Rome #4

Pompeii City! We spent a whole day in this historical place... it was fantastic tho pretty dusty.. by the end of the day our bodies were covered in a layer of grey ash... but wad to expect rite.. this Roman city was once buried under volcanic ash!

Here is a brief background info from Wikipedia!

Pompeii is a ruined Roman city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. It, along with Herculaneum, was destroyed, and completely buried, during a catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning 2 days on 24 August 79 AD.

The volcano collapsed higher roof-lines and buried Pompeii under many meters of ash, and it was lost for nearly 1600 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire.


Do you see a faint outline of Mt Vesuvius in the background? Its not declared dormant yet, calculated to erupt once every 30 years since Pompeii time but it hasnt erupted since then..


This is a Palestra or gymnasium in the area as seen from the amphitheatre. Picturesque and peaceful looking isn't it? Makes you wanna take a stroll in there now...







You'd think volcanic ash from an active volcano enough to bury an entire city would probably wipe out everything but no... the mosiacs, motifs, paintings were all relatively intact.. This represents one of the few motifs drawn at the entrance of the house left unspoiled by the ash.



So volcanci ash preserves everything it might seem.. yup.. it also preserves the humans.. This was the body of a man they found preserved beside the remains of a cow.. apparently he was on his way somewhere with his cart and beast when the ash descended upon them.




Here's the creepy bit: his facial expression... i feel his pain...

This is a supposed whorehouse/brothel of Pompeii.. so 'advanced' in that aspect hor.. to have prostitutes back then in early AD times.. haha.. This is a photo of one of the 'beds' in the brothel where customers are served.. looks a bit short to me.. but mayb Pompeii men aren't very tall? I mean look at the contorted body of the 'preserved man'...


To further add to the brothel look, here is an 'adults only' illustration on the walls of the brothel.. Use your imagination can you make out what the picture is about? haha...
As with all the things that remained... here is another fresco of sorts painted on the ceiling and skirtings of a room.. if i remember correctly, it depicts the Trojan war, but im not really completely sure...

There were very interesting stories behind these 2 murals on the wall! Very very interesting.. The one showing a couple i believe is a story of the man dying and the woman who loved him very much being very heartbroken and wanting to follow.. the one on the left.. i cannot remember.. must ask cherysa or shujun mayb they can recall!

Painting of Venus, goddess of lurrrrve! :)


An amphitheatre... i can imagine what it would look like whole... nice..haha..

Verdict: Rome is a must go for their rich history.. but beware of the weather in summer.. it can get really scorching.. the foods are a must-try too! People are friendly and although its said to have many pickpockets, we didn't really encounter any, but we did encounter lecherous indian/ bangladeshi/sri lankans who operate the call centres.. they see asian girls only they get all touchy feely..