Pompeii and Herculaneum

 Pompeii is among the most significant finds of antiquity. Not only is it a relic of 79 AD, when Mt. Vesuvius covered it in ash, but it is a far better example of the Roman Empire than Rome, the capital. Most of the Empire was in such towns as this, prosperous, well-connected, yet far from the center. In those sunny days Romans had summer villas on the Bay of Naples, and luminaries such as Virgil were fond of the region--what may be his tomb is in the western reaches of Naples.

A victim, plaster cast in skull

On 24 August in 79 AD Pliny the Elder was the senior military officer on the Bay of Naples. The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius first struck his interest, as a prolific naturalist, when it appeared as a huge "umbrella pine." As he began to get frantic appeals from across the Bay, he sailed to Pompeii. There, beneath the volcano, sheets of flame were terrifying residents of that lovely stretch of coast. But in order to inspire composure, Pliny the Elder decided to take a bath. Meanwhile courtyards filled with pumice and ashes, ever hotter and heavier. As Pliny the Elder investigated the water's edge to see if escape for the citizens would be possible, he suddenly died from the toxic sulfur fumes and heat that was fast approaching from the volcano. We have these details from his nephew, Pliny the Younger.

Temple of Venus

Two thousand years later we arrived at the frosty quiet station (ticket = 2,8 euros from Naples but the turnstiles are open anyway) and climbed the broad Roman streets, numbers on either side indicating rows of stone ruins. Excavations began in the 18th c., when Charles of Bourbon ruled Naples. His workers plundered what had not already been plundered, with orders to destroy paintings unworthy of the king's collection--lest they fall into less illustrious hands. The most beautiful mosaics and paintings are now in the Archeological Museum in Naples. Centuries later we see the bare city without the tops of most buildings. To navigate you need a map, because it is a dense urban area with addresses on either side. We were visiting off season, in December, and didn't realize that the necessary maps are available right at the train station, but there is also a bookstore just at the entrance.

Forum

Ascending the hilltop city through suburban thermes, the Roman Baths, we entered Pompeii through Marina Gate. Immediately on the right is the Temple of Venus--now a wispy romantic vista toward snowy sleeping mountains. The Temple of Venus had probably already been destroyed by an earthquake in 62 AD, and is now a bare memory.

Basilica

But just ahead is the evocative Forum, with double-leveled Corinthian columns as it radiates outward into a full city of clearly formed buildings, the most complete ruin we'd ever visited. In the cold misty morning, as rain water lay in reflective pools beneath mighty Roman columns, my heart surged with a prayer of gratitude to whatever gods protect our travels.

Eumachia traded in wool

Along the forum are religious and administrative buildings. Full sets of columns surround Apollo's temple. The Basilica's columns stand next to administrative buildings.

Across the Forum a huge stone doorway carved with acanthus leaves leads to the house of Eumachia, opening now to a grassy space enclosed with brick walls with niches. Beyond, the ghostly snowy mountains of Campania filtered through dark silhouettes of Mediterranean cypresses. Eumachia was a wealthy woman who traded in wool. In her home, as across the Forum in weighing and storage stalls, are a few of the plaster casts of Vesuvius' victims, sprawling, one with a skull intact, his mouth open in horror. A little detour south along the via dei Scholari turns up black and white mosaic floors.

Beware of the Dog!

Alexander Mosaic

Momento Mori mosaic

A set of thermes off the forum preserves delicate stucco reliefs and mythical bearded trolls in the niches, with an inlaid precious stone inscription on the rinsing urn. Traces of color are still on the walls. To the north are grand villas, like the Villa of the Dancing Faun, arranged around central pools with elaborate rooms for living an ideal life, half-sheltered, half exposed to the Mediterranean sky. A replica of the Alexander mosaic has replaced the original, now in the museum. This copy of a Greek painting in Roman era mosaics shows the fierce young Alexander defeating what is probably a composite of his enemies. Interior gardens are now filled with grass around marble fountains, peristyles and summer dining rooms.

Theatrical Mosaic

An inn still bore wall paintings of the clients gambling and carousing. Many of the mosaics that were extracted in Pompeii, and are now in the Archeological Museum, refer to a full life of leisure: theatre, acting troupes and musicians.

Good luck phalluses

Mosaic

Pygmies were a favorite subject of painting

We had lunch in the local cafeteria (a pleasant surprise: "salade di Sorrento") and found our way, despite many streets closed off, to the lupanare or brothel, where paintings of avid sex workers described various positions with their swarthy clients, probably gladiators. The erotic paintings found in Pompeii fill a "Secret Collection" with its own peculiar history. The rulers of Naples were shocked by the high volume of erotic art found in this respectable town. Rome had been the ideal of stoic virtue. They kept the growing collection under lock and key which naturally sharpened the appetite of visitors, young aristocrats on the "Grand Tour" of Italy, and wits. Now Il Cabinet Segreti in the museum, which ranges from simple mosaics of the naked "Three Graces" to explicit sexual positions including with animals, and an ample collection of good luck phalluses, is a glance into a far less prudish era.

