The Tragedy and Glory of Ancient Pompeii… The Wednesday Photo Essay

January 31, 2018January 31, 2018 / Curt Mekemson / 53 Comments

A blanket of ash rushed down from Mt. Vesuvius on Pompeii in 79 CE, suffocating many of the city’s residents. Those who could escape, did. Those who didn’t were covered by a flow of molten rock the next day, preserving their bodies as they died in poses that can still be seen today.

It’s time for another Wednesday photo essay where I scroll through the 75,000+ photos that Peggy and I have taken from around the world and find something that catches my attention. Today it is Ancient Pompeii. Next Wednesday it will be Costa Rica.

Their lives would have been interrupted by a series of small tremors. It had to be worrisome; seventeen years earlier Pompeii had come close to being destroyed in a massive earthquake. The city was still being rebuilt. Possibly the residents woke on the morning of August 24, 79 CE and looked fearfully at the restless mountain that loomed over them— and then went on about their business.

Mt. Vesuvius still looms above Pompeii today. This is what it looks like from the Temple of Jupiter.

Another perspective.

Everything ended at 1:00 PM.

Mt. Vesuvius exploded in a massive eruption sending tons of ash, gas and rocks spewing 20 miles into the sky and forming a dense mushroom cloud. Winds quickly carried the ash into Pompeii, turning day into night and dreams into nightmares. The majority fled, escaping by whatever means available. Those who stayed behind died— suffocating at first under the blanket of thick ash and ultimately, the next morning, by being buried alive under a pyroclastic flow of molten rock and gas that flew down the mountain at speeds close to 100 miles per hour.

It must have been incredibly fast, and frightening.

You have to wonder if this person was simply asleep when it happened.

Buildings and streets in Pompeii are well-preserved. Ruts from vehicles using the roads can still be seen, as can road crossings.

Streets were cleaned by flooding them with water. People kept their feet dry by using these crossing stones.

Another street scene. Note how carefully the buildings had been aligned. The square box might have been a community water cistern.

Peggy and I were amused by its modern day equivalent where a faucet was added to the mouth of an early sculpture.

Public baths were a part of most Roman towns and cities. This one was decorated with a detailed relief…

Which included a father and child walking down stairs.

An inside view of the baths provides an idea of how luxurious the baths would have been. Remnants of murals that once covered the walls still remain.

Ceilings were decorated as well. This one shows bas-reliefs of people and animals.

Columns are another thing that most Roman towns shared. These set off a training school of gladiators, who were expected to go out and die for the greater glory of Rome, or to fight and possibly die to entertain Roman citizens. When I closed my eyes, I could almost hear the clashing of swords.

Looking up at one of the columns.

Close-up.

Peggy did a clever job of catching Jupiter with his hand seemingly wrapped around a column in his temple. The god was apparently traveling light that day.

Many of the buildings were remarkably preserved.

Others more closely resembled other Roman ruins found throughout the Mediterranean.

The Lupanar House of Pleasure or brothel is one of Pompeii’s best preserved buildings and our guide gave us a tour…

This was one of the beds. It would have been covered with a mattress, but still… The walls of the brothel included paintings that showed the various services available.

A meal out may have included stopping by this place. These were designed to hold prepared food and keep it hot. It strikes me as a fast food/takeout restaurant.

Bread was baked in this oven.

A large number of storage jars, such as these, were found in the city.

The large amphitheater would have accommodated most of Pompeii’s residents. The rich folks got the lower seats. Those not so fortunate, the upper ‘nosebleed’ seats.

Another street scene in Pompeii. Murals were included on the walls. There must have been a great deal of civic pride in the city.

A little girl and her dog…

And a modern resident of Pompeii.

I’ll conclude with this photo from the Mediterranean side of Pompeii. In 79 CE, the sea was only a couple of hundred yards away. Today it is a couple of miles. Those who had boats or access to boats would have been fleeing from here on that fateful August day, escaping the death that was raining down on their fair city.

