POMPEI

ENGLISH * POMPEI
SO WE GO ON, FOLLOWING THE WIDE COASTROAD ALONG WHICH PORTICI, HERCULANEUM,TORRE DEL GRECO, TORRE ANNUNZIATA PASS BY IN UNINTERRUPTED SEQUENCE, UNTIL BEBEATH US WE CAN SEE AN ORDERED NETWORK OF STREETS THE CITY OF POMPEI. BECAUSE OF ITS TRAGIC DESTRUCTION AND MIRACULOUS DISINTERMANT, IT PRESENTS A COMPLETE PICTURE OF A CITY WHOSE ACTIVITY QUITE UNFORESEEABLY CAME TO A HALT AS A RESULT OF ONE OF VESUVIUS'S MOST CATASTROPHIC ERUPTIONS, IN A.D. 79. AND SO POMPEI, QUITE APART FROM ITS ANTIQUARIAN INTEREST, IS A TRULY INCOMPARABLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION ON THE INTIMATE, ORDINARY LIFE OF CLASSICAL TIMES. IT SEEMS TO HAVE EMERGED FROM THE ASHES AND LAVA FRAGMENTSWHICH BURIED IT IN ORDER TO SPEAK TO US OF AN OTHERWISE UNIMAGINABLE PAST. ITS ORIGINS GO BACK TO OSCAN TIMES, IN THE SEVENTH OR EIGHTH CENTURY B.C. IT SHARED, MORE OR LESS, THE FORTUNES OF NAPLES: UNDER THREAT FROM THE ETRUSCANS IT ALLIED ITSELF WITH THE GREEKS OF PALEOPOLIS AN CUMA. IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C. IT FELL TO THE SANNITES, WHO ENLARGED IT. IT CECAME A ROMAN COLONY WHEN SULLA TOOK STABIA. IT FELL INTO DECLINE, BUT WAS BEGIINNING TO THRIVE ONCE AGAIN WHEN IT WAS UTTERLY DESTROYED BY ERUPTION. FROM ABOVE WE CAN SEE A SECTION OF THE ENCLOSING WALL DATING BACK TO THE FOURTY CENTURY B.C. THE FORUM STANDS OUT IMMEDIATELY. IN THE ITALIC TRADITION,THIS WAS NOT ONLY THE CENTRE OF INSTITUTIONAL POWER BUT ALSO THE MARKET WHERE PEOPLE MET TO BARGAIN AND CONTRACT. T IS ALMOST ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY METRES LONG, AND DESPITE THE TRUNCATED COLUMNS, ITS FORMER GRANDEUR IS APPARENT. TO THE LEFT OF THE FORUM, THERE IS THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO, WITH THE REMAINS OF ITS 48 COLUMNS,AND ON THE RIGHT, THE BASILICA WHICH WAS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT PUBBLIC BUILDING IN POMPEI. THEN THERE ARE THE BATHS, DIVIDED INTO MEN'S AND WOMEN'S SECTIONS,WITH THE CALIDARIUM,TEPIDARIUM AND FRIGARIUM, AND ALSO A PALESTRA OR GYMNASIUM. THE TWO LONG STREETS CLEARLY OUTLINED BELOW US ARE THE VIA DELL'ABBONDANZA AND THE VIA DI MERCURIO.
SOME OF THE MOST INTERESTING ROMAN VILLAS ARE TO BE FOUND HERE, SUCHAS THE HOUSE OF THE BOAR AND HOUSE OF THE FAUN, NAMED AFTER A BRONZE SCULPTURE OF A DANCING FAUN, THE ORIGINAL OF WHICH IS NAW KEPT IN THE NAPLES ARCHAELOGICAL MUSEUM. FROM UP HERE, WE CAN ADMIRE ITS PERISTYLE ADORNED WITH IONIC COLUMNS AND AT THE CENTRE A LARGE BASIN FOR THE FOUNTAIN.
THEN THERE IS THE HOUSE OF THE TRAGIC POET, WHERE THE GRAFFITO * CAVE CANEM * BEWARE OF THE DOG WAS FOUND, OF THE SURGEON, OF MELEAGER, DATING FROM THE SAMNITE PERIOD AND OF CASTOR AND POLLUX. THE MOST IMPORTANT IS THE HAUSE OF THE VETTII, AFTER THE NAME OF ITS TWO MERCHANT OWNERS. FROM ABOVE WE ARE UNABLE TO SEE THE PAINTINGS INSIDE, BUT THE READER CAN BE ASSURED THAT DAY ARE WORKS OF WONDERFUL GRACE AND VIVACITY, IF SOMEWHAT LICENTIOUS. THIS IS FOLLOWED BY THE HOUSE OF THE GILDED CUPIDS. ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLES OF A VILLA BELONGING TO A PATRICIAN FAMILY. THEN THERE IS THE VIA DEI TEATRI, WITH THE GREAT THEATRE, WHERE PERFORMANCES ORGANIZED BY PUBBLIC INSTITUTIONS STILL TAKE PLACE IN THE SUMMER, AND THE SMALL THEATRE, WITH A SEATING CAPACITY OF 1000. ON THE VIA DELL'ABBONDANZA WE FIND THE BEAUTIFUL HOUSE OF THE MENANDER, A LAUNDRY, THE HOUSE OF A GEMENGRAVER, A TAILOR, A BAR A SCHOLA ARMATURARUM A MILITARY ASSOCIATION, AND FINALLY, TOWARDS THE SARNO ANTRACE GATE, THE AMPHITHEATRE, WHICH COULD HOLD 12.000 SPECTATORS. OUTSIDE THE ERCOLANO GATE, THERE IS THE VIA DEI SEPOLCRI. SLIGHTLY BEYOND THE QUADRILATERAL ZONE OF THE EXCAVATED SITE, WE SEE THE FAMOUS VILLA OF THE MYSTERIES.
WE REGRET NOT BEING ABLE TO SEE THE PICTURES INSIDE. THEY DEPICT THE INITIATION OF A YOUNG GIRL INTO THE DIONYSIAN MYSTERIES AND ARE QUITE UNIQUE.