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| One of the victims of Mt. Vesuvius' eruption in August of 79 A.D. |
Monday 7/5/10
For readers who have just found this site, this is a travel-log of a Latin teacher's grant-funded summer study in Italy in 2010. Click here for more info.
Today our group took its first visit to Pompeii. The site is as hot and almost as crowded as I remember. One improvement is the fact that the ancient public water fountains have been fitted with spigots so we can refill our water bottles. Between that and the shade our group leaders tried to steer us toward, this was the most comfortable trip to Pompeii I've ever taken. It's my third or fourth trip over many years.
Today our group took its first visit to Pompeii. The site is as hot and almost as crowded as I remember. One improvement is the fact that the ancient public water fountains have been fitted with spigots so we can refill our water bottles. Between that and the shade our group leaders tried to steer us toward, this was the most comfortable trip to Pompeii I've ever taken. It's my third or fourth trip over many years.
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| Ancient water fountain with modern spigot. The worn spot is from ancient pots being lifted up and rested on the lip. |
There are two railway stations in
Castellamare di Stabia. To get the site, we got to the proper train
station and boarded the train to get off at the third
or fourth stop, Pompeii Scavi.
The tour itself was excellent. Different members of the group had been assigned different houses, and they had done their research and were amazingly well prepared. We saw the House of the Faun, of Menander, of the Small Fountain, of the Ponza, of Sallust, and of the Tragic Poet. We also saw the Odeon, which is the smaller of the two theaters, the temple of Isis, and the Fullery where clothes were washed. Mid-day we met with Steve Ellis of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. He is an archeologist in charge of a dig that is not open to tourists. He had invited our group to come to the site of his dig where he gave a fantastic presentation of the work his team is doing on the more “middle class” houses in Pompeii. I was excited to get pictures and video of archeologists at work for my students.
It was also interesting to learn that his team was excavating the drains of these houses, examining the food remains there to get a better idea of the diet of the residents. He said two houses looked the same, but the food remains in one showed that the inhabitants were probably much wealthier due to the wider variety of food and the fact it had been imported. Some was very exotic, like the knee of a giraffe, a unique find in Italy. A National Geographic special is coming out this year. It is a series and Steve's dig is in one part of the series. Its name will be “Rome Unwrapped” and this work will be featured in the Pompeii section.
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| Exploring Pompeii's forum |
The tour itself was excellent. Different members of the group had been assigned different houses, and they had done their research and were amazingly well prepared. We saw the House of the Faun, of Menander, of the Small Fountain, of the Ponza, of Sallust, and of the Tragic Poet. We also saw the Odeon, which is the smaller of the two theaters, the temple of Isis, and the Fullery where clothes were washed. Mid-day we met with Steve Ellis of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. He is an archeologist in charge of a dig that is not open to tourists. He had invited our group to come to the site of his dig where he gave a fantastic presentation of the work his team is doing on the more “middle class” houses in Pompeii. I was excited to get pictures and video of archeologists at work for my students.
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| Steve Ellis comments on recent excavations |
It was also interesting to learn that his team was excavating the drains of these houses, examining the food remains there to get a better idea of the diet of the residents. He said two houses looked the same, but the food remains in one showed that the inhabitants were probably much wealthier due to the wider variety of food and the fact it had been imported. Some was very exotic, like the knee of a giraffe, a unique find in Italy. A National Geographic special is coming out this year. It is a series and Steve's dig is in one part of the series. Its name will be “Rome Unwrapped” and this work will be featured in the Pompeii section.
I think I have walked around Castellamare di Stabia
enough now that I can find my way during daylight into town and back.
I have some errands to run while the stores are open, but now I need
to find my own necessities around our group's schedule. Today on our way back the
stores were still closed for the afternoon. They seem to reopen
around 5 PM. To give you an idea of the intensity, the earliest we
could get back into town was 4:30 PM, when we all desperately wanted
a change of clothes and a shower to cool down. After taking care of
our personal needs, our group will meet this evening at 6:30 for a
discussion and Latin translation session before dinner at 8 PM. Tomorrow we go to visit the temple of Vedius Pollio, to Cuma (ancient
Cumae) to visit the acropolis and the “Cave of the Sibyl” and
then the site of the ancient remains at Baiae “with its luxurious
accommodations for the very wealthy and its unusual baths along with
the Museo di Castello di Baia to view artifacts taken from the sea
and surrounding area,” according to our handout.
Tonight's session is in less than 15
minutes and I still want to have a chance to upload pictures to my
computer from today and yesterday, as well as the video clips I took.
Wish me luck!
I wish to express my gratitude to the National Endowment for the Humanities for making this portion of my trip possible.
I wish to express my gratitude to the National Endowment for the Humanities for making this portion of my trip possible.
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