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In and Around Pompeii

There was so much to see in Pompeii, I have split my images into several blog posts so as not to overwhelm both you all and myself!  For this posting, I thought I’d focus on some general sights that we saw in Pompeii.  It was actually quite a large town, and there were more ruins semi-intact than I thought there would be.  Let’s get started…..

Hidden Stairs

As we started walking down the streets of Pompeii, I looked over to the side and saw these stairs just heading up to I don’t know where.  They just seemed so perfectly ancient (if there’s a term like that!), I couldn’t resist capturing them.

Street Signs

 

As a sign as to how well thought out and planned the town/city of Pompeii was, there were street signs like this at each corner.  The town is pretty much laid out in a grid like format, with certain central areas the exception.  If I recall correctly, the street signs indicated first the region and then the district in which this particular corner was located.  These were created by the archeologists in order to keep themselves better organized when excavating Pompeii.

Ruin Levels

One of the things that surprised me about Pompeii was that the buildings were not all single level structures.  For some reason, I have always sort of assumed that ancient towns were all ranch style dwellings.  Here you can see how wrong I was!

Paved Street with Sidewalks

 

Pompeii was quite civilized in some respects – here’s an image of how their streets were paved – with large stones – and they also had sidewalks for people to walk upon.  Not the smoothest of rides, I would imagine, but still – paved!

Wear from Ancient Cart Wheels

I found this amazing.  The vehicles that would go up and down the streets were carts pulled by mules, and after a while, the wheels of the carts would wear a groove into the stones.  You can actually see the wear pattern in the rocks in this image – look at the dark area in the upper center of the image, and then you can follow the wear pattern straight down from there.  I was standing in a spot where the citizens of Pompeii drove their carts, approximately 2,000 years ago.  Amazing.

Buried 21 – 22 Feet

This isn’t much of an image, but there’s a perspective I wanted to share with you.  First of all, the white sheet is protecting a part of the buildings that they are working to maintain.  The main point of this image is the house you can see in the upper portion of the image.  That house was built prior to Pompeii being discovered, and sat on what was thought to be “ground level”.  However, it really sat on top of all of the pyroclastic ash that had erupted from Mt. Vesuvius and buried Pompeii.  Pompeii was found under approximately 21 – 22 feet of ash.  This image gives you a perspective of just how deep that is.

Space for Cart Wheels

Every so often, we would see these raised rocks sitting in the road.  I mentioned the carts that would be driven up and down the streets, carrying supplies, etc., to be delivered to the shops, homes, etc.  The wheels of the carts had to be driven in between these rocks.  The rocks were there so that people who were walking could cross the street without stepping down into the actual street.  Why?  Well, let’s just say that, for as progressive as Pompeii was, they were not so progressive as to have good sewers and waste disposal for the streets, and this would allow people to cross the street without having to step in the garbage,  waste from the mules, etc.  Personally, I find it difficult to imagine I’d want to shop for anything with the smell that must have floated up from the streets – ugh!

Ancient Water Pipe

The apparent white line running next to the building was actually a water pipe carrying water from a home or drinking fountain down the hill.  Pompeii was built on a hill near a river, and the water would run down toward that river.

Drinking Fountain

Here’s one of the drinking fountains that we saw throughout Pompeii.  I do believe the faucet was a fairly recent addition, and supposedly, the water from this fountain was able to be drunk.  Jeff wasn’t feeling lucky enough, however, to refill our water bottle from this fountain……

Vesuvius 10 Miles Away

When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, it destroyed the city of Pompeii.  Altho it was 10 miles away, the devastation was complete, and it buried the city in over 20 feet of pyroclastic ash.  In this image, it looks deceptively serene as it looms over the forum area of Pompeii.  However, Mt. Vesuvius is still considered an active volcano, and most recently erupted in 1944, ending an eruptive cycle that started back in 1631.  There have been several eruptive cycles throughout the volcano’s life.  It has “smoked” since 1944, but no further eruptions……so far.  Vesuvius is an old mountain, with the oldest rock on it dating back about 300,000 years.

Young Boy Caught by Vesuvius

There really aren’t very many skeletons that were found in Pompeii, primarily because most of the people of Pompeii were thought to have fled the city prior to the big eruption.  Apparently, there had been a number of smaller eruptions prior to the big one in 79 AD.  The few people who were buried in the ash, such as this young boy, are thought to be looters who had come back to the city to rob the businesses and homes that were abandoned.

Pompeii Open Square Architecture

Here’s one last view of the architecture of Pompeii.  We were in the open square area of the Forum, where people would gather, sort of as a town center.  As many of you know, I have a fondness for abandoned cabins, and ghost towns.  Pompeii sort of redefines the idea of a ghost town.

Enjoy!