Today, we all woke up to go to the
eleventh floor of our hotel for a scenic breakfast and watched the sun rise over
Mount Vesuvius and the city of Naples.
The view was absolutely stunning.
We boarded
the bus to Pompeii and upon arrival, entered through a gymnasium area used by
ancient Romans. We discussed some of the
aspects and benefits of living in the vicinity of a volcano such as the high
soil quality. One of the reasons people
settled in this region was because they believed that Vesuvius was dormant. Lynn mentioned her experience with living
near Mount Saint Helens and the normality of wearing masks to protect against
volcanic ash in the air to give us some perspective on the experience of living
near an active volcano.
Next, the
group headed to the baths to listen to Cole’s presentation on ancient public
health. We discussed whether it was fair
to compare our modern methods of maintaining public health to ancient
ones. Cole pointed out that facilities
such as baths and fresh water from aqueducts were normally only accessible to
the wealthy. To this point, we were
asked to consider: “is it really public health if only the wealthy are
involved?”
The group
was able to see archaeologists at work as we saw all the preserved pottery and
the famous “crying man” of Pompeii. The
archaeologists were digging near the Temple of Jupiter and identifying and
storing pottery as we walked by. We were
excited to get a live look at the work these archaeologists still do at this
historic site!
After
visiting this famous area of Pompeii, we walked around the altar used for
sacrifices to the emperor. The carvings
on this altar seem to describe the sacrifice ritual, depicting the sacrifice of
a bull on the front and a laurel on the back which represents the power of the
empire. Some pieces of fat and other
pieces of meat were typically burned at this altar as a sort of offering to the
gods and emperor.
Mike and Lynn were excited as we headed to the next site: the “Villa dei Misteri” or “Villa of the Mysteries”. This villa is extraordinarily well-preserved with vivid frescoes and beautiful mosaics on the floor. We discussed the Cult of Dionysus depicted in the most vivid and renowned fresco within the villa. This fresco provides an instance of discourse, which contrasts with the more publicly depicted aspects of harmony and order associated with Apollo.
As a chance to see an instance of wealth in the ancient world, we walked through what would have been a two-story home and sort of hybrid public space. One of the most notable parts of this house was the intricate mosaic of Alexander the Great on the floor of the dining room. With our discussion of this, we talked about the lounge-style dining that the Romans enjoyed as we talked about at the Roman villa last week. We learned that this mosaic would be like someone today asking to have a piece of art commissioned for their home. In this way, it was encouraged that ordinary people were let into the home to see this work of art, which is a copy of a piece of art that we will see later in our seminar.
Our final
stop within Pompeii was the large theater that we initially caught a glimpse of
from the gym area. We discussed the
theater and then tried out the acoustics of the structure. Some of us went to the top to get a view of
Pompeii and listen to Mike play “Pompeii” by Bastille on his phone from the
center of the theater.
It was amazing
to explore Pompeii and envision it as it once was while discussing the
functions of specific structures and spaces. We look forward to making connections with our
visit to the National Archaeological Museum of Naples tomorrow using the
information we gathered from exploring Pompeii!
Ciao ragazzi!
-Aubrey Spicola
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