Roman Relics Part 3: Pompeii

And, finally, we come to possibly the most famous of the three sites that I visited: Pompeii. 

I had been to Pompeii once before in 2003 but, I'll be honest, I didn't really appreciate what I was looking at. Yes, I knew it was nearly 2000 years old, but it wasn't until I visited this time that I had that 'WOW' moment where the significance of the site suddenly hit me. 

Although Pompeii is, of course, just as busy as many of the central sites in Rome, there were still plenty of moments during the day where you are suddenly and startlingly reminded of the miracle of the city that you are looking at. Nowhere did this hit me more than when I was stood in one of the quiet side streets near the House of the Faun, gazing up the street to the peak of Vesuvius. That night in 79AD must have been genuinely terrifying, and it came to life for me more in that moment than it has in any of the dramatisations that I've watched over the years.

2000 year old cart tracks running through the streets

Takeaway food, Pompeii style: storage containers in the counter

A lion painted onto a wall fresco

Mythical beast painted onto the same fresco

The rather extravagant entrance steps to the House of Julia Felix. They were built up over the usual pavement to illustrate her wealth to passersby

The atrium of the House of Julia Felix (sadly closed to the public currently)

Another angle on the atrium

View through one of the house's rooms into the courtyard beyond

The beautifully preserved black and white mosaic floor

The mosaic sign on the street outside the House of the Faun. 'Have' means 'greetings' (see also the new header of my personal Twitter page!)

The ubiquitous 'beware of the dog' mosaic at the House of the Tragic Poet': 'Cave Canem'

I was trying to find a quotation on which to finish the last of these three blog posts that would sum up the awe-inspiring power of Pompeii and Vesuvius, and found this incredibly moving extract from Statius's Silvae, written in the AD 90s:

'In a future generation, when crops spring up again, when this wasteland regains its green, will men believe that cities and people lie beneath? That in days of old their lands lay closer to the sea? Nor has that fatal summit ceased to threaten' (4.4.78).

 © Jenna Townend 2013