Itinerary - part one

 

 

Marina Gate (1)

Built probably in the second century B.C., this is the most recent gate. It was built out of limestone from Sarno and was successively repaired with uncertain works. The minor portal was reserved for pedestrians while the other one was for vehicles. The steep slope and the absence of the characteristic tracks left by carts in the pavement would lead to the supposition that goods were transported mainly by mules on this side.

 

Basilica (2)

The  Basilica is a gigantic building (55 X 24 meters.) with three naves and a monumental entrance on the south  western  side of the Forum. Built in the second  century B.C., Pompeii's basilica is the oldest  example of this ancient  type of architecture which was very common in the Roman world. The  large vestibule ("chalcidicum") is probably where public notices were posted. The inside is made up of an enormous covered square whose roof is held up by 28 lateral columns which are at least 11 meters high. This justifies its interpretation  as a covered Forum. The wall decorations were made up of large slabs of stucco painted so as to imitate large blocks of polychromatic marble. At the end of the interior is the imposing yet austere façade of the "tribunal", or rather where judges administered  justice, raised on a two meter high podium. Thus the building had the double function of covered Forum and court of justice.

 

Forum (3)

The Forum was born from a market place at the cross of regional commercial roads, and became the center of the small city (VII - VI centuries B.C.); it reached its actual dimensions in the V century B.C.. The Forum was the center of religious, political and  economic life of Pompeii. At the end of the rectangular  square (143 X 38 meters) lies the Temple of Jupiter, framed on two sides with commemorative arches with fountains. Surrounding three of its sides are two  storied porticos with travertine columns. A few tufa columns on the south side bear witness  to a more ancient phase of the Forum, dating from perhaps the first decades of the first century  B.C. The ancient paving made of large slabs of travertine marble was pillaged after the eruption along with statues, some of which were equestrian, dedicated to famous imperial personalities and illustrious  Pompeians. Administrative and political offices, such as the Office of the "Mayors" ("duoviri") and the Office of the "Aediles" (or municipal chairmen), were placed in front of  the temple. The broad sides of the Forum had on the east the "Comitium" (the electoral seat), cloth and food markets along with edifices for the imperial cults, while on the western side were the prison, latrine, granaries, weights and measures office, and Basilica.

 

House of the Tragic Poet (4)

Excavated in the years 1824 to 1825, the residence represents a typical Pompeian house with an atrium and peristyle. Decorating the floor in the entrance is the famous mosaic "Dog tied to a  chain" with the words "Cave Canem" ("Beware of the Dog!"). The decorative elements in the house include famous paintings and mosaics, which today are almost all in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. In the atrium were paintings of scenes from the  Iliad, such as "Achilles and Briseis" and  "Zeus and Hera"; placed in the tablinum  were  mosaics  which portrayed "Theater actors" (which gave the house its name) and a painting of "Admetus and Alcestis"; found in the peristyle was the famous "Sacrifice of Iphigenia"; while the triclinum, next to the portico, was decorated with mythological subjects: "Venus with the nest of Cupid", "Ariadne abandoned", and "Diana".

 

House of the Faun (5)

The House of the Faun covers 3,000 square meters, an entire city block. Its grandeur and elegance is extraneous to the mediocre surroundings of Campania, but is rather comparable to the princely residence of Pellas in Macedonia. It was built in second century B.C., during the Samnitic period; it takes its name from the discovery of a small bronze statue (a dancing Faun) in the atrium. In 1831 on the exedra's pavement in the first peristyle, an enormous mosaic (5.12 X 2.77 m.) picturing the Battle of Issos (333 B.C.) between Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. It is probably the mosaic copy of a famous painting of the Greek painter Philossenos (fourth century B.C.); a million and a half tiles were needed for its execution.

House oh the Vettii (6)

The House of the Vettii displays the refinements reached  by the wealthy Pompeian bourgeois in the first century B.C.. From the entrance, where a "Priapus" is painted, one passes to the "tuscanic" atrium where wooden chests containing the family's treasures were displayed. Three large rooms open up  to the garden. The "Room of Ixion" has paintings of unhappy loves such as Pasifae and the wooden bull sculpted by Daedalus, whose union gave birth to the Minotaur. The "Room of Pentheus" has "Heracles  strangling the serpents", "The Torment of  Pentheus" and "The Punishment of Dirce". Finally there is the large triclinum, the most refined room of the house. There are long friezes painted with Cupids, perfumers, goldsmiths, vinters etc. on a black background. On the north side of the house is a kitchen, with a small room decorated with erotic scenes.

 

House of the Golden Cupids (7)

This name was given to the house after the find, inside a cubiculum, of little glass disks with cupids engraved on gold leaf and inserted into the painted wall. The owners belonged to the family of Poppea, Nero's second wife. The garden is very peculiar. Originally it was decorated with arble sculptures, hanging disks ("oscilla"), herms and theater masks. The domestic oratory ("lararium") was dedicated to oriental gods painted on the wall: Isis, Serapis and Arpocrates. The decoration of the black hall is particularly elegant.

 

The Stabian Baths (8)

The Stabian Baths are Pompeii's oldest baths. Built in the second century B.C., they were extended with the establishment of the Roman colony. During the imperial age they were restored a first time and a second time after the earthquake of 62 A.D.. Restoration works were still in progress when the eruption occurred, so the facility was not yet ready for use. The name of the building derives from its location at the crossing between Via dell'Abbondanza and Via Stabiana. The main entrance on Via dell'Abbondanza leads straight to the gymnasium surrounded by a colonnade. The gymnasium has an open bathing-pool ("natatio") and a large hall used as cleansing and dressing room ("destrictarium"). The facility is divided into a men's section and women's section, with the usual sequence of "frigidarium", "tepidarium" and "calidarium". Its ruined condition caused by the earthquake of 62 A.D., permits an understanding of how heat circulated both in the interspace of the walls ("concameratio") created by the use of spacers ("tegulæ mammatæ" and "tubuli") and under the floor lifted up by means of little pillars ("suspensuræ"): just like the system recommended by Vitruvius in the first century B.C. in his manual "De Architectura".

 


- A glance at history - A timeless city - Itinerary – part two -

For further informations about the Roman city buried by the fire of the Vesuvius, visit the site www.PompeiSepolta.com/. You will find many historical news about the city-life, the typical Roman houses, the education of the Pompeian youth, the games, the sports and the "ars amatoria" of our ancestors. From the section "Visit to the Ruins" you can enter directly in the archaeological area  and, virtually, in the houses, the places, the sacred and public buildings, discovering the secret of a city that will live forever in consequence of a tragic event that disseminated death and terror all over the surrounding territory.


This guide has been made by www.PompeiSepolta.com/. It can be freely copied, distributed, published or unloaded, leaving the same content and the reference to the author. If you wish, you can communicate its use to info@pompeisepolta.com.

Thank you.