Pompeii is amazing!! Just wandering through the streets showed how the inhabitants of Pompeii lived life until the fateful day of 24th August 79 BC when Mount Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii.
Pompeii was founded in 600 BC. It was under the Roman Empire and was main business town in its time. It is a huge town (as we soon found out) with lots to see. Preserved ancient ruins are around every corner. Tall marble columns are found in the city square. It must have been an amazing prosperous city. As William said, it would be pretty cool to go back in time and see Pompeii come alive.
Pompeii had a population of 20,000 people. Of the 20 000, 2 000 died as a result of the eruption. We saw two of the poor helpless volcano victims that the archeologists had dug up. Mount Vesuvius was smoking and blew light ash for a couple of days. Very few Pompeiians knew these warning signs of a volcano. A lot of people escaped but others weren't so lucky. On the 24th of August the volcano blew off the whole top of the mountain, literally burying the city in a few short minutes.
Pompeii had a bakery with a massive pizza-like oven. They had wheat grinders and other kitchen equipment that had survived the volcano. We also saw the famous mosaic "beware the dog". The roman spas were amazing. They had a cool room, a warm room and a hot room depending on what temperature you felt like. Frescos (art) covered the walls and tiny intricate carvings decorated the rooms. That brings me to the water system they had. Three pipes ran around Pompeii. One for the spas, one for the private homes and one for the neighbourhood wells. If the water supply was short, first they would turn off the spa pipe then the private homes so that the neighbourhood wells could ensure that everyone had running water even when there was a shortage.
The Pompeiians really had it sorted. It's a shame that Mount Vesuvius had to destroy a city with such a bright future.
RSS Feed