The History of Pompeii - Essay Example

Pompeii The foundation of the of Pompeii was not a typical one. No one could claim to be the first person to set foot upon its soil. Pompeii was created by tongue of larva from the ancient eruption of Mt Vesuvius that stopped at the mouth of the Sarno River, and this lava cooled to form a knoll with a wide view of both land and sea (Leppman, 1968, also in The founding of Pompeii, 2005). Many scholars believe that it was probably the Oscans, the people of central Italy, that founded the town of Pompeii around the 6th century BC (Leppman, 1968, also in Wikipedia, 2005). The Etruscans are believed to have taken control of Pompeii next. The rectangular layout of the oldest section of Pompeii, the design of the original city wall, and the family names in Pompeii of Etruscan origin, are the evidence of Etruscan control of Pompeii (Leppman, 1968). The Greeks defeated the Etruscans in both 524 and 474 BCE and probably proceeded to take control of Pompeii (qtd. from Pompeii before the Romans involvement, 2005).As evidence, the hill near the mouth of the Sarno River or Sarnus River was used as a safe port by Greek and Phoenician sailors (Wikipedia, 2005). This theory is supported by the architecture and art in Pompeii that was influenced by the Greeks, such as the temple to Apollo mentioned earlier. Around 420 BCE the Samnites came to occupy the city of Pompeii (Leppman, 1968). The Samnites seem to have imposed their language, customs, and civic organizations upon Pompeii (qtd. from Pompeii before the Romans involvement, 2005). Roman involvement in Pompeii Rome entered onto the Pompeiian scene following the end of the Second Samnite War (290 BCE). The Romans landed their fleet at the mouth of the Sarno and sacked neighboring Salerno (Leppman, 1968). For almost two hundred years, however, the Roman rule of Pompeii was more a "matter of form than substance" (Leppman, 1968). Pompeii was under Rome's control, however, its inhabitants were practically independent (qtd. from Roman involvement in Pompeii, 2005). Although Pompeii was practically independent, its future was tangled with that of Rome. The Roman success in war over Carthage in the Second Punic War (218-201) and Romes victorious marches into Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria paved the way for an abundant economic enterprise for the Pompeiians (qtd. from Roman involvement in Pompeii, 2005). A colony of Roman veterans was planted in Rome as a punishment for Pompeiis role in the Social War (Carrington, 1994). Scholars have pointed out, however, that the Pompeiians ended up profiting in the whole ordeal, since Pompeii was quick to take advantage of the Roman destruction of neighboring Stabiae. This conflict did, however, mark the end of Pompeii's virtual independence, as Rome became much more active in Pompeii. This shift in power is borne out by the fact that ten years after the Social War, Rome renamed Pompeii Colonia Cornelia Venena Pompeianorum (qtd. from Roman involvement in Pompeii, 2005). Physical description The city of Pompeii has an irregular shape because it was formed by a prehistoric lava flow. Excavations indicate that the southwestern part of the town is the oldest, but scholars do not agree on the stages by which the walls were expanded or on who the builders were. The walls are 2 miles (3 km) in circumference, and they enclose an area of about 163 acres (66 hectares). Seven city gates have been excavated (Description of the remains, 2005). The chief street running in a southeast-northwest direction was the Via Stabiana; it connected the Porta Vesuvio, or Vesuvius Gate (144 feet [44 meters] above sea level), in the highest part of the city, with the Porta di Stabia, or Stabiae Gate (26 feet [8 meters]), in the lowest part. Through this gate came traffic from the Sarnus River and Stabiae. This street was crossed by two other main streets, the Via dell'Abbondanza and the Viadi Nol (Laurence, 1994, also in Description of the remains, 2005). Despite under Rome's control for a long time, Pompeii's city planning was greatly influenced by the Greeks. The town itself was laid out in a Greek manner, with long, narrow rectangular residential blocks divided by narrow side streets running perpendicular to the main avenues.Despite of some minor irregularities, the overall layout is well planned and rationally thought out (Pompeii's buildings and temples, 2005).The location of Pompeii on the map made it a nice place for human settlements.Mny scholars referred to Pompeii as a Garden of Eden (Wallace, 