Pompeii and Herculaneum were the once prosperous cities that were vesuvius burried in Italy. The country by the Bay of Naples, called Campania, has always been one of the most scenic regions in the world. In the Roman Empire, its blue skies and magnificent scenery led many wealthy Romans to build homes there.
The old and prosperous cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and the quiet small town of Stabiae were among the many local summer resorts. The region was called Felix (meaning “happy”) Campania. Then, on the bright morning of 24 August, A.D. 79, these towns were destroyed and extensive stretches of the countryside were laid waste in one of the most famous disasters in history.
That morning the massive volcano Vesuvius suddenly awoke from centuries of sleep. It began to spew forth an enormous column of cinders, pumice stones, and ashes. A dense black cloud shot up to enormous heights and overspread the heavens. From Misenum, across the bay, this cloud looked like one of the flat-topped Italian pine trees so common in the region. The clouds blew southward. It soon enveloped Herculaneum and Pompeii, where the darkness was broken only by lightning flashes. Sweeping on, the cloud covered Stabiae and other settlements on the south shore of the bay.
For nearly two days a terrible rumble of pumice and ashes fell on the doomed cities and the surrounding country. Most of the population escaped as the eruption began. Others who sought refuge in cellars were suffocated by stifling sulfur fumes or crushed under falling roofs. In Pompeii alone, about 2,000 people died. The regular population of this city was probably about 20,000, but it could have been crowded with summer visitors. The most famous casualty of the massive eruption was Pliny, an elder Roman. Then in command of the Roman fleet at Misenum, he took ships across the bay to rescue refugees. He died at Stabiae by poisonous vapor.
When the cloud lifted it revealed widespread devastation. Herculaneum lay completely buried under more than 60 feet of mud and volcanic material. At Pompeii, 8 to 10 feet of pumice and 6 to 7 feet of ashes covered everything but the tops of the buildings. Farther south the debris mantle was lighter. So significant was the seacoast alteration that Pompeii, which was a seaside town before the eruption, now lies far inland.
The thriving cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were never rebuilt. Century after century, they were forgotten. Then early in the 18th century, a well digger turned up a marble statue on the site of Herculaneum. The local government then conducted some excavation and unearthed other valuable art objects. But the deep covering of Herculaneum, which hardened to rock, made digging difficult, and the excavations were abandoned.
In 1748 a peasant found traces of Pompeii beneath his vineyard. Since then excavations have carried on, with interruptions, until now. In 1926 the Italian government resumed Herculaneum digging, and now large parts of that city are open to view. These cities tell the story of Roman everyday life like nowhere else. A visitor may walk between rows of shops and houses, along street after street which still shows the marks of horses’ hoofs and chariot wheels in the paving blocks. He may also read on the walls the scribbling of schoolboys, announcements of shops to rent or gladiatorial contests, and election notices scrawled in flaming red letters.
Public life as shown by the excavations was centered on the forum, or marketplace, where temples elbow business houses, and offices. In the market stalls were found charred nuts, fruits, and loaves of bread, left by dealers in their flight. A wall painting in Pompeii shows how kitchen utensils and shoemakers used to trade at the forum itself.
A short distance from Pompeii’s forum is a cluster of temples. With them is a gorgeous open-air venue seating 20,000. Not far away is a small roofed theater, the palaestra, or athletic school, and the gladiators’ barracks. Gladiator swords and armor were found here. Three public baths are connected to the forum and the palaestra.
These are presented well enough to show how massive furnaces were used to heat the water and supply hot-air heat for the rooms and how the bather proceeded from a warming room to a hot room, then to a cold room, and outdoors again.
Home Life in Ancient Roman Cities
Pompeii and Herculaneum’s private life story is equally complete. Many South European dwellings still have blank walls in their facades. Once the visitor enters the vestibule, he sees that the occupants get their air and sunlight from a central court or a back garden.
Opening out of the great room, or atrium, are the bedrooms — hardly more than cupboards—the storeroom, dining room, and kitchen. In the kitchen is a raised hearth and on top of this a charcoal fire is burned for cooking. In houses with a bath, this hearth was made to provide heat for that as well.
A water system brought water for the bath and sometimes for a fountain in the atrium. Bedrooms in the atrium are tiny cubicles, often furnished with a low wooden bed. At Herculaneum, some furniture is still complete, though reduced almost to charcoal. Wall paintings and mosaic floors decorated the wealthy homes.
We observe in these cities how people used and worked. Outside the bakeries are the great millstones that ground the grain and inside a kneading apparatus. A potter’s workshop has two ovens; the dye houses are equipped with large lead kettles, and in a closet are bottles containing colors. A tannery has vats and tools in bronze and iron. There are inns and wineshops, with utensils for heating food and drink and magnificent stone jars set on the counter for storing them.
Many thousands of small objects found in Pompeii and Herculaneum have been taken to the Naples Museum for safekeeping. In the museum, they may see paintings, statues, mirrors, coins, pens and ink bottles, and even the very food that some Pompeians had for lunch on the day of the eruption, as well as the pans it was cooked in.
Therefore, in a small museum at Pompeii are death casts of some of the people themselves. This is because the ash that buried them formed a plastic mold that preserved their bodies. One of the most interesting Pompeii casts is that of a watchdog. The poor creature was apparently forgotten and left behind as his master fled the city. The dog was found still tied to his favorite sling in the entrance hall.
Herculaneum’s art treasures-marble and bronze statues and paintings—are far more valuable than those from Pompeu. At Pompeu, the volcanic coverage was much higher than Herculaneum. Therefore, homeowners returned and retrieved many of their most valuable possessions.
In some cases, even the marble exterior of buildings has been stripped off. Herculaneum, however, was so deeply covered that no attempt was made to recover anything. The most remarkable discovery at Herculaneum was 1,800 rolls of papyrus manuscripts. They were badly charred, but hundreds have been unrolled and deciphered.
Read More – Ruins of Herculaneum – Better Preserved Than Those in Pompeii
