Posted on July 4, 2012 by Canicus

Pompeii

Pompeii is a city which, had it not been for the tragic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, would have been a footnote in history. But as it turns out, we are provided more information about everyday life in ancient Rome than most other sources. The city is actually older than Rome itself, dating to early Etruscan (the name is Etruscan), Greek and Samonite inhabitants. Some of this is reflected in the ruins – the entry to the city is Etruscan, and there are many Greek names. It was an aristocratic city up until an earthquake a decade before the famous eruption. It did considerable damage, not all of which had been repaired when the city met its end in 79 AD. It was a bad year for the emperor, Trajan. A plague had killed many people, a major fire destroyed much of Rome and then Vesuvius caused extensive damage around the Bay of Naples. Titus did send rescue mission to the area, but recovery was hopeless. The ruins were discovered by accident centuries later during the construction of an aqueduct. The early excavations were concerned primarily with removing worthy artwork for European museums, where one has to go to see much in the way of statues, frescoes, mosaics, jewelry, coins and the like. Later archeology is more concerned with preserving, conserving and restoring. Not all of the city has been excavated.

Getting to these sites from Naples is “easy,” using the Circumvesuvio railroad. It is not elegant. DART rail is far superior. I have found the trains to be mostly very crowded, and it is difficult to determine your stop. Today I was very worried because the interior notice stop signs were not operating, if there were audio announcements I could not hear them because of the noisy passengers. To make matters worse, the window where I sat had been covered with graffiti so I could not see signage on that side; and the signs on the opposite side seemed to be also covered with graffiti and illegible as a result. Graffiti is nothing new in Italy – there is graffiti from ancient times at Pompeii and everywhere in Italy today. Fortunately the sign announcing Pompeii was clean. It is a short walk from the station to the site, but a very steep climb to actually enter the ruins which are mostly flat. We were serenaded by an accordion going to Pompeii and a violin returning. For reasons I do not understand the train was not at all crowded returning today.

I end up taking hundreds of pictures, not all of which can be put into the slide show, partly because some aren’t that good and even with the duds cut, there are still far too many. Today there is an overflow at the website.

I have quick dry clothing. Mostly rinse a set out when I get in and hang it up. Seems to be dry within 24 hours. Hotel Ideal is inexpensive, but needs new mattresses and for the first time in my life does not provide soap or shampoo. Strange. WiFi is free – but restricted to the bar and the breakfast room. So I do most of this not connected to the internet and then go to the break room to upload it.

My pedometer tells me I took 14,258 steps today for 6.75 miles, burning 609 calories. My doctor will like that, but not the calories consumed. My average pace was 3.0 mph and the elapsed time three hours, 33 minutes and 53 seconds. I suspect that not all steps are counted or timed.

Canicus Modius