FRIDAY’S POST: I determine it’s my job to rule the first grade but no one else seems to agree. Mrs. Young gives me a spanking for my effort.

MONDAY’S POST: It’s all about food on our river trip. And why did Homeland Security determine it was necessary to check our food boxes for a bomb?

WEDNESDAY’S POST: We leave Italy and the Mediterranean to venture off to the Amazon..

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Pompeii: Where Ruins Aren’t Quite Ruins… Seaports of the Mediterranean

April 8, 2013January 24, 2015 / Curt Mekemson / 8 Comments

The walls and streets of Pompeii are amazingly well preserved.

The magic of Pompeii is in how well it has been preserved. There are fewer ruins among the ruins. I know that sounds strange. But most ruins require considerable imagination to reconstruct the original site. This isn’t true of Pompeii. Many of the streets, walls and buildings are found in close to the same condition they would have been found in 79 AD before being covered by the eruption of Vesuvius. The preservation of bodies, as shown in my first blog on Pompeii, is even more impressive. Thousands of storage and cooking vessels have also been found along with paintings, mosaics and sculptures giving us a detailed look into early Roman life. While much of what has been found in Pompeii can still be found there, much has also made it into museums around the world.

Today I am going to conclude my visit to Pompeii with a stop at the Basilica, the city’s center of government, and the market area, which has become a temporary repository of storage containers, bodies and other items found in Pompeii. (I will also slip in a few more of my favorite photos Peggy and I took but didn’t find a home on my other blogs.)

Thousands of artifacts have been found in Pompeii. Many, like these storage vessels, have found a temporary home in the area that once was the city’s market area. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

The Basilica in Pompeii was the center of government. It is centrally located next to the market and Jupiter’s Temple.

This combination fo ancient and modern in one of the fountains found along the street was amusing. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

This combination of ancient and modern in one of the fountains found along the street was amusing. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

Since I use so many of Peggy’s pictures, occasionally I like to throw in a photo of her taking photos. This was along one of Pompeii’s walls.

I found the detail in this Pompeii wall decoration impressive. It had a plastic cover to protect and preserve it.

I’ll close with this shot of Pompeii ruins looking more like ruins. (grin)

NEXT BLOG: We visit the excellent Archeological Museum of Naples.

A Visit with the Gods of Pompeii… Seaports of the Mediterranean

April 5, 2013January 24, 2015 / Curt Mekemson / 9 Comments

I liked this view of the Temple of Jupiter with it's stair step columns. A massive earthquake had destroyed the temple in 62 AD. It was still being rebuilt in 79 AD when covered by volcanic rock from Mt. Vesuvius.

I liked this view of the Temple of Jupiter in Pompeii with its stair-step columns. A massive earthquake had destroyed the temple in 62 AD. It was still being rebuilt in 79 AD when it was covered by volcanic rock from Mt. Vesuvius.

It is impossible to visit the ancient cities of the Mediterranean without thinking about the importance of the all-too-human early gods.

Back before they were relegated to the status of myths, they were as alive and real to the people as say Christ might be to today’s faithful Christians. A primary difference was their misbehavior. They became involved in feuds, had affairs, became jealous, drank too much, etc. Other than the fact they were immortal and extremely powerful, they might be a neighbor… or live even closer to home. (Grin)

If they liked you, they could be your best buddy… make you healthy, wealthy and wise. But if they disliked you, watch out! They were like the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. “When she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid.” ( From a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

So it isn’t surprising that the ancient folks of the Mediterranean spent a great deal of energy and money trying to stay on the good side of their gods. Some of the world’s greatest art was created in their honor and whole herds of castrated animals were sacrificed and cooked to keep them smiling. Interestingly, the smoke from the cooking meat seemed to satisfy the gods. Mere mortals consumed the flesh. As the old saying goes, “Man is nothing, if not practical.”