Theatre of Isis

But back on the streets of Pompeii, a bakery still has its oven and many storage urns. In an older and more elaborate baths, Thermae Stabiane, stray dogs lay motionless in the sudden radiant sun, and colorful wall frescoes decorate rooms that meander around the central peristyle.

Down the largest street, Via dell'Abundonza, with its stone boulders so pedestrians could cross over the customary muck, we entered many shops and homes with wall paintings of Pompeiian red. Everywhere signs invited us not to interact with the stray dogs, who seemed very connected to the guardians, who in turn pretended indifference. But later I saw a mealtime being prepared.

The oldest section is a triangular forum with the beautifully complete Temple of Isis in fine marble friezes in a courtyard haunted with gentle mystery. It is an amphitheatre complex , still in use, with an Odeon, or concert hall, some of the marble facing still there.

Gorgon's Head mosaic

Out along Via dell'Abbondanza, past many courtyards now planted with russet colored vineyards and signs about the painstaking rediscovery of the plant species of Pompeii, there is a villa with more rustic grandeur, a perfect idyll of Italian landscape. The amphitheatre there is the largest complete one ever discovered. Barracks for gladiators surround a huge grassy open rectangle bordered by columns. Abundant space fills the open buildings.

A witch and two young women mosaic

Past a large affectionate female German shepherd we walked thru the idyllic necropolis in groves of cypresses and junipers, out to the Villa dei Misterii, a remote labyrinthine mansion where paintings of elaborate feminine rites have been found.

Necropolis of Pompeii

The works of art that have been extracted from Pompeii are at the Archeological Museum of Naples, that comprises the largest antiquity collection in the world. The mosaics and paintings retrieved from lava are snapshots of that world--a witch sitting at a table with two young women, a cat biting into a pheasant, Alexander defeating Darius, Gorgon heads everywhere.

The upper floor houses paintings, exquisite in their faded mystery, tantalizing colors, character work, mythological themes and expression of a people living in luxury. They were the wall paper of an elegant lifestyle.

Household gods and household serpents

In every house the household gods, Lararae, are pictured, often pouring libations, the propitious household serpents coming to eat the offerings. The Lares, sons of Mercury and the nymph Lara, were synonymous with hearth and home. They are young boys, in short tunics and high shoes, pictured in the act of dancing and pouring wine from an upheld drinking horn. Today one still reigns in the household, now called monacello. I dreamt of him often, even before I knew what he was--dressed in white is good fortune, dressed in red, not so good. Another recurring element is the snake, bringer of abundance, to whom were given offerings of fruit, pinecones and eggs.

Athena, Villa dei Papyrii

The excavation of another, more elegant town, Herculaneum, is ongoing--it was covered in a denser more resistant form of lava. There the Villa of the Papyrii has yielded mighty works, found in the dark, encrusted in the stone. Now we can visualize the airy elegance of that world, before the volcano. The workmen of that world--those who sculpted, and those who have excavated, seem to have achieved feats now almost impossible for the human hand.

Homer, Villa dei Papyrii

The Villa des Papyrii, overlooking the sea  but still largely buried in lava, is so named because many Greek texts had been painstakingly recovered from rolls of papyrus found there, encrusted with lava. Some of these are the only sources of these writings from the Greek civilization. There are also magnificent busts of philosophers, athletes and warriors and larger than life statues of gods that had bountifully decorated the villa.

We visited Herculaneum on a cold windy day. It is a denser, more elaborate city, nowadays somewhat claustrophobic, facing a wall of lava instead of the sea. You visit this city within a city, only 1/5 excavated, under housewives hanging their laundry.

Herculaneum, beneath hanging laundry

These once beautiful houses still bear marble linings for central pools and stairways but in most cases only a bottom floor. Where the upper levels have been restored, the houses are imposing, mingled with full cypresses against the azure sky.

Frescoes left behind

Fragments of fresco were left behind by the workers of Charles of Boubon. They damaged the whole in their rush to get the most beautiful artworks. The little that remains adds an impish spirit, with wispy pastoral scenes of satyrs. It is an interesting annex to Pompeii's sprawling mystery.

Triton Mosaic, women's baths

In one house has been found a marble table base with each leg formed as a lion's head descending into a paw. It belonged to Casca Longus, the first man to strike Julius Caesar in the Senate in 44 BC. Afterwards he became tribune of the people, but later died in the east, in 42 BC, together with Brutus after the Battle of Philippi in Macedonia. His properties had been confiscated and the table had ended up with this rich home owner.

A photograph of skeletons of the horrified, screaming inhabitants as they were unearthed.