Timeless Pompeii: Digging into Ancient Rome: Part 3

City Plan with Excavated Portions Indicated

Walking up the entrance to Pompeii for the first time I thought "Yup, another DEAD archaeological site. Another "rare" opportunity to watch the real time decomposition of brick and mortar! Yay."
I"m such an arrogant shit..and totally wrong as well.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
We all know what happened: big bad volcano go BOOM! and buried little Pompeii. It happened so long ago the best that most of us can manage is a detached clinical review of the subject. But if we try, we can make it a human experience and really feel it inside.
Pompeii was a wealthy city of approximately 10-20,000 souls-mothers, fathers, children. Full of bakers, civil servants, vendors, and businessmen. There were some wealthy people but mostly middle class living their life just like you and I.

The City of Pompeii and Vesuvius Erupting

And in the time it took me to write this sentence they were flash-fried where they stood.  Previously it was believed that inhabitants died from suffocation. After testing remains of bones subjected to heat, scientists conclude that many were killed from intense heat long before they ever suffocated. The air temperature climbed instantly to almost 500 degrees and snuffed out life immediately.
When Mount Vesuvius exploded the ash, gases and lava were thrust left and right of the volcano as viewed from the water. Looking at the two drawings below you can see the "safe" area in front of the volcano. You can also see where Herculaneum and Pompeii where located in the wrong place at the wring time. The bottom rendering is misleading: while the lava flow may not have gone straight down to the sea, the hot gases traveled as far as 16 miles. Nowhere was safe. If a like eruption happened today, 3,000,000 souls in Naples would be at great risk.

Wind, Gas and Lava Direction

Directionality of Gas and Lava Flow

Pompeii was buried in ash and pumice to almost 20 feet deep when Vesuvius" last angry eruption was complete (two days later). Everyone in the immediate area was dead or dying. Many fled by ship but were still overcome. Mothers, infants, dogs...everyone that day was among the helpless. Pompeii was gone.
Pompeii would not be seen again for almost 1700 years...

Timeless Pompeii: Digging into Ancient Rome-Part 1

I have not spent enough time in Italy.   If you think rubbernecking is rampant on freeways in America, you should try driving a mile in Italy without cranking your head around. In this case it's not to watch an accident but to look at glorious man-made creations of culture and art the likes of which do not exist in America.

I have walked for hours along the Via Appia outside Rome just looking at mausolea and burial sites. It's creations like the Claudian Aqueduct that have stolen hours of my life in quiet contemplation of Rome's virtuous and elegant engineering. The competence of Rome's technical prowess lies across the country like a satin robe on the frame of a noble being.

Every time I left some region or local of Italy it felt more like an appalling loss than a richly decorated privilege to deepen my appreciation of an ancient culture. Every time I was compelled to prioritize places to visit or overhaul my previous list it was like being fleeced by a thief. Surely I will not be compelled to choose the Curia of Pompey over the Baths of Caracalla?!

In my wonderings I have classified 4 working discreet layers of Italian culture: contemporary, renaissance, Medieval and classical. Any student of history will tell you this is complete bunk and that the culture is so much deeper. I agree. I can only plead that I only have so much time and gray matter to organize my sojourns!

I have visited Florence, Pisa, Napoli, Sorrento, and a dozen other places each of them have those layers I spoke of above. Each layer can consume a lifetime of research and study. Even at this macro level of detail I am forced to curtail, to pare away the rich, the beautiful and the marvelous just so I can see what is most meaningful to me.

And let's face it: I need to leave room and time for all the gastronomic ecstasy that is Italy! Damn I feel robbed.

Republican and Imperial Rome are my favorite periods. It's arguably the richest period of Italian history and it has another useful characteristic: you must dig through other layers to get to it. Case in point is the Curia of Pompey which is where Caesar was murdered. Much of the stone is located around Rome in other structures and there are many layers built upon its remains.

All these layers are as complicating as they are wondrous.  You can spend a vacation just in Rome buried (excuse the pun) in  its medieval history. I don’t have time for this. Wait…no, I mean, oh, hell! An average life span of 72 years for a male is just not enough TIME!!! To illustrate my point, look at the Sistine Chapel. I have stood until my feet were sore and I was just looking at a segment of the ceiling.

Not only does wonder and joy beat you into submission in this city, so too does time. Each and every visit you discover more of the culture…to leave off your list until next time! It’s maddening!
There is only one solution to the crazed mania induced by Italian culture overload: The Surgical Strike Vacation!

This is the strategy I apply to places like Italy and that’s how to do Pompeii or Kyoto or Peking for that matter.  Any place that buries you up to the waist in things to do and places to see the minute you get off the airplane are best seen in this fashion. Forget the once in a life-time experience! Go again and again. Scrimp, save, barrow (steal?) whatever you must, just go and go again!
This is how to do Pompeii and perhaps Herculaneum. In the next post we’ll discover my journey through Pompeii. Stick around…

Capri by the Sea