1994, 1995, also in The founding of Pompeii, 2005). As it was a perfect place for leisure in the days of the Roman Empire, many wealthy people began building summer villas there. Inhabitants of Pompeii included wealthy landowners, merchants and manufacturers, shopkeepers, artisans, and slaves. It was a thriving, prosperous place (University of Missouri Systems, 2003). As evidence, Roman elite, such as Cicero, sought respite from their daily lives at their villas in Pompeii (Wallace, 1994, 1995, also in The founding of Pompeii, 2005). Natural resources Pompeii was blessed with abundant natural resources and well maintained by its people. Boats could be seen carrying cargo up the Sarno River and loading goods away to the greater world. Shipping and agriculture made Pompeii a prosperous town. In the fields outside the city, huge flocks of sheep sustain a flourishing wool industry. Grapevines running up the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius produced the notable sweet wine (The art institute of Dallas, 2005). In addition to its role as a trading link between the Italian interior and the greater world, it was a regional center for cloth making and dyeing, and a home for scores of artisans (The art institute of Dallas, 2005). Perhaps the most advantageous aspect of the location upon which Pompeii was its militarily strategic position. Situated upon this larva knoll, Pompeii's soldiers would have been able to see enemies coming from any direction (Leppman, 1968). This location would later serve as an economic advantage as well. Pompeii, in fact, was situated upon the trade route leading to Salerno and going down to Reggio Calabria (Leppman, 1968).Sad to say, Mt Vesuvius, which provided Pompeii's resources through its eruption millions of year ago, would later come to destroy the very same resources it had created (The founding of Pompeii, 2005). The Catastrophe On August 23, 79 AD, Pompeii looked like any prosperous city of today. People were busy trading goods, hearing news, socializing, and doing their daily tasks (Wikipedia, 2005). On the morning of the 24th of August AD 79, the long- dormant volcano of Mount Vesuvius blew up. Just after midday on August 24, fragments of ash, pumice, and other volcanic debris began pouring down on Pompeii, quickly covering the city to a depth of more than 9 feet (3 meters) and causing the roofs of many houses to fall in (The catastrophe, 2005). Surges of pyroclastic material and heated gas, known as nues ardentes, reached the city walls on the morning of August 25 and soon asphyxiated those residents who had not been killed by falling debris. Additional pyroclastic flows and rains of ash followed, adding at least another 9 feet of debris and preserving in a pall of ash the bodies of the inhabitants who perished while taking shelter in their houses or trying to escape toward the coast or by the roads leading to Stabiae or Nuceria (The catastrophe, 2005). Pompeii's usual population was probably about 20,000, but at that fateful time, it may have been crowded with summer visitors. About 90% of the people escaped as the eruption began. However, about 2,000 died of thermal shock, were crushed under falling debris, or were killed by hot ashes (University of Missouri System, 2003). On August 26, only three days from the eruption, the entire town of Pompeii fall into deep silence (Harcourt school publishers, 2005). Archeological findings Pompeii remained buried under a layer of pumice stones and ash 19 to 23 feet (6 to 7 meters) deep. The city's sudden burial served to protect it for the next 17 centuries from vandalism, looting, and the destructive effects of climate and weather (Pompeii AD 79) (The catastrophe, 2005). Then in 1748, Pompeii was discovered. The town of Pompeii has since been excavated to make known plenty of public buildings, private villas, and wall paintings. It was architect Fontana who actually discovered Pompeii in 1599. Fontana was digging a new course for the river Sarno when he stumbled upon Pompeii. However, but it took another150 years before a stern operation was started to uncover them. Giuseppe Fiorelli took charge of the excavations in 1860. He developed a technique of injecting plaster into the spaces left by the decomposed bodies to perfectly recreate the forms of Vesuvius's victims. Until that time, Pompeii and Herculaneum were assumed to be lost forever (Wikipedia, 2005). Since Pompeii was rediscovered in the mid-eighteenth century, it has been purposely looted, excavated, and looted some more, until nearly two thirds of