Pompeii

pom-pa'ye, an ancient city of Italy. It was situated on the shore of the Bay of Naples, within a mile of the actual base of Mt. Vesuvius. It was a provincial city of importance and was the home of many wealthy Romans who maintained villas here. They traveled back and forth to Rome by means of galleys, or ships rowed by slaves. In 59 A. D. a riot took place in the amphitheater of Pompeii between the citizens of the place and the visitors. We learn from the historian Tacitus that many were killed and wounded on both sides. As a punishment, the Roman Senate ordered the amphitheater closed for ten years. It was large enough to seat 20,000 people. In 63 a violent earthquake shock ruined many of the public buildings. In 79 A. D. the famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius took place. Herculaneum, a neighboring city, was imbedded in a mass of lava. A mass of material, consisting of small stones and cinders and lighter material resembling ashes, covered Pompeii to a depth of eighteen or twenty feet, simply blotting the city and its inhabitants out of existence. Excavations were undertaken for the sake of finding treasure, but vine yards and mulberry groves soon spread over the face of the country and the very place of the city was forgotten. The best informed geographers were unable to determine its exact site.

In 1748 the city was rediscovered accidentally. Explorations were begun and have continued with increasing efficiency up to recent times. The volcanic material lying over the city has been carted away until many of the streets and blocks have been laid entirely bare and restored as far as possible to their condition previous to the eruption. The ruins of Pompeii are of interest to the historian and antiquarian. During all these centuries the city has lain undisturbed. The buildings, even to the colors on the walls, have remained uninjured, being protected by what may be called a light, fluffy volcanic ash resembling plaster of paris. It is now possible for the student to reconstruct a complete picture of a Roman city as it was at the height of Roman prosperity.

The city occupies an oval space surrounded by a wall about two miles in circumference. Turrets at intervals of one hundred yards or more strengthened the defences. There are eight gates, each protected by strong defensive works, in a state of poor repair, however, indicating that the day of their usefulness had already passed.

As a rule the streets are straight and are laid out with regularity. Two or three of the main thoroughfares are thirty feet in width. Usually the streets are from twelve to fifteen feet wide, including a footway on either side. They are barely wide enough for the passage of a single vehicle. Photographs of these ancient thoroughfares show that they were paved with slabs of stone, in which the wheels of vehicles have worn two deep ruts. There were stepping stones for pedestrians at the crossings. The houses have an oriental rather than a western appearance. They are built facing inward on an interior court. The outer walls are unbroken, save by a gateway or entrance and small, inconspicuous windows at a considerable height from the ground. Passing through these gates into the interior courts, however, the visitor finds that no expense was spared in the adornment of the villas of the wealthier citizens. Marble courts, fountains, colonnades of marble pillars, beautiful reception rooms, couches, tables, rich wood, vases, statues, and artistically decorated walls exhibit a high degree of wealth and artistic taste. A favorite decorative color is the so-called Pompeiian red, an effect produced by an oxide of iron paint. The decorators were evidently men of artistic training and no little skill. The mythologies of Greece and Rome were drawn upon for subjects. Flowers, birds, and wild beasts were worked in with skill. Mosaic work in marble veneer of differing colors was a favorite form of interior flooring and of wall decoration.

Domestic utensils, furniture, mechanics' tools, preserved fruits, various sorts of grain, loaves of bread, cake molds, fishing nets, pieces of decorated wall, statues, specimens of mosaic, and the like, have been placed on exhibition in the National Museum of Naples. Many inscriptions have been cared for in this way, but no manuscripts have been discovered. Among other interesting articles is a box of tablets on which are scratched the accounts of a banker. The walls of semi-public places were found to be covered with the scribblings of loungers; some of these are witty, some instructive, others merely coarse and scandalous.

The baths were found to be in so perfect a state of preservation that the details of Roman bathhouses previously conjectured may be understood here at a glance. The appointments for warm and cold baths, attendants, the care of clothing, etc., were found to be complete.

In certain parts of the city the lower part of the house, facing on the street, was planned usually for a shop. The front of the shop was open to the street, but was provided with wooden shutters to be closed at night or in time of disturbance. Fragments of these shutters have been found. Shops of silversmiths, cooks, mixers of hot drinks, bakers, grinders of flour, fullers, dyers, tanners, and painters have been identified. The office of a surgeon was also identified. Many of his intruments were of ingenious construction, but were made of bronze. In a sculptor's studio blocks of marble, half finished statues, and tools with which he worked, also of bronze, were found in a good state of preservation, as though he had left them and fled. Many of the buildings were entirely deserted, showing that the inhabitants had escaped either to the country or by way of the sea. In others, the remains of the entire family, including servants, were found, usually, however, in cellars or subterranean passages, in which they had evidently taken refuge. In all about 300 skeletons were found. For a graphic account of the horrors of the eruption and the blackness which fell upon the city, the reader is referred to Bulwer-Lytton's spirited novel, The Last Days of Pompeii. See also HERCULANEUM; PLINY; VESUVIUS.