Vesuvius, Pompeii and Herculaneum: The Wrath of the Gods
This one is for my parents. When I was a tiny tot my parents had a book on their shelf called "Gods, Graves and Scholars" and it was about major archaeological discoveries. The first part of the book was about the volcano Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. I was too young to read so my mother described to me what happened. I was also too young to understand the concept of a year, much less two thousand times that number. But staring at the photographs in that book I understood that little while before there were radios, buses, planes and Dad’s Lambretta scooter, molten rock had poured down on the people of these cities.
Those tales and that book, which I still have, laid the foundation of my interest in history and they are what brought Ariba and me to the foot of Mount Vesuvius a few days ago. We were here to climb up to the cone of this sleeping giant – Vesuvius is still active though it has been quiet for the last 66 odd years - and explore the cities it ruined in 79 A.D.
(My personal blog at http://nissar-bologna.posterous.com has this same write up but also several photographs of all that is described here. Unfortunately changeeverything.ca allows for only 1 photograph, hence the duplication.)
Other than the path of destruction created by the lava flow the lower reaches are covered by dense forest. A motor-able road climbs up the side and at this time of the year wild flowers provide a riot of colour and fill the air with their scent.
The parking lot is about a kilometer from the summit and the vertical height to be covered is only 134 mts. (340 feet). But at more than 35 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) the heat was killing and the loose gravel like bits of lava under foot made walking very difficult and rather dusty.
Here the land is barren. But pausing for breath now and again you can see life creeping back. Half a century after the last eruption large chunks of solidified lava are covered with lichen - usually the first sign of life after a volcanic eruption. Here and there small shrubs have begun to appear and there are some small, stray bushes of jasmine – evidence that bees and butterflies are at work. No idea how long all this will last. Vesuvius has erupted 50 times since 79 A.D. and yet today 3 million Italians live in its shadow.
The caldera is about 300 feet deep. While we climbed we had seen clouds rapidly rising up from the valley below. Now as we stood and stared in sheer wonderment at this lunar landscape, we saw an interesting phenomenon. The clouds were billowing straight into the caldera – almost as if they were being poured in by an unseen hand. Half way down into the caldera, they disappeared. Back home watching TV every evening, I am used to hearing the pretty newsreader talk of cold fronts, warm fronts, high and low pressure ridges and such like. Right there, on the rim of the crater, the computer graphics were replaced by live action – evidence of the warm temperature in the lower reaches of the caldera.
Our next stops were Herculaneum and Pompeii, the two towns destroyed by the eruption of 79 A.D. Herculaneum was the rich man’s playground. Close to the sea, its residents took shelter in caves on the waterfront but to no avail. The lava that burnt them to death also cooled instantly because of the sea water, resulting in plaster-like casts of the victims which then lay covered in ash for 2,000 years. Archaeologists apparently found bodies huddled together in death, mothers with their arms wrapped around their children in a futile effort to protect their offspring. Nature spared no one. At Pompeii we saw the remains of 2 of its citizens. There was no signage in English to provide any detailed explanation. The photos are attached. Their expressions speak for themselves.
Unlike the chaotically curving and winding streets we saw all over Italy, 2,000 year old Pompeii has a meticulously laid out grid of streets and avenues. Very North American. At every alternate intersection there was an outlet for spring water, most now serviced by a municipal tap. It was traditional to eat the mid-day meal away from home and eateries are scattered all across the city. Large earthen pots were built into the counter and the counter tops were of polished marble. A few still exist though I could not ascertain if they were found intact or have been restored.
At one of the houses closed off for restoration, the workers had left the barrier unlocked. We simply HAD to trespass. Under a covered porch there was a horse cart. In a room deep inside was a neat stack of 3 foot tall amphorae. Some were broken others still intact. The food grains stored in them have long turned to dust. Yet 2,000 years later they still stood where the lady of the house had arranged them, just like the containers in our own kitchen pantry. How fickle life can be.
Pompeii and Herculaneum are not exactly at the base of Vesuvius but at a distance of a few miles. Yet so ferocious was the explosion that the citizens had no time to escape. 2 millennia later the giant still looms over the remains of the civilization it destroyed. Some of the homes are ruined beyond repair, others look as if they have been recently vacated and are waiting for the next resident who never did move in.
Driven by some strange logic that no one but a bureaucrat can explain, one of the most meticulously restored establishments in Pompeii is the city’s largest whorehouse. Double storied, it had 10 bedrooms on each floor and a bathroom. There is ancient graffiti on the walls. Some of it is in praise of the young ladies who plied their trade here (a few of them were apparently Chinese or Asian imports). Other graffiti artists have cursed the place for giving them a deadly disease or two. The beds were made of masonry and presumably had mattresses. The walls carried pornographic Greek art which was meant to either excite or educate or both. Several of the panels are still there. There are extremely graphic. (Photos NOT attached).
