Pompeii Flashcards
Campania
Geographical setting
South of Italy
Bay of Naples
Volcanic Plataeu of Mt. Vesuvius
Campania
Features
Fertile Soil - Fresco of Bacchus (centenary)
Soft climate - Pliny the elder
Access to water
Eruption effects
Pliny The Younger
Pompeii - Mainly affected by Plinean phase (ash and pumice rain) and 3 later pyroclastic surges above the pumice layers
Herculaneum - Light plinean effect, heavy Pelean phase - pyroclastic surge that carbonised the city
Early Discoveries
Late 1700s
Charles VII and his team
Found Herculaneum theatre
Odeon and Isis temple in Pompeii - Vega
Crude and destructive methods
exploited for political influence
Nature of 19th - 20th century excavations
Fiorelli
- uniform numbering system for buildings - 9 regions of insulae
- excavated from the top down
- plaster casts of bodies
Nature of 19th - 20th century excavations
Vittorio Spinazolla
- Via dell abbondanza
- revealed political life, economy (fullery) and entertainment
- reconstructed parts of buildings to conserve them
Nature of 19th - 20th century excavations
Amedeo Maiuri
- excavated glorious monuments (villa of mysteries)
- motive to glorify the past for state funds
- rushed, no documentation, misrepresentation
Representations over time
- Romanticism - ideal melancholic ruins
- falsely constructed scenes
- 19th century popular culture Opera and novel
- 21st century sensationalisation
Streetscape
Layout
- Street blocks - insulae
- geometric grids
- Pompeii enclosed by a wall with 7 gates
- Via Dell’Abbondanza runs from the Forum to the Ampitheatre
Streetscape
Roads
- volcanic material
- Repaired frequently with iron
- Wheel ruts show direction and paths for traffic
- raised platforms for pedestrians
Hygiene
- Street drainage
- subterranean sewers
- Gym (Palaestra)
- Public Latrines
Entertainment
- Barracks
Entertainment
- Barracks
Forum
- Religious, commercial and administrative buildings
- Eumachia’s building, Temple of Apollo, Lares and Capitoline Triad, Macellum and vegetable market
