Pompeii
Ann with Mount Vesuvius in the background
We visited Herculaneum in the morning & after a traditional Pizza lunch (Margherita of course!) we visited Pompeii in the afternoon. What’s been uncovered in Pompeii is several times the size of Herculaneum. I have to say that trying to “do” these sites in a couple of hours each is an impossible task. There is so much to see & take in and even though we had an excellent, experienced guide in Raffaello, we didn’t really do them justice. Whereas in Herculaneum we looked mostly at domestic buildings, in Pompeii we were shown more of the public ones.
Amalfi Coast 2025 Photos:
(This preamble is largely taken from that of Herculaneum.) First a few facts you may or may not already know. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 was one of the largest ever known in human history. Standing in the ruins of Pompeii which is about 8 miles away from the volcano I found it difficult to take in the scale of what happened. When it erupted it sent a cloud of stones, ash, etc over 20 miles high and spewed out molten rocks at the rate of 1.5 million tons a second. The 20 mile high cloud needed to come down eventually and unfortunately Pompeii was down wind of Vesuvius. The city and its unfortunate inhabitants were blanketed by blisteringly hot ash & pumice 20 ft deep.
Porta Marina, one of the main entrances to the site.
The Forum and Basilica
Temple of Apollo
Notice the sundial on top of the column
The sculpture of Apollo shooting arrows is a copy – the original is now in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.
The Macellum – The Marketplace
Surrounding this space were the various shops selling food.
In a corner of the Macellum (above) there were plaster casts of some of the unfortunates caught up in the eruption.
One of the shops in the Macellum – the statues in the niches are copies.
The Temple of Vespasian
I thought that the altar was another reproduction as it looked too pristine – but I was wrong!
The Bakery
Raffaello in front of the enormous mill stones
The oven
The shop front with the groove to take the shutters
The straight & not so straight Roman roads
Street Signs
High up on the walls on either side of this entrance there are street signs. The one on the left shows the God usually known by the Greek name of Priapus, but I think the Roman name more interesting – Mutunus Tutunus. On the right there is an appropriate pointer to a brothel.
The entertainment area
The Grand Theatre
The Odeon
The Gladiator Barracks
