Pompeii

High on the list of the many must-see sites in Italy, Pompeii provides a day in the life of a Roman town frozen in time. From Public spaces to living spaces Villas and Insulae ,to Baths to Food Spaces , to the haunting body casts and the tombs. Intriguing businesses such as the Fullery. The above picture is taken from the Forum facing the platform where the city temple to the gods was located(the six columns). Mount Vesuvius looms above the temple. Note the mountain was originally twice as tall with just one peak.

Public Spaces

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Villas and Insulae

Villas are separate homes of the wealthy. The “family” living there would have consisted of not only the “Padre Famiglia” or head of household and his relatives, but house slaves. The main entrance to the villa was very important and decorated with mosaics. It opened into the public spaces, beginning with the atrium which was the center of activity. Next came the Tablinum, usually slightly raised which was the office of the Padre Famiglia, where he would greet clients in what was called a salutatium. Continuing back were private rooms, bedrooms and the formal dining room, called a triclinium, made up of three couches which would each hold three reclining guests. At the back of the villa would be a garden area, often with some type of water display.

Insulae were, on the other hand, the apartment buildings where most citizens lived – Insulae means island. They were multiple stories built around a courtyard. None of the apartments had kitchen or sanitary facilities. There would be a latrine on the ground floor level and a fire pit in the courtyard. Food was usually purchased and eaten at the many food stands around town.

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Body casts

There is nothing that brings the horrors of the disaster to life more than the plaster casts of human bodies and animals. In 1863 Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli developed the technique of filling cavities in the ground with plaster. In the 1960’s wilhelmina jashemski of the University of Maryland expanded on his ideas to identify plants by root castings. The total of these castings has revealed much about who lived in Pompeii, how they lived, what they ate and how they died.

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Tombs

Most tourists pay little attention to the tombs at Pompeii, but they are of interest great interest to archaeologists. Roman tombs were always outside the city walls, with the most prominent families tombs on the roads leading to the city, near the city gates. Cremation was the most common Roman custom with the ashes placed in the family tomb according to the individuals importance in the family. It was also customary for a family to have a meal to honor the dead at the tomb and offer food to the deceased on a Roman festival to the dead.

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Baths

Baths were always an important part of Roman life. Open to everyone, they were a beehive of activity. They were for much more than just bathing, Important citizens had business and political meetings. You could see a doctor or a lawyer, get a massage and more. There three large baths in Pompeii, The Forum Baths, The Stabian Bath and the Central Baths. There was a common palestra, or exercise yard, a pool and separate bathing areas for men and women. They used an ingenious system to heat the floors, the heat from the furnaces passed under the raised floor and up through the walls.

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Food Spaces

Although villas of the wealthy would have had food preparation areas, most citizens who lived in the insulae had no place to cook, so they bought food at the numerous food stands and restaurants throughout the city.

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Fullery

For me, the FULLERY OF STEPHANUS is the most interesting business in Pompeii. It is what we would call today a laundry. It was one of the very few buildings which had running water. Clothes were first placed in vats of urine (you read that right) and would be kneaded by slaves. they would then move to the first of a series of three pools of water. The first also had fuller’s earth to break down the oils. They would then move up to the next pool for a rinse and finally to the top pool of the freshest water. They would then move to the roof to be bleached using sulfur smoke. finally they would air out and be ready.

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