the city was uncovered. Today, archaeologists are still trying to comprehend this notably unbroken city of Pompeii (Frankel, 2005). Most of the archeological digs at the site only extend down to the street level of the 79 volcanic events. Deeper digs in older part of Pompeii and core samples of nearby drillings have exposed layers of jumbled sediment that suggest that other events hit the city before the famed volcano as three sheets of sediment have been found atop the lava bedrock that lies below the city (Senatore, et al., 2004). Mixed in with the sediment, archeologists have found bits of animal bone, pottery shards and bits of plants. Using carbon dating, the oldest layer has been placed as 8th century BC, about the time that the city was founded. The other two dogged layers are separated from the other layers by well-developed soil layers or Roman pavement and were laid down in 4th century BC and 2nd century BC. The theory behind the layers of jumbled sediment is large landslides, perhaps triggered by extended rainfall (Senatore, et al., 2004). During early excavations of the site, occasional voids in the ash layer were found that contained human remains. What was discovered were dead bodies of Pompeiani who failed to escape piled up in their last moment of life. For some of them the expression of terror is quite clearly visible (Cioni, et al., 2004). In 2000, archaeologists found a wicker basket containing the silverware in the ruins of a thermal bath near the remains of the Roman city. The basket was filled with the volcanic ash that buried the city when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79 (Associated press, 2005). Experts have spent the last five years extracting and restoring the 20 pieces of silver that were left behind by their owners as they fled the eruption (Associated press, 2005). Culture and way of life Roman culture and law had become completely absorbed within the Pompeian way of life (Pompeii's buildings and temples, 2005). The excavations at Pompeii offer an untouched vision of daily life in a Roman society. They have revealed not only many treasures, but also many objects that are essentially useful for the comprehension of everyday life of a Pompeii's residence. In the buildings of these towns - from the monumental to the most simple - the ancient world appears in all its complication, with great clarity (Nappo, 2005). Ancient Pompeii was full of erotic or pornographic frescoes, symbols, inscriptions, and even household items. The ancient Roman culture of the time was much more sexually permissive than most present-day cultures. When the serious excavation of Pompeii began in the 18th century, a clash of the cultures was the result. A fresco on a wall that portrayed the ancient god of sex and fertility, Priapus with his extremely enlarged penis, was covered with plaster and only rediscovered because of rainfall in 1998 (Velocitydatasystems, 2005). Some experts believe that Fontana initially found some of the famous erotic frescoes but due to the strict modesty prevalent during his time, Fontana reburied them in an attempt at archaeological censorship. This view further proved by reports of later excavators who felt that the sites they were working on had already been visited and re-buried (Wikipedia, 2005). Before the Social Conflict, Pompeii was an independent city-state. Although Pompeii allied itself with Rome and contributed to the imperial military effort, Pompeiians originally defined themselves culturally as non-Roman (Wallace, 1994,1995). The language of public life in Pompeii was the Italian dialect of Oscan (Wallace, 1994,1995). Indeed, both the standard measures and legal status of citizenship remained Pompeiian, not Roman. Yet, even before the Social War, this cultural barrier was beginning to crumble. Like many other nations and cities, Pompeii was "drawn into the ambit of Roman military, political, and cultural influence (Wallace, 1994, 1995). The Social War served to accelerate the Romanization of Pompeii (Wallace, 1994, 1995, also in Romanitas in Pompeii, 2005) The role of women The people of Pompeii did not work exclusively for wages. Most people of Pompeii worked on their land and in their home, while upper-class men and women supervised households and estates. Although there were specialist cloth shops, all women were expected to be involved in cloth production: spinning, weaving and sewing. Slave and free women who worked for a living were concentrated in domestic and service positions - as perhaps midwives, child-nurses, barmaids, seamstresses, or