Italia: Day 7
The visit to Pompeii on this day was perhaps the highlight of my visit to the "tourist" sites in Italy.
This city of 13,000 was frozen in time nearly 2000 years ago by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, shown here in the background of the main forum in town.
About 7,000 died, not because of the eruption itself, but because they came back for their valuables and were killed by a poisonous plume of sulfurous gases.
The dead bodies were subsequently covered by volcanic ash and eventually decayed, leaving an impression in the ash which was filled with plaster during the excavation of the city.
The city was highly organized and well thought out with self-cleaning streets.
Here's the remains of the temple to one of the gods.
The citizens were provided with baths, exercise facilities and no less than 14 fixed-price bordellos. Most houses were small and contained no kitchens. Accordingly, the people at these fast food places along the streets.
The wealthy, of course, owned larger houses with courtyards.
It is amazing to still see murals painted on their walls 2000 years ago.
Here are the main gages to the city for which only a portion has been excavated. As it is, you could spend days in this ancient place, discovering many old things you probably thought were newer than they are.
Of all the places we visited in Italy, this was the only one that exceeded expectations. Then again, it was the only city in Italy we visited that was not corrupted, in whole or part, by the Roman Catholic Church. How refreshing!
And, it was in Pompeii that I made the first of my two take-home purchases, a straw hat.
This city of 13,000 was frozen in time nearly 2000 years ago by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, shown here in the background of the main forum in town.
About 7,000 died, not because of the eruption itself, but because they came back for their valuables and were killed by a poisonous plume of sulfurous gases.
The dead bodies were subsequently covered by volcanic ash and eventually decayed, leaving an impression in the ash which was filled with plaster during the excavation of the city.
The city was highly organized and well thought out with self-cleaning streets.
Here's the remains of the temple to one of the gods.
The citizens were provided with baths, exercise facilities and no less than 14 fixed-price bordellos. Most houses were small and contained no kitchens. Accordingly, the people at these fast food places along the streets.
The wealthy, of course, owned larger houses with courtyards.
It is amazing to still see murals painted on their walls 2000 years ago.
Here are the main gages to the city for which only a portion has been excavated. As it is, you could spend days in this ancient place, discovering many old things you probably thought were newer than they are.
Of all the places we visited in Italy, this was the only one that exceeded expectations. Then again, it was the only city in Italy we visited that was not corrupted, in whole or part, by the Roman Catholic Church. How refreshing!
And, it was in Pompeii that I made the first of my two take-home purchases, a straw hat.
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