Week 11 - Pompeii and Herculaneum Flashcards
Pompeii and Herculaneum
- located on the Bay of Naples
- best preserved cities from the Roman period
- 79 CE: eruption of Mount Vesuvius
The Eruption of Mount Vesuvius
- eruptive column 20km high of ash, pumice and gas
- Nuee ardente/pyroclastic surge
- Pompeii vs. Herculaneum
- Pliny’s account; he wrote what he saw
- people died from suffocation in Pompeii
- People died from pyroclastic surges in Herculaneum (way more ash)
The Date of the Eruption
- August 24th, 79 CE
- Evidence against an August date because of
1. autumn fruits
2. completed wine harvest
3. direction of the wind
4. newly discovered inscription - new proposed date: October 24th, 79 CE
The History of the Excavations
- ancient looting
- 1738 at Herculaneum. 1748 at Pompeii
- 1980: Earthquake causes the site to be closed
- Present: conservation work
Site Plan of Pompeii
- lots of roads
- Amphitheatre
- Stabian Gate
- a lot of the city is not excavated
The people of pompeii and Herculaneum
- plaster cast technique developed by Fiorelli, director of the Pompeii Excavation
- Boat house - Herculaneum
- People in their home - Pompeii
The Plants of Pompeii
- roots casts based on Fiorelli’s technique
- study of carbonized vegetation
- recreation of ancient gardens and vineyards
Statius, Silvae poem
- huge event in roman culture
- a lot of well known people lived in this city
- very sad
Roman Family and friends terms
paterfamilias: head of hosuehold
nuclear family: paterfamilias, wife, children
Enslaved people
- house-born or purchased
- manumission (freeing of enslaved people)
- freedmen (given citizenship)
Clients and patrons (fund projects that clients needed help with).
freedmen had to be client of their patron
Houses
the upper-class urban domus
- general organization from public to private
- atrium (first room)
- impluvium (hole in cieling)
- tablinum (home office)
- triclinium: dining room
- peristyle: garden surrounded by columns
- cubiculum: bedroom
Enslaved People’s quarters
- in larger homes
- distinction from the rest of the house: marginalization
- less decoration
A new style house
- axial-peristyle house in late first century
- more private house instead of public
- or maybe hosue became more public
Insulae
- roman apartment buildings
- where the majority of the population lived
- poor standard of living
The Roman Villa
- large country estate
- found on outskirts of city
- leisure function: for wealthy people to relax
- economic function: vineyard
- wide variation in the plan/style/size
The Villa of the Papyri
- located in Herculaneum
- only intact library still extant from Greco-Roman antiquity
- Greek library in here
The Getty villa
- build by J paul Getty in Cali
- designed on the floor plan of the Papyri
- mueseum
Decorations from Pompeii
- permanent mosaics and wall paintings
- moveable: sculpture, furniture etc
themes: mythology, nature/real life, erotica, memento mori (remember you will die) / carpe diem (seize the day) - wheel of fate, death comes for all
Wall paintings
- divided into 4 styles
- Pompeian styles
- styles are consecutive chronologically, but not everyone follows the trends
The First Pompeian Style
- simple coloured rectangles
- meant to imitate expensive marbles
the second pompeian style
- 3D images
- architectural feautures (like cities, buildings)
- not in frames
- maybe people represented
The Third Pompeian Style
- Augustan Age
- thin wispy columns
- no 3D effects
- central vignettes
The Fourth Pompeian Style
- large framed images
- figural or architectural
- spindly colummns, depthts
- scenes framed like PICTURES ON WALL
Graffiti
etching writing, scratching into surfaces
Tituli Picti
- painted (modern graffiti)
Political graffiti
- programmata (election notices)
- formulaic (i ask you to elect ____)
- intentional locations (sides of buildings and walls)
- parodies (negative endorsements)
Adveritising the games
edicta munerum
- advertising gladiators fight
- details about amount of gladiators and beasts
- artist name usually included
- painted by himself in moonlight
- largest part: name of person hosting the games
Literature
- references to existing literature and new compositions
- direct quotes from other poems
- carpe diem vibe
Erotic graffiti
- common throughout the city; often highly explicit
- Floronius: only six women
- I screwed a lot of girls here
- If anyone does not believe in venus, they should gaze at my girlfriend
An ancient competition
- two gladiators arguing about who is the bigger ladies man
