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Pompeii Review

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Pompeii

Phone: 081/8575347
www.pompeiisites.org

Category: Archaeological Sites
Location: Pompeii

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Fodor's Review:

The site of Pompeii, petrified memorial to Vesuvius's eruption on the morning of August 23, AD 79, is the largest, most accessible, and probably most famous of excavations anywhere. A busy commercial center with a population of 10,000-20,000, ancient Pompeii covered about 160 acres on the seaward end of the fertile Sarno Plain. Today Pompeii is choked with both the dust of 25 centuries and more than 2 million visitors every year; only by escaping the hordes and lingering along its silent streets can you truly fall under the site's spell. Come in the late afternoon when the site is nearly deserted and you will understand that the true pleasure of Pompeii is not in the seeing but in the feeling.

As you enter the ruins at Porta Marina, make your way to the Foro (Forum), which served as Pompeii's cultural, political, and religious center. You can still see some of the two stories of colonnades that used to line the square. Like the ancient Greek agora in Athens, the Forum was a busy shopping area, complete with public officials to apply proper standards of weights and measures. Fronted by an elegant three-column portico on the eastern side of the forum is the Macellum, the covered meat and fish market dating to Augustan times. It was also in the Forum that elections were held, politicians let rhetoric fly, speeches and official announcements were made, and worshippers crowded the Tempio di Giove (Temple of Jupiter), at the northern end of the forum.

On the southwestern corner is the Basilica, the city's law court and the economic center. These oblong buildings ending in a semicircular projection were the model for early Christian churches, which had a nave (central aisle) and two side aisles separated by rows of columns.

The Anfiteatro (Amphitheater) was the ultimate in entertainment for local Pompeians and offered a gamut of experiences, but essentially this was for gladiators rather than wild animals. Built in about 80 BC, it was oval and divided into three seating areas like a theater. There were two main entrances—at the north and south ends—and a narrow passage on the west called the Porta Libitinensis, through which the dead were most probably dragged out.

The first buildings to the left after you've gone through the ticket turnstiles are the Terme Suburbane (Suburban Baths), built—by all accounts without planning permission—right up against the city walls. The baths have eyebrow-raising frescoes in the apodyterium (changing room) that strongly suggest that more than just bathing and massaging went on here. On the walls of the Lupanare (brothel) are scenes of erotic games in which clients could engage. The Terme Stabiane (Stabian Baths) had underground furnaces, the heat from which circulated beneath the floor, rose through flues in the walls, and escaped through chimneys. The water temperature could be set for cold, lukewarm, or hot.

Several homes were captured in various states by the eruption of Vesuvius, each representing a different slice of Pompeiian life. The Casa del Poeta Tragico (House of the Tragic Poet) is a typical middle-class house. On the floor is a mosaic of a chained dog and the inscription cave canem ("Beware of the dog"). Many paintings and mosaics were executed at Casa del Menandro (House of Menander), a patrician's villa named for a fresco of the Greek playwright. Two blocks beyond the Stabian Baths you'll notice on the left the current digs at the Casa dei Casti Amanti (House of the Chaste Lovers). A team of plasterers and painters were at work here when Vesuvius erupted, redecorating one of the rooms and patching up cracks caused by earth tremors a matter of days before. The House of the Vettii is the best example of a house owned by wealthy mercatores (merchants). The vivid murals here—except for those in the two wings off the atrium—were all painted after the earthquake of AD 62. Once inside, cast an admiring glance at the delicate frieze around the wall of the triclinium (on the right of the peristyle garden as you enter from the atrium), depicting cupids engaged in various activities, such as selling oils and perfumes or performing in chariot races.

There is no more astounding, magnificently memorable evidence of Pompeii's devotion to the pleasures of the flesh than the frescoes on view at the Villa dei Misteri (Villa of the Mysteries), a palatial abode built at the far northwestern fringe of Pompeii. Unearthed in 1909, this villa had more than 60 rooms painted with frescoes; the finest are in the triclinium. Painted in the most glowing Pompeiian reds and oranges, the panels relate the saga of a young bride (Ariadne) and her initiation into the mysteries of the cult of Dionysus, who was a god imported to Italy from Greece andthen given the Latin name of Bacchus.

To get the most out of Pompeii, rent an audio guide (EUR 6.50 for one, EUR 10 for two; you'll need to leave an ID card) and opt for one of the three itineraries (2 hours, 4 hours, or 6 hours). If hiring a guide, make sure the guide is registered for an English tour and standing inside the gate; agree beforehand on the length of the tour and the price, and prepare yourself for soundbites of English mixed with dollops of hearsay.

Cost: EUR 11, tickets are valid for one full day
Open: Apr.-Oct., daily 8:30-7:30 (last admission at 6), and Nov.-Mar., daily 8:30-5 (last admission at 3:30)
Metro: Pompei-Villa dei Misteri

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