Ancient Pompeii

Our time in Naples, Italy began first thing in the morning at
the ancient Roman town of Pompeii.

This site is remarkable and unique.  The volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD sent a cloak of ash and lava pouring down over this bustling town that, in an instant, both destroyed it and preserved it.  Two thousand people were lost and the area was abandoned until, in the mid-18th century,  a farmer working in his field uncovered something unusual.  

He mentioned his discovery to some explorers passing through the area.  

Soon, experts were called in and an excavation site was set up that continues to this day.  

With more than 20 feet of ash to sift through, the work is painstaking, 

but the resulting recovery has produced more

insight and artifacts of this era than almost any excavation in the world.  

The town center of Pomeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background.

Only seventy percent of Pompeii has been uncovered.  

A view of some of the continued excavation of the site. 

Our interest and enthusiasm for learning about Pompeii began during our studies before we arrived, but it was definitely stoked by our fantastic guide, Lello.  www.toursofpompeii.com

He kept us all riveted with his knowledge, stories, and enthusiasm.  At every turn he would

explain something and then say excitedly to the boys, 

"Do you want to see something even better?"

They were putty in his hands.  So grateful for for amazing teachers everywhere!

A crown of laurel leaves for the Optimist.  

They had the most wonderful scent!

Pompeii was a center for gladiator training.  Slaves were sent from all over the empire

to be housed and trained here in preparation for their famous matches.

In the center is one of the training arenas.  Around the perimeter are individual doors/cells.

Each gladiator/slave had his own quarters - approximately six feet square.

The innovation of the Romans was astounding.

In one of the theatres, Lello had the boys stand at the back and  quietly say, "one, two, three."

Nothing unusual happened.  Then he had them walk two paces forward and repeat the exercise.

Nothing.  Then two more paces forward to the place indicated by a very small grey tile.  This time, "one, two, three" sounded like, "ONE, TWO, THREE!"  It was unbelievable!  Suddenly, their voices carried with all the acoustic abilities of a real microphone.    

By the time we arrived at the next theatre, we were ready for a performance!

  No grey marker this time.  Instead, Lello magically drew a circle in the sand at just the right spot.  The Optimist ran up into the stands to test NoFear on the "microphone."  Even a whisper could be heard loud and clear.  Amazing!

Lello explained how seating in the theatre was designed.

The wealthy male patrons reclined on the lower level as demonstrated by The Optimist.

The next level had seat numbers, where more men sat upright at their assigned place.

And the women?  They were assigned standing room at the very top of theatre.  

Maybe this advanced Roman society still had a few kinks to work out.

The infrastructure of the town is amazing.  

Lello showed us a video he made just a few days before during a rainstorm.

We couldn't believe how this street turned into a rushing river.

This "crosswalk" solves the problem.  Look carefully next to the stones and you can see the ruts in the road formed by wagons and chariots of another time.

There were many "fast food" stalls lining the busy streets.

Lello called this, "the first McDonald's."

We thought of Dad when we saw this awesome pizza oven.

This stall would have served hot soups or stews kept warm in these clay pots 

and stoked with fires underneath.

The homes were richly painted.  Ancient Rome was a colorful place.

Here is a rare glimpse of how brightly they decorated their surroundings.

The excavation has produced thousands of intact artifacts - pieces of furniture and pottery, even jars of preserved fruit and whole loaves of bread.  

Of course, most sobering is the fact that the excavation has also yielded the remains of hundreds of people.  Archeologists have created a process of injecting plaster/epoxy into human remains that can create lifelike forms seemingly out of the dust.  

This process gives us a great deal of information about the people of Pompeii.  

We learned that they were considerably shorter than we are now - although the wealthy were generally taller than the poor - largely due to better nutrition.

We could also see that most of these people died of suffocation, as the molds produced from their remains often showed their mouths open as if gasping for breath or their forms huddled, 

seemingly trying to ward of danger and death.  

Pompeii is a town rich in discovery of innovation, culture, and tragedy.

Our time there was truly unforgettable.