Pompeii

This is a picture of The Road To The Sea in Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background.

I have had a fascination with Pompeii since I was a child.  When we started planning our trip to Italy, Pompeii was the local that I was most excited about visiting.  In 79 AD Mt. Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompeii under a layer of ash and rock.  It is estimated that around 2,000 people died in Pompeii and several casts of citizens entombed by the eruption can be viewed today.  Excavations of Pompeii began in 1748.  Pompeii was a well developed city when Mt. Vesuvius erupted.  The eruption captured the city as if frozen in time.  Over the years, most of the frescoes, elaborate tile mosaics, sculptures and artifacts have been removed to museums, but as you wander through the city you can still see the homes with courtyards, businesses, streets, The Forum, and temples.

This is The Temple in The Forum.

Some of the remaining columns that surround The Forum.

This is a storage room containing some of the artifacts excavated from the ruins.  In the center is a cast made of a man's body.

This is another storage room and another human cast.  The young man seems to be huddled in a corner covering his mouth from the ash.

This picture shows one of the city roads with homes and businesses on either side.  Those large stones in the middle of the road were placed there by the citizens of Pompeii as stepping stones to cross the road during rainy weather.  Groves in the stone thresholds of businesses indicate that the businesses had sliding front doors.

Here is another city street view with a public fountain at the bottom.  You can see more stepping stones in the road.  Some of the streets had deep groves in the road from the wear of the chariot wheels.

This lovely tile design reminds me of a favorite quilt pattern called Tumbling blocks.

Some of the Villas that were uncovered had courtyards, ponds and sculptures such as the one in this picture.

You can see from this picture that the villas were very elaborate.

 

Here is another home with a pond in the center of the courtyard.

This picture shows a tile mosaic entry to the villa.

Some of the columns were made of bricks covered with mortar.

I was surprised at how large a city Pompeii was. I would have loved to have spent more time wandering it's streets, peeking in it's doors and discovering more of it's secrets.