The Romans, who lacked creativity, obtained their gods wholesale from the Greeks, only changing their names to sound more Latin. Zeus with his fiery lightning bolt became Jupiter, his wife/sister Hera, became Juno, and his daughter Athena, who sprang fully armed from his head and gave him a headache, became Minerva. And of course there was a whole pantheon of other gods.

Each of these gods had a role to play. If you wanted to kick someone’s tail, Jupiter was your ‘man.’ Juno could help you through a difficult childbirth. If you needed more wisdom, and who among us doesn’t, Minerva was there for you. There was no one stop shopping like today’s church goers enjoy.

The gods did gain more power as they aged, however. They took on the roles, and sometimes personalities, of the earlier gods they replaced. Juno, for example, was responsible for both “loosening a bride’s girdle” and protecting the money of the Roman Empire. In her latter role she was the patron Goddess of the Royal Mint.

Mt. Vesuvius provides the background for this photo of Jupiter’s Temple, which he shared with Juno and Minerva. The arch on the left was built to honor the Roman Emperor Tiberius (14-37 AD) (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

This view of the right side of Jupiter's Temple in Pompeii shows the arch of the the Roman Emperor Nero, known for fiddling around while Rome burned.

This view of the right side of Jupiter’s Temple in Pompeii shows the arch of the Roman Emperor Nero, known for fiddling around while Rome burned. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

A final photo of Jupiter's Temple, which I liked because of the massive, almost brooding sense, it gave to the columns.

A final photo of Jupiter’s Temple, which I liked because of the massive, almost brooding feel, it gave to the columns.

Jupiter, Juno and Minerva were worshipped as a triad in both Pompeii and Rome. Possibly it saved time and money. There was also a temple to Mercury in Pompeii. His earlier persona had been that of the super fast Greek God Hermes who carried messages for the gods and had wings on his feet. He was also the god of getting rich, luck, trickery and thievery. Hmmm.

Apollo seems ready to take off and deliver a message in this photo of him overlooking his temple. Obviously, he is stripped down for action.

Dark clouds hover above Apollo’s Temple caught in the sunlight. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

In this fun perspective by Peggy, Apollo seems to reach out and grasp one of the columns in his temple.

NEXT BLOG: I will spend one more day wandering the streets of Pompeii including a stop off at the Basilica, Pompeii’s seat of government.

The Ghosts of Pompeii… Seaports of the Mediterranean

April 3, 2013January 24, 2015 / Curt Mekemson / 18 Comments

Buried under a pyroclastic flow of molten rock in 79 AD, the ruins of Pompeii have been well preserved. A large harbor on the Tyrrhenian Sea was located where the grass on the far right is now seen. Today, the sea is two miles away.

I have wandered through many ruins in my life ranging from the Anasazi cliff dwellings of the southwestern US to the Hindu temples of Bali. In all of these locations, you can feel the presence of ancient inhabitants… if you allow your imagination to run a little wild.

Nowhere, however, have I had a sense of people going about their everyday life as I did in Pompeii. The explosion of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD froze the city in time. It was easy for me to visualize the dead bodies cast in plaster and found throughout the city, coming to life at night, like the animated characters in Toy Story.

In my imagination, chariots raced up and down the streets, citizens stopped to relax in the public baths, bakers produced mouth-watering bread, satisfied customers raved about the girls at the Lupanare, worshippers stopped to pay their respects to Jupiter and Apollo, and people lined up for the Pompeii equivalent of fast-food. I could almost hear the clash of weapons as gladiators practiced at the gladiator school.

Today I will take you on a walk through the streets of Pompeii where all of these activities took place on the day before Mt. Vesuvius blew its top.

The clash of wooden weapons reverberated through the air as gladiators practiced on the field at the left. The hundred or so gladiators who trained at Pompeii were housed in rooms on the right. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

Pompeii’s theater, which could seat 5000 people, is located just beyond the gladiator school. Seats were separated by price and class. Poor folks got the nosebleed seats.

