The one thing I forgot to say about yesterday’s visit was the heaving crowds of school kids. All the ancient sites are free to visit for them and seen as part of the curriculum. Black is a very popular (not to say ubiquitous) colour for teenagers and the thought of walking around a load of old ruins in skin tight pleather trousers and matching jacket makes me sweat just thinking about it.
Anyway, Pompeii. Very large and complete Roman town with streets, shops, bath houses, houses, municipal and religious buildings all visible. Not intact, just visible. They started digging it up in 1748 which meant that there are no records of how it looked before restoration. I believe that, when excavations started, classical scholars across Europe were appalled to discover that the ancient world was very similar to the modern one – pubs, brothels, rude graffiti etc etc. Some of them wanted it covered up again, so attached were they to their vision of white marble and pontificating men in togas.
Welcome to Pompeii. On your left, the first stone amphitheatre anywhere in Italy. Previously they had been built in wood and demolished when the great man who paid for it went out of office. Republican Rome was anxious to ensure that no one’s fame outlasted their working life. Seats with poppies in the amphitheatre. Vineyards with Vesuvius in the background. I understand that they are trying to reverse breed a Roman variety of grape to see what their wine was like. Vis della Abbondanza – one of the main streets. Political slogans preserved on the walls. Cooked food shop. Better view of Vesuvius. Interior of a house showing the inner courtyard. The garden is apparently appropriate. Room with the bones of the people who died there. Replica cart. The iron wheel rims are original. The size was standard to ensure it would fit. The carts were also made so that the wheels would fit between the stepping stones across the streets. Carts were banned during the day and some research thinks that there was a one way system around the city. Replica slave quarters. The triangular forum outside the theatre.Picnic with cats. The building site behind says it is a cafe (a modern one). The site of the temple to the Imperial Cult. The altar shows Vespasian sacrificing to the gods. A plaster cast of one of the dead.
BEWARE! Rude bits coming up.
Priapus apparently weighing his penis at the door to the house of the Vetti. Fresco in a room called the bedroom of the cook – because it is next to the kitchen. Splendid frescoes in the house of the Vetti. Unfortunately slightly obscured by tourists. Cupids working – also in the house of the Vetti.
The Vetti – possibly brothers, possibly a couple, possibly just mates who had had the same owner, were freed slaves who had made a fortune through commerce. The Roman elite were forbidden from earning money by working (probably where the British aristocracy got the idea from) so the frescoes above were making a point.
The house of the small fountain. Self explanatory really. (The house next door has a larger model). Cave Canem – beware of the dog. Not a very good photo because of the shadows. Querns for grinding wheat. Poles are put through the holes which turn the top half on the bottom. Wheat was provided by the government and bread was often made in the bakeries of rich men for free. The Villa of the Mysteries. These frescoes were the only ones known in this style until about a month ago!
The frescoes show the initiation of a young girl into either the mysteries of Dionysus or the mysteries of marriage. This apparently involves flagellation and the unveiling of the central mystery – the penis!
o.k. By any standards, Priapus is showing off! Roughly how much is still to be excavated? The cast of the victim is very powerful, almost as though he was pushing himself upwards for a last effort. Most sculptors would struggle to create that level of movement frozen in time.
Pudding small, but does look rich.
The Retirement Travels 
o.k. By any standards, Priapus is showing off! Roughly how much is still to be excavated? The cast of the victim is very powerful, almost as though he was pushing himself upwards for a last effort. Most sculptors would struggle to create that level of movement frozen in time.
Pudding small, but does look rich.
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