Saturday, March 24, 2007

Pompeii

To remind you occasionally that we ARE actually in Rome, here are some pictures from our latest excursion, to Pompeii!


This is one of the gates of the city. Outside is the necropolis, which has quite a number of large chamber tombs and such that look like mini-temples.


This is the creepy thing everyone has to see, from the "Garden of the Fleeing." That is, as excavations were taking place, the head archeologist noticed strange-shaped holes in the ash/dirt/deposits of time/pumice stone, and on a hunch had them filled with plaster and dug around them. Sure enough, they represented places where the bodies of unlucky Pompeians had been buried and then burned away by the heat of the ash, but not before the ash had cooled around them to leave an impression.


Many buildings are quite well preserved. Pompeii was covered with ash and rock, not lava, but most of the buildings are still recognizable, with many frescos. We saw a bakery, a brothel, several houses, food shops, theaters, and temples.


This is the forum. No, those mountains are not Vesuvius - it's in the other direction. Too cloudy to see.


And these were all in a huge makeshift warehouse - obviously they haven't figured out what to do with them. Pompeians were drinkers, obviously. (See the little guy kneeling? Creepy.)

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