Streets in Pompeii were paved with large granite stones. The deep tracks were made by chariots, all of which had a standardized wheel base. As for the stones on top, you are looking at a cross walk or stepping-stones. These allowed people to avoid horse poop, and, even more interesting, to cross the roads when the streets were regularly flooded to remove horse droppings and other waste.

Large ovens such as this were used for baking bread. Can you smell it? The round object in front was used for grinding grain. Small rocks were included in the flour for free. I suspect dentists would be delighted.

Fast food, anyone? These large circles held pots of hot food. The residents of Pompeii could get a quick bit to eat here... just like we do at McDs.

Fast food, anyone? These large circles held pots of hot food. The residents of Pompeii could get a quick bite to eat here… just like we do at McDs. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)

A typical Pompeii street scene featuring stepping stones, sidewalks, and shops. It amazed me how well the city was laid out.

A typical Pompeii street scene featuring stepping-stones, sidewalks, and shops. I was amazed by how well the city was planned.

Every Roman city had public baths for men and women. The baths at Pompeii are among the best preserved. Each bath came with heated floors and hot, warm and cold water. They were also extensively decorated. This bath had murals on the walls.

Even the ceilings of the baths at Pompeii were decorated. Note the details. Each circle contains a different subject including nudes, a shield and a chalice. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

I found the reliefs on this wall particularly interesting.

This close up of the wall featuring a father and child in Pompeii, shows a 3-D effect.

This close up from the wall, which features a father and child in Pompeii, shows a 3-D effect.

I close with what, at first, appears to be abstract art but was actually a coiled snake. It had an interesting story. Our guide told us snakes were painted on the walls to keep men from urinating on them. Apparently peeing on a snake brought bad luck. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson)

NEXT BLOG: I will visit with the gods of Pompeii, plus the market, the forum and the basilica.

Pompeii: A City Buried Alive… Seaports of the Mediterranean

March 27, 2013January 24, 2015 / Curt Mekemson / 18 Comments

Buried by a pyroclastic flow of volcanic rocks in 89 AD, Pompeii provides one of our most detailed accounts of what life was like in the Roman Empire.

Buried by a pyroclastic flow of volcanic rocks in 79 AD, Pompeii provides one of our most detailed records of what life was like in the Roman Empire.

Their lives would have been interrupted by a series of small tremors. It had to be worrisome; seventeen years earlier Pompeii had come close to being destroyed in a massive earthquake. The city was still being rebuilt. Possibly the residents woke on the morning of August 24, 79 AD and looked fearfully at the restless mountain that loomed over them… and then went on about their chores.

Everything ended at 1:00 PM.

Mt. Vesuvius exploded in a massive eruption sending tons of ash, gas and rocks spewing 20 miles into the sky and forming a dense mushroom cloud. Winds quickly carried the ash into Pompeii, turning day into night and dreams into nightmares. The majority fled, escaping by whatever means available. Those who stayed behind died… suffocating at first under the blanket of thick ash and ultimately, the next morning, being buried alive under a pyroclastic flow of molten rock and gas that flew down the mountain at speeds close to 100 miles per hour.

Viewed from an archeological perspective, history’s tragedy has become today’s blessing. The molten rock and ash that covered Pompeii, also preserved it, providing historians with their most complete view of what life was like in ancient Rome. Over the next week, I will be blogging about our recent trip to Pompeii and sharing photographs of this remarkably preserved city.

Our early morning arrival at the seaport of Naples showed Mt. Vesuvius looming over the city on a rainy day.

While the majority of people living in Pompeii escaped, the remains of over 1000 have been found. By carefully pouring plaster into impressions left by the bodies buried under the pyroclastic flow, archeologists have created casts of these bodies. Several of these casts are on view in Pompeii.