The Tragedy of Pompeii

I remember briefly studying Pompeii at school so had an awareness of it before I visited. But nothing could have prepared me for the reality. 

Mount Vesuvius is a volcano near the bar of Naples; it is hundreds and thousands of years old and thought to have erupted over 50 times.

It most infamous eruption was on 24th August 79AD, when it completely engulfed the Roman city of Pompeii nestled at the foot of Vesuvius. The eruption buried the city and killed 2000 people and left the City abandoned for 2000 years. 

Mouth Vesuvius 

Pompeii remained mostly untouched until 1748, when a group of explorers arrived in Campania and began to dig. They found that the ashes had acted as the most amazing preservative.

Underneath all that dust, Pompeii was almost exactly as it had been 2,000 years before. Its buildings were intact. People had been frozen exactly where they had fallen. They discovered everyday objects and household goods had littered the streets. Later archaeologists even uncovered jars of preserved fruit and loaves of bread! Almost 3 centuries later Pompeii is still being uncovered and new and exciting finds discover all the time.

This Bedroom is thought be the local Brothel

When Vesuvius started to erupt it sent plumes high into the air, so that people from hundreds of miles around could see, at this time many Pompeian’s took the decision to flee the city.

For those who stayed behind, conditions soon grew worse. As more and more ash fell, it clogged the air, making it difficult to breathe. Buildings started to collapse. Then, a 100-miles-per-hour surge of hot poisonous gas and rock poured down the side of the mountain and swallowed everything and everyone in its path. Pompeii was now buried under millions of tons of volcanic rock and 2000 people perished.

When you read it like that it seems so much more real, easier to relate to all those people that died, not just a moment in history you have read about.

I have added some photos of a recent trip of ours, you really must see it to believe that this City was simply frozen in time with not much warning the City and its people became a living museum of Roman Life.

A Roman Theater 

The City is huge and has all the aspects you would expect to find in a Roman city. The streets are set out in a grid system, and have roads and pavements. The pavements have grooves where chariots and carts have worn them down, as the wheels have ground against the stone over many years. 

There is a town square, a theatre, even water areas where the City folk could fill their buckets of water. 

There was clearly some sort of class system in the City; you can see this through the districts of smaller and larger houses. Amazingly paintings have been carefully restored on the walls of houses and buildings throughout Pompeii.

I find it so sad that one-day people were going about their lives, and with hours a whole City perished, never to be seen for thousands of years.

This shows a poor dog looking like it is writhing in pain as the
 ash hits it, and freezes it in time.

And here is a Person, again frozen as they were in
the moment of time.

It is fascinating as you walk around Pompeii, had this tragedy not happened we would not have such a spy hole into the Roman way of life. It really is a must place to visit, the boys found it absolutely fascinating. Yet as fascinating as it is? A part of me felt so sad this tragedy ever happened.