Exploring Pompei

Since Inna booked a group tour in Pompeii (a Small Group Guide Tour with an archaeologist), we woke at 6:30 a.m. and dressed for the upcoming trip. Inna took a shower, but I decided to skip it (since I had taken one the night before).

We walked 10 minutes to the Sorrento Train Station, and I purchased two one-way tickets to Pompei. The train was already on the platform, and we boarded with 12 minutes to spare. We arrived at Pompei Scavi Villa Dei Misteri train station at about 8:30 a.m. (about 30 minutes ahead of schedule).

We met Lello, our English-speaking Italian tour guide, at Piazza Esedra. He explained how to use the restrooms in the nearby Vittoria Hotel and provided on-ear headsets for the walking tour.

Everyone in the walking party had arrived except for one group, who were running a few minutes behind schedule. When we were assembled, our guide took us to Pompeii to show us some of the excavation's significant highlights and explain Pompeii's history.

After the Volcanic explosion in October of 79 A.D., the city was rocked by earthquakes, tsunamis, and ash. Eventually, the entire town was buried in 21 feet of ash. Only 60% of the ash has been excavated, with 40% remaining.

According to Wikipedia:

Pompeii (/pɒmˈpeɪ(i)/, pom-PAY-(ee), Latin: [pɔmˈpei̯.iː]) was an ancient city located in what is now the comune of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Largely preserved under the ash, the excavated city offers a unique snapshot of Roman life, frozen at the moment it was buried,^[1] although much of the detailed evidence of the everyday life of its inhabitants was lost in the excavations.^[2] It was a wealthy town, with a population of ca. 11,000 in AD 79,^[3] enjoying many fine public buildings and luxurious private houses with lavish decorations, furnishings and works of art which were the main attractions for the early excavators. Organic remains, including wooden objects and human bodies, were interred in the ash. Over time, they decayed, leaving voids that archaeologists found could be used as moulds to make plaster casts of unique, and often gruesome, figures in their final moments of life. The numerous graffiti carved on the walls and inside rooms provide a wealth of examples of the largely lost Vulgar Latin spoken colloquially at the time, contrasting with the formal language of the classical writers.

Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors annually.^[4]

I did not know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised by the city's size and the quality of the preserved homes, shops, temples, and artifacts.

Our tour - Lello Small Group Itinerary - included visits to the following significant highlights in Pompeii:

1. Meet Lello at Piazza Esedra (next to Vittoria Hotel & Cafe)
2. Via del'Abbondanza (a street with shops and houses)
3. Forum (the civic center of the city)
4. Stabian Baths (Romans generally bathed each day)
5. Lupanar  (Brothel)
6. Pompei Archaeological Park

Lello shared a few interesting items of trivia about ancient Pompeii:

