porta
Marina", has been excavated while the diggings at the "House of Julius
Polybius" (Casa di Giulio Polibio) have brought to light new and
sensational discoveries.
The zones that still have to be excavated in the north-eastern area
may hold some more unexpected surprises in store but at this point we
can say that the "picture" of life in Pompeii, thanks also to
stratigraphic research, has already been quite clearly defined.
The eruption
The eruption of the Vesuvius, which raged
from the afternoon of August 24th through to the 26th, were recorded,
albeit a few years later, 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 "Historiae".
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 colour 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 pumicite and lapilli. 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 scrutinising 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 many other inhabitants of Pompeii.
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.
During the years the city passed into total oblivion, such that even
its name was forgotten. Even in the first years of excavations, which
began in 1748, no one was quite sure whether the site was Stabiae or
Pompeii, until, as Winckelmann recorded, an inscription came to light
which proclaimed unequivocally the name of the Pompeiian colony.
Since then more than two centuries have gone by, and millions of
visitors have come to experience one of the most significant legacies
of the ancient world, carrying away with them sensations and
reflections which may indeed be of use in charting their future lives
The
Visit
Porta Marina.
The name is modern and indicates that the roads
passing through this gate 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
Antiquarium
is a museum which assembles the
evidences of the life and the civilisation of Pompeii including the famous
casts of the corpses of some inhabitants and animals died during the
eruption. We can found other important founds to the Archaelogical National
Museum in Naples.
The Forum
centre of the city, a large rectangular square rich of columns and bases of
innumerable statues
1 - The
Basilica court site
2 - Temple of Apollo
3 - Temple of Vespasian and Jupiter
4 - Macellum o covered market
5 - Forum Baths
6 - Temple of Fortuna Augusta.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Along
the elegant Via di Mercurio we can found, with the other constructions, The
House of the Big Fountain and The House of the Small Fountain, so called by
a kind of fountain typically oriental, in fact they came from Egypt
House
of the Faun
is considerate the most beautiful example of a
private house of the ancient world because its greatness, the elegance of
its architecture and the splendid mosaics.
House of the
Vettii is, instead, the most famous,
perhaps by the famous little statue of the
god Priapo, it is the most admired; it was of two rich
merchants and it is full of very well preserved paintings , statues,
decorations and wonderful rooms.
There are many
other beautiful houses , and we can visit, moreover, in Pompei many Shops,
Bakeries and Artisan Laboratories, and the most famous is the Fullery of
Stephanus , that show us the evidence of a rich life that in a moment it is
stopped as suspended in the time.
Other important constructions are:
1
The Large Palestra
2 The Amphitheatre,
the most ancient of the Roman world
3 The Little Theatre
4 The Thermal Baths
2
1
3
4
Villa dei Misteri,
Not far from the excavations we can visit Villa of the Mysteries, a large construction (55 rooms), famous because its
beautiful paintings inspired by the Dionysiac mysteries that had happened
here.
1) Via dell'
Abbondanza 2) Venus in the shell 3) House of Venus
One
quick glance at the lay-out of the city and a fundamental fact
immediately catches one's eye: Pompeii, unlike Herculaneum and ancient
Naples, is not the fruit of an organic design of city planners. In the
regular town design two atypical nuclei stand out: one, roughly
quadrilateral, around the "civil forum" and the other around the tiny
"triangular forum" next to the theatres district. To those nuclei is
linked the rest of the city which by contrast looks "new": all this
enclosed within solid city walls.
In the
last few years every possible effort has been concentrated on
restoration but excavations have also been going on the city walls,
bringing to light the walls from "Porta di Sarno" to "Porta di Nola"
and beyond towards "Porta Vesuvius".
The
Visit 
The
Antiquarium
is a museum which assembles the
evidences of the life and the civilisation of Pompeii including the famous
casts of the corpses of some inhabitants and animals died during the
eruption. We can found other important founds to the Archaelogical National
Museum in Naples.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Along
the elegant Via di Mercurio we can found, with the other constructions, The
House of the Big Fountain and The House of the Small Fountain, so called by
a kind of fountain typically oriental, in fact they came from Egypt
House
of the Faun 
House of the
Vettii is, instead, the most famous,
perhaps by the famous little statue of th
e
god 
There are many
other beautiful houses , and we can visit, moreover, in Pompei many Shops,
Bakeries and Artisan Laboratories, and the most famous is the Fullery of
Stephanus , that show us the evidence of a rich life that in a moment it is
stopped as suspended in the time.
2
1
3
4
1
2
3