Pompeii was covered by volcanic ash by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. It preserves an almost photographic record of what the lower part of the city looked like at that time. Consequently, we can see many aspects of the daily economic life that literary sources never bother to mention.
Left: Vesuvius seen from Pompeii, the destroyer and the destroyed . The peak of Vesuvius to the left was created by recent eruptions; the lower one to the right is a crater of an early one. Only a few of ancients recognized that Vesuvius was a volcano. One of these was the geographer Strabo, but even he thought it extinct.
The ancient economy largely centered around the household, and Pompei preserves beautifully a number of them. Most, like this, have an atrium surrounded on four sides by a columned portico, an excellent arrangement for a country with hot summers and warm winters.
Several trades are represented in Pompeii. Prominent among them are the bakers, where shops have saddle querns like those shown here on the left for grinding grain. The lower stone of each quern is almost conical with a rounded point. The X-shaped "saddle" stone sits atop it. Grain was poured into the top of the saddle, which then was ground between the two stones as the saddle was turned by men walking around the quern pushing on wooden beams inserted into the rectangular holes in the center of the saddles.
The ash of Vesuvius of course killed the plants in the gardens of Pompeii. Gradually, as the roots decayed in the ground, the ash sank in to replace the root material. Archeologists have been able to remove the ash using instruments similar to bronchoscopes designed to remove objects from the human lung. The cavatives were then filled with cement, and the earth then removed from around the cement, revealing the shape of the roots. From the root casts and the surface ground forms, the type of plant and to some extent the method of cultivation could them be determined. The modern gardens in the excavated area are based on this information.
All pictures on this page were made by Maryland students in January 2001.
We will read the description of the destruction by Pliny the Younger, an eye witness. Many of the best pieces from Pompeii have been removed for safe keeping to the National Archelogical Museum in Naples, which we will visit.
The University of Maryland is actively involved in planning the restoration of ancient Stabiae, another ancient site covered by the ash of Vesuvius. We will try to visit meet with people working on this project.
Pompeii is the subject of a number of web sites in English. You will have no trouble finding them with Google.