• Vesuvius Eruption
• We believe Vesuvius erupted in October because pomegranates (usually harvested in October) were found. Many victims wore heavier clothes that would not have been worn in the summer.
• When Vesuvius erupted, 2/3 of the mountain (initially 9,000 ft tall) was converted into ash, which was deposited on Pompeii, covering it with 21 feet of ash.
• After the eruption, there followed earthquakes, large tsunamis, poisonous gas releases, and 3 days of ash (during which the sun was blocked)
• Pliny the Elder tried to rescue survivors by sending the Roman fleet to the rescue, but died trying to dock (most likely due to poisonous gas). Pliny the Younger, who survived the eruption of Pompeii, wrote a few letters in which details of the eruption were recorded.
• Though many Pompeii residents survived, many decided to stay, unaware of the amount of ash headed their way. 
• People
• During excavation, the skeletons found had an average height of 5 feet. Today's people are much taller. The difference is primarily due to the Roman vs. the modern diet.
• Sea
• The Temple of Greek Aphrodite/Roman Venus stood next to the marina and was probably destroyed by the tsunami.
• The sea level was much higher 2,000 years ago.
• All of the products for the market were brought in by slaves (by hand) in the evening or early morning, without carts, as the road to the market from the seaport was too narrow. Many white stones were laid out on the road to provide visual cues (reflecting the moonlight) for nighttime travel.
• Brothels
• Pompeii had many brothels, some with 5 rooms (and multiple stories). The beds in each room were made of rock and were uncomfortable for extended stays. Since most customers were sailors (who did not necessarily speak Latin, frescoes on the wall helped to explain which position was desired.
• Wealthy landowners did not frequent brothels, opting to hire prostitutes for orgies instead.
• To help sailors find brothels, brothel madams would shout wolf. The sounds helped to guide the foreign sailors in.
• Civil Engineering:
• To help protect against earthquakes, most Roman columns had a bronze pole in the middle. During an earthquake, the column could flex (rather than shatter) and resist ground motion up to magnitude 6.0 on the Richter scale. Current concrete construction techniques also employ steel rods embedded in concrete to provide flexibility.
• The center of each house had a square hole in its roof to provide light and to allow rainwater to drain into an underground storage container
• Shops that needed a way to cool meats used marble (as it was an excellent insulator)
• Main roads were meant for chariots only. People walked on the sidewalks. Inside Pompeii, roads were narrower, so charioteers had to rent Pompeii-compatible chariots to ride inside the city
• White stones were installed along the sidewalks to help guide citizens in the dark
• All homes had lots of reflecting white stones to help see better
• During heavy rainstorms, the roads turned into rivers, making them dangerous for people to use. However, the Romans cleverly engineered the city grid to help divert the water
• All cities were laid out along a grid, with the East-West being the best part of the town, as it had the most access to sunlight
• Kitchens and bathrooms were in the same room because plumbing was required for both
• Roman shops featured sliding doors to allow heating or cooling as needed
• The theater was built in a semi-circular way to enable the sound to be amplified so that even a quiet whisper could be heard everywhere
• Sanitation:
• Since Pompeii did not have a centralized sanitation system, people dumped all of the feces and other items at night on the road
• Daily Lif
• Pompeii residents bathed each day at the spa. It was a place to clean oneself and catch up on all the daily gossip.
• The snake symbolizes health, as it sheds its skin to become healthier.
• Customs
• Roman marriages commonly occurred between children aged 12-13
• Affluent parts of Pompeii had separate streets where wealthy merchants lived (i.e, Beverly Hills)
• Most homes were decorated with a penis (with wings) for good luck
• Most Roman homes featured a separate bedroom for the wife + child (which was more significant than the husband's bedroom). Men and women slept separately
• Women frequently used a mixture of lead to paint their faces (a known poison) to help look prettier
• Etymology
• The word spa comes from the Roman town of Spa, Belgium, Aquae Spadanae
• The word barbarian comes from people who don't shave (and were considered uncivilized and unclean)
• The word candidate comes from the word candi - being honest with your fellow voters
• Theater
• During theater performances, men played women (and frequently wore masks that helped to amplify their voices)
• During theater performances, women sat separately from men to avoid distracting men with their beauty.
• Marble was used to amplify the sound in the theater
• There were special, reserved box seats for politicians and rich men
• Each theater seat had a Roman Numeral inscribed on it so that each patron knew precisely where to sit
• Amphitheater - means two theaters joined together
• The word Gladiator comes from the word for a weapon, "Gladius," used to kill the opponent.
• Most gladiators did not know how to fight and had to be trained for many weeks before fighting in the Amphitheater.
• Politicians frequently put on free combat shows because they were trendy. They helped win elections by gaining popularity among locals.
• History
• Robert Stephenson, the inventor of the train locomotive, used the Roman chariot to determine the width of train tracks.

After finishing the visit, we boarded our train to Naples, where we continued our trip.

Pompei Trip Report

Highlights

• Amazingly preserved homes, streets, and artifacts
• Lello was an excellent tour guide, explaining life in ancient Pompeii and providing the proper context for all the artifacts on display.

Lowlights

• The weather was sweltering (even in the morning), and we quickly tired of walking. The ancient Pompeii is much larger than I expected
• Crows of tourists were everywhere (and there were long lines to get lunch)