The Mystery of Trio Fascinating Classical Ruins
A trio of the most extraordinary classical ruins in Italy lie a short distance down the coast from Naples and close to the Amalfi Drive. The brooding temples of Paestum, gazing out across their lonely plain, are wrapped in mystery. Yet Pompeii and Herculaneum, the other members of this trio, are just the opposite. What makes these celebrated buried cities so infinitely moving is the volumes they speak, their power to conjure up an entire lost world.
Mount Vesuvius
August 24, A. D. 79, the good life in Herculaneum and Pompeii turned into screaming horror as Mount Vesuvius, the looming volcano everyone had thought was extinct, erupted and buried both towns under tons of ash and cinders. Thousands died in agony, trapped inside their homes or caught in the open. Centuries later many of the victims were found in the contorted postures in which they had perished, some with hands cupped over their faces as they gasped for breath.
Most of what we know about daily life in Roman times comes from these two lost cities, and discoveries are still being made.
First trip in Pompeii
A long brick path at Pompeii
One astonishing thing about Pompeii is the scale and splendor of its public spaces and buildings. The Forum, the town’s civic and religious center, entered through triumphal arches and forested in the past with statues of gods, emperors and local worthies, is still imposing. It was enclosed by handsome government buildings, porticoed halls of justice, colonnaded markets and noble temples to the gods. Such grandeur hardly seems to fit Pompeii’s actual status as a secondrate provincial town. But the public baths, the Thermae Stabianae, were, if anything, more impressive, occupying an elaborate vaulted building with separate areas for men and women and halls in the men’s bath for hot, cold and lukewarm bathing; marble floors in some of the halls were warmed from beneath by circulating hot air.
The nearby open-air theater, seating 5000, was equipped with huge awnings to shield audiences from the sun, and with reservoirs to flood the floor for aquatic performances. In back, surrounding a vast courtyard, stood the grim barracks of the municipal corps of gladiators. Excavators found a splendid arsenal of weapons there and 63 human skeletons, victims of the eruption. Among them, as tour guides never fail to mention with a wink, was the skeleton of a young woman adorned with expensive jewelry.
To be continued.