saleswomen. There is also evidence that some women have higher-status positions such as that of a doctor, and one woman painter is known (Dixon, 2003). Women's domestic work was seen as a symbol of feminine virtue, while other jobs - those of barmaid, actress or prostitute - were dishonorable. Work such as sewing and laundering was reputable, however had a low-status. Nurses were sometimes quite highly valued by their employers/owners, and might be commemorated on family tombs (Dixon, 2003). Pompeii's Architecture The public buildings in Pompeii were mainly grouped in three areas: the Forum, the Amphitheater, and the Palaestra (Description from the remains, 2005). The forum is an open square or market place. It consisted of an open area with colonnades around the sides, surrounded by public buildings - temples, markets, and government buildings. This part of the city is where the religious, commercial, and government activities took place (Forum, 2004). There were several types of theaters used in Roman towns for different types of performance. For popular entertainment, like comedies or mime, they borrowed the Greek theater form. For large spectacles and sporting events, the Romans invented their own building design - the amphitheater. It was a large oval arena, surrounded by tiered seats - very similar to a modern football stadium (Theaters, 2004). Most Romans did not have baths in their own homes. Large public bathhouses were built to accommodate this passion. The baths were a place to get clean as well as a social center where Romans met friends to exercise and chat. Women and men went to separate baths or each had their own hours. The bath complex was made up of several rooms. Some were for changing clothes, exercising, and a series of rooms with progressively hotter water. The final step in a Roman bath was a plunge into a cold bath or swimming pool (Baths, 2004). However, more important than the public buildings, are the hundreds of private homes. These are unique, for only at Pompeii is it possible to trace the history of Italic and Roman domestic architecture for at least four centuries. The earliest houses date from the first Samnite period (4th-3rd century BC) (Description from the remains, 2005). For example, on the floor of one of the houses (Sirico's), a famous inscription Salve, lucru (Welcome, money), perhaps humorously intended, shows us a trading company owned by two partners, Sirico and Nummianus (but this could be a nickname, since nummus means coin, money). In other houses, details abound concerning professions and categories, such as for the "laundry" workers (Fullones). Wine jars have been found bearing what is apparently the world's earliest known marketing pun, Vesuvinum. Graffiti carved on the walls shows us real street Latin (Wikipedia, 2005). There are also numerous small homes throughout the city, many of them shop houses. Excavators now preserve as completely as possible all aspects of ancient life. The homes of the humble are as informative as those of the wealthy. Many roofs, second stories, and balconies have been restored (Zanker, 1998, Description from the remains, 2005). Religion As might be expected in a society that was in as state of rapid transition, the religion of Pompeii during the lst century and a half of its existence was a stream of many currents. The traditional state religion was one of practice rather than of religious experience. It satisfied certain enduring everyday needs of both the individual and society. Many of Roman popular beliefs and practices inherited from a remote past, which were, and were to remain, one of the enduring aspects of Mediterranean society (Pompeii AD 79) (Cults and religions, 2005). Domestically, the father of the family fulfilled the same office on behalf of the household under his care, offering daily prayers and gifts to the traditional household gods or other divinities that the family might hold in special honor. Another aspect of primitive religion that lived on into historic times was an emphasis on fruitfulness and reproduction, an ideology associated in popular belief with that of good and evil fortune as active forces that has to be no less actively fostered or diverted(Cults and religions, 2005). Conclusion The way of life of the citizens of Pompeii has been revealed in great detail with the discovery of Pompeii. The excavations of extravagant gardens, the atrium, erotic art, the brothels, ad materials for prostitution, indecent toys, and their architecture also reveal how Pompeii is much alike to most