Pompeii

"History of Pompeii" The name Pompeii could derive from the Oscan word “pompe”, meaning “five” and indicating a group of five villages, or from the Greek word “pempo”, meaning “to send” and indicating the commercial life of the city. Pompeii history starts towards the end of the II Millennium B.C.,when Italian populations of the mid-south Campania,the Opici, occupied a place to the southern slopes of Vesuvius.This was a good place for the settlement,can be easily defended,not lacking water and being the territory fertile,thanks to the prehistoric activity of Vesuvius.Finally,from the territory of Pompeii,it is dominated almost Top of Form 1 the entire coast of the Gulf of Naples and could control the mouth of the sea,point of arrival at the sea routes and traffic from internal plain. About this first village,we know pratically   nothing,because Archaeological    researches never    reached the oldest layers under the founded ruins. All we have is a core of ceramic fragments collected in various parts of the city.Long after,in the VI century B.C,the old village transformed for the first time.In spite of all in this time there weren't big public building,a great part of the territory into the walls was dedicated to the agricolture and breeding.Meanwhile the landing-place at the mouth of the river favoured the birth of a new market,where commercial activitys concentrate between Italian people and Greek(who influenced the cultural and religious point of view) and Etruscan populatons in the region.At the end of the V century,Cuma and Capua,the two capitals of Campania,were conqered by Samnites,an Italic population.Also Pompei was invested by them,but the structure of the village remained essentially the same.Pompei beautify herself with buildings,public and private,like those which were in Latin cities.In 80 B.C.,Roman dictator Silla won militarily Pompeii after a long siege and founded a cologne there and called it with the name of Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum .From this time,Samnite magistrates were suppressed and the city was governed by a senate of 100 members about by two master builders(magistrates employed in the monuments and city’s streets m aintenance)and two duoviri(supreme magistartes the executive power was entrusted to). As in the past, Pompeii continued to expand and develop in every sector. All the activities linked to trade and maritime traffic saw a period of growth and there was also a decisive increase of the population. The urban expansion took place mainly along Via dell’ Abbondanza, a symbolic centre of the new emerging class. In 62 A.C.,a disastrous earthquake hit on the cities of the Gulf of Naples,damaging Pompeii seriously too.Nerone,who was emperor at the time,commited himself to rebuild the hit cities.But it was the beginning of the end.In the first major shock,there were another smaller,but frequently more assiduous.Lots of houses and public buildings were still under repair the fateful night of the 24 of August 79 A.C.,when the Volcano erupted. "Family" The family was the foundation of the Pompeian society. The most important figure was the father, who represented the only owner of the family property and had undisputed authority on the slavery and his wife. The woman, who got married very young to a man chosen by her parents, was considered as the matron of the house and accompanied her husband to the most important occasions. A newborn baby became a member of the family after the ceremony of purification. …AND EDUCATION"    Education was considered as a private necessity, so people had to provide for it at their own expenses. Often a teacher didn’t have a classroom, so in the morning he met his students and went with them to an open public place, such as the Forum, where he gave lessons. The scholastic education was just based on reading, writing and of making accounts. After that, all ordinary people could learn their fathers’ work. On the contrary, the rich families could afford a tutor who was usually a Greek slave, responsible for the education of children aged from six to sixteen. The studies could be continued with a teacher of eloquence: so the young people got ready to public life through the difficult art of speech.    "TRADE"     Pompeii was important for its trade, because it occupied a strategic geographic position. The commercial life in Pompeii was very productive: this fact is witnessed by the presence of numerous shops, taverns, workshops and inns, that let us suppose there was a production of goods not only for the city necessity, but also for the exports. One of the products destined mostly to the export was the garum, a sauce of oriental origin, formed by dried intestines of mackerel, tuna-fish and moraine. Another product destined to the export was bread, which had the form of a ring-shaped cake and was cooked in wood stoves. Even the amphorae with the Vesuvinum, the wine produced from local grapes, were exported to Spain, to Gaul and to Britain. The tabernae and the laundry, where they washed their clothes with sulphur and urine. Another important activity in the city was the industry of wool, coming from the sheep of the Lattari mountains. "RELIGION" In Pompeii there was a mixture of different religions. In fact, besides the first Osco-Samnite and Italic cults, the Pompeians worshipped: Hercules, who was the considered the founder and protector of the city of Pompeii; Bacchus, who was the protector of vineyards that were the principal sources of business; Dionysus, protector of gardens; Venus, protector of agriculture; Minerva and Apollo, protectors of the city doors; Iris, an Egyptian god who protected sailors. But they also worshipped the Laris, who were latin gods, protectors of the Family (as they were the family ancestors). "FREE TIME" In the afternoon the inhabitants of Pompeii, after a day of intense job, enjoyed themselves going to the thermal baths. There, thanks to the presence of different places, people had the possibility to practise gymnastic and different sports or to have massages. Instead, young people and athletes practised wrestling, boxing, racing and jumping in the gymnasium. The winners in these competitions were awarded with crowns and vases. In their freetime, the Pompeian loved also taking part in the “Ludi Apollinares” and the “Saturnali”, which where feasts and music competitions. The Ludi Apollinares were held in honour of Apollo in the period between February and July. The Saturnali, corresponding to our carnival, were played in honour of the God Saturn, the most important agricultural divinity, to wish a flourishing economy. During those festivities, all working activities were interrupted and people used to light candles to symbolise the sun shining for a longer time after winter. "MEETING PLACES" The most important meeting places of Pompeii were the Forum, the Amphitheatre and the Theatres. The Forum was the centre of religious, economic and political life. It consisted of a large rectangular square, that presented at one end the Temple of Jupiter, characterised by commemorative arches with fountains. In front of the Temple, there were administrative