urban cities we have today. The art and culture of Pompeii may also be similar to some extend with of today's. Their lives are not at all distinct from today's civilizations, as seen from the excavated artifacts of Pompeii. Similarities include the love for architecture, toys, business, social functions, sports, entertainment, and even advertising. One notable similarity between today's civilization and that of Pompeii's is their sexual practices such as erotic art, pornography, sex toys, and prostitution houses. However, the main differences are, the lives of the people of Pompeii were cut short by the eruption of Vesuvius. Reference List Associated Press. (2005). Archaeologists Unveil Pompeii Treasure [online]. Imaginova Corp. Available from:. [15 Dec. 2005]. Baths [online]. (2004). Michael C. 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POMPEII The City That Time Has Not Forgotten [online]. University of Missouri System. Available from: http://school.stmichaelcary. org/Pompeii.htm. [15 Dec. 2005}. Velocitydatasystems. (2005). EROTIC ART IN POMPEII [online]. Velocitydatasystems. com.Available from: . [15 Dec. 2005]. Wikipedia. (2005). Pompeii [online]. Wikimedia. Available from:. [15 Dec. 2005]. Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. (1994). Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Princeton: Princeton. Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. (1995). Public Honor and Private Shame: The Urban Texture of Pompeii: Urban Society in Roman Italy. St. Martin Press. New York. Zanker, Paul. (1998). Pompeii: Public and Private Life. Harvard University Press: Cambridge. Bibliography Associated Press. (2005). Archaeologists Unveil Pompeii Treasure [online]. Imaginova Corp. Available from:. [15 Dec. 2005]. Baths [online]. (2004). Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester and Dallas Museum of Art. Available from: . [15 Dec. 2005]. Cioni, R.; Gurioli, L.; Lanza, R.; Zanella, E. (2004). Temperatures of the A.D. 79 pyroclastic density current deposits (Vesuvius, Italy). Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth ,109. Carrington, R.C. (1936). Pompeii. Clarendon: Oxford. Cults and Religions [online]. (2005). Bates College. Available from :< http://abacus. bates.edu/mimber/Rciv/Pompeii/cults.htm>. [15 Dec. 2005]. Description of the Remains [online]. (2005). Bates College. Available from :. [15 Dec. 2005]. Dixon, Suzanne. (2003). Roman Women: Following the Clues [online]. British Broadcasting Corp. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/roman_women_04.shtml. [15 Dec. 2005]. Forum [online]. (2004). Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester and Dallas Museum of Art. Available from: . [15 Dec. 2005]. Frankel, Richard. (2005). Unguided Tour of Pompeii [online]. Ezone.org. Available from: . [15 Dec. 2005]. 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(2005). Bates College. Available from :< http://abacus. bates.edu/mimber/Rciv/Pompeii/roman.involvement.htm>. [15 Dec. 2005]. Senatore, M.R., J.-D. Stanley, and T.S. Pescatore. (2004) Avalanche-associated mass flows damaged Pompeii several times before the Vesuvius catastrophic eruption in the 79 C.E. Geological Society of America meeting. Nov. 7-10. Denver. The Art Institute of Dallas. (2005). Culture of Pompeii [online]. Mrs. Candace Uhlmeyer. Available from:. [15 Dec. 2005]. Theaters [online]. (2004). Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester and Dallas Museum of Art. Available from: < http://www. carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/ROME/theater.html>. {15 Dec. 2005}. The founding of Pompeii [online]. (2005). Bates College. Available from :< http://abacus. bates.edu/mimber/Rciv/Pompeii/founding.htm>. [15 Dec. 2005]. University of Missouri System. (2003). POMPEII The City That Time Has Not Forgotten [online]. University of Missouri System. Available from: http://school.stmichaelcary. org/Pompeii.htm. [15 Dec. 2005}. Velocitydatasystems. (2005). EROTIC ART IN POMPEII [online]. Velocitydatasystems. com.Available from: . [15 Dec. 2005]. Wikipedia. (2005). Pompeii [online]. Wikimedia. Available from:. [15 Dec. 2005]. Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. (1994). Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Princeton: Princeton. Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. (1995). Public Honor and Private Shame: The Urban Texture of Pompeii: Urban Society in Roman Italy. St. Martin Press. New York. Zanker, Paul. (1998). Pompeii: Public and Private Life. Harvard University Press: Cambridge. Read More