and political offices, where criminals were sentenced. On the sides, there were market places, where people sold food and clothes, some buildings destined to the imperial cults and the senate house. Besides, in the Forum the Pompeian people could listen to speeches of the orators linked to the events of the city. The Amphitheatre was built in 80 B.C. by two Roman magistrates: Quinzio Valga and Marco Porcio. It was composed of rows of steps, divided in three orders destined to different social classes: the nearest steps were occupied by judges and important persons, while the other ones by ordinary people. All sectors were roofed. The centre, called arena, had an elliptic form and was the area in which the gladiators, who were slaves and criminals, fought against each other or against wild animals. The Theatres of Pompeii were two: the Small Theatre, generally destined to musical and poetic performances, and the Main Theatre, built around the 2nd century B.C. and characterised by different places for actors and spectators. There people could see tragedies, comedies and satires, introduced by a prologue. "THE ERUPTION" However, the life and splendour of Pompeii were destined to finish. In about 62 A.D. a violent earthquake devastated the city and its surrounding countryside, while the eruption took place on 24th August in 79A.D. That morning, the inhabitants of Pompeii saw a big cloud on the Vesuvius cone. There was a heavy shower of ash, lava and the city was covered at first by white lapilli, then by the grey ones, that reached a depth of several metres, accompanied by toxic gases. Many inhabitants escaped towards the coastline, but they were suffocated, many others died in their homes. Two nearby cities, Herculaneum and Stabiae, were devastated by the eruption, too. "THE RUINS OF POMPEII" The ruins of Pompeii were discovered in 1628 during some renewal works in the valley of Sarno, an important river in Campania. The digs started around the 18th century by order of Charles III of Bourbon, king of the Two Sicilies. The excavations were made by slaves and young people. The research aimed only at finding materials destined to the museums or to the decoration of real palaces, while the dug up buildings, once spoiled of the masterpieces, were left without any care. In 1861, with the birth of the Kingdom of Italy, the Savoia royal family immediately showed interest in Pompeian discoveries. The new king appointed Giuseppe Fiorelli as manager of the digs; he was an important archaeologist of the time who introduced a scientific system, with diary of dig, catalogues of the found objects and invented the method of pouring plaster into the spaces left by the victims, obtaining some casts of the bodies. Still today we can see the plaster casts, that represent a sort of picture of the Pompeian population. "THE TESTIMONY OF PLINY" to The eruption of the Vesuvius was described in two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. According to the testimony of Pliny, the eruption started at midday of the 24th August 79 A.D. and finished in the afternoon of the day after. Besides, the Vesuvius wasn’t considered an active volcano and on its slopes there were many flourishing towns. These letters are the first description of an eruption and from that derives the adjective “plinian” when a violent and destructive phenomenon is described. In that period, Pliny was eighteen and lived with his mother and his uncle, Pliny the Elder, because he was orphan of father. In the first letter, Pliny tells the death of his uncle during the eruption,to hand down this tragic event to future generations. He describes a big and threatening cloud with a form similar to a pine, which came from the Vesuvius. Since a friendly family asked his uncle for help, he organised the rescues and found a shelter on the other side of the gulf. But the eruption was so violent to reach that area and Pliny the Elder died, suffocated by the gas coming from the volcano, while he was escaping. In the second letter, Pliny tells what happened during the eruption. He states that in the previous days the area had been hit by a series of minor earthquakes, which became more and more frequent. So, with his mother, Pliny left his uncle’s home and went out, among the crowd looking for a shelter from the rain of ashes and pumices. He describes some very dramatic situations: the despair of people and the death of many sea animals because of the waters’ withdrawal and the dense cloud, which made the sky dark. Besides, Pliny and his mother tried to get informed about Pliny the Elder, but they didn’t know that he had died. With that eruption the towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia were totally destroyed. "THE HOUSE OF THE FAUN" The house of the faun was a big aristocratic house, built during the 2nd century B.C. It was very luxurious and reflected the ideals of aristocratic Pompeian life. Its name derived from a statue of a dancing faun which decorated the hall of the house. This statue represented a naked man, with a thick beard and hair, while dancing. This figure was identified with a faun because had horns and a small tail. It was very refined and had the typical features of the Hellenistic art. In this house there were also a lot of paintings and mosaics which belonged to the 1ststyle. For example, “the mosaic of Alexander” that represented the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius 3rd, while this one was running away. This famous mosaic originally was on the floor of the exedra, but now it is exposed in another room. The other mosaics, instead, were framed by vegetable elements, craters, vases, birds and animals and represented different types of fish of the Mediterranean Sea, which the owner of the house used to offer to his guests. In the showcase there were some jewels, such as a couple of golden bracelets in the shape of snakes, and some pieces of furniture, such as a brazier and a food warmer made of bronze. "THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII" The house of the Vettii belonged to the two brothers Aulo Vettio Restituto and Aulo Vettio Conviva. They were very rich merchants and bought this house around the half of the 1st century B.C. This is the most beautiful building of Pompeii and has two atriums: the first is visible from the road, called Vicolo Vettii, while the second is smaller and reserved to the servants. The House was full of paintings about different themes, such as mythological scenes or unhappy loves. In the hall there is a portrait of a god which is the protector of the house: he is represented while measuring with a balance his errors, symbol of prosperity. The courtyard is characterised by fountains and statues made of bronze and marble, but there are also paintings about “Daedal and Pasifae”, “the myth of Issione”, “Arianna and the god Dionysius”. The dining room is the most beautiful part of the house, because it contains the decorations of “Amorini”; these are represented on a black background, while practising different activities, such as selling flowers and crowns, manufacturing perfumes and materials, preparing bread and wine.