May 17, 2024 - Classic Italy
Pompeii

The eruption lasted for two days.  The first phase was of pumice snow lasting about 18 hours, allowing most inhabitants to escape. Only approximately 1,150 bodies have so far been found on site, which seems to confirm this theory, and most escapees probably managed to salvage some of their most valuable belongings.

At some time in the night or early the next day, pyroclastic flows began near the volcano, consisting of high speed, dense, and scorching ash clouds, knocking down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating the remaining population and altering the landscape, including the coastline. It was the sudden, intense heat that killed whoever had made the mistake of not leaving Pompeii.  By the evening of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly.

A multidisciplinary volcanological and bio-anthropological study of the eruption products and victims, merged with numerical simulations and experiments, indicates that at Pompeii and surrounding towns heat was the main cause of death of people, previously believed to have died by ash suffocation. The results of the study, published in 2010, show that exposure to at least 480 °F hot pyroclastic flows at a distance of 6 miles from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings.

Upon entering the House of the Vettii, we immediately entered the Atrium:  the principal room of an ancient Roman house, which usually had a central opening in the roof (compluvium) and a rainwater pool beneath it. The atrium passively collected, filtered, stored, and cooled rainwater. It was daylit, passively cooling and ventilating the house.

The atrium was the most important room of the ancient Roman house. The main entrance led into it; patrones received their clientes there, and marriages, funerals, and other ceremonies were conducted there. In earlier and more modest homes, the atrium was the common room used for most household activities; in richer homes, it became mainly a reception room, with private life moving deeper into the (larger) house. The atrium was generally the most elaborate room, with the finest finishings, wall paintings, and furnishings.

We next moved to the House of the Faun, which had this large Peristyle.

The end of the Roman domus is one mark of the extinction of late antiquity. Simon P. Ellis wrote in the American Journal of Archaeology that it represented "the disappearance of the Roman peristyle house marks the end of the ancient world and its way of life."  "No new peristyle houses were built after A.D. 550." Noting that as houses and villas were increasingly abandoned in the fifth century, a few palatial structures were expanded and enriched, as power and classical culture became concentrated in a narrowing class, and public life withdrew to the basilica, or audience chamber, of the magnate.

But not just any mosaic.  This mosaic is a reproduction of the famous Alexander Mosaic, a Roman floor mosaic that originally came from this house, the House of the Faun.

It is typically dated between c. 120 and 100 BCE and depicts a battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia.  This work of art is a combination of different artistic traditions such as Italic, Hellenistic, and Roman. The mosaic is considered Roman based on the broader context of its time and location in relation to the later Roman Republic.  The original is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples. The mosaic is believed to be a copy of a late 4th or early 3rd-century BCE Hellenistic painting, perhaps by Philoxenus of Eretria or Apelles.

What the original Alexander Mosaic, also known as the Battle of Issus Mosaic, looks like now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.

The mosaic is made of about one and a half million tiny colored tiles, arranged in gradual curves.  The color scale of Roman mosaics are extremely rich in gradation. The process of gathering materials for mosaics was a complex undertaking since the color scale was based solely on the pieces of marble that could be found in nature.  Following the style of many other Hellenistic artists, the entire mosaic is composed of reds, yellows, black, and white.

The mosaic is an unusually detailed work for a private residence and was likely commissioned by a wealthy person or family.  Since the mosaic was arranged on the floor where the patron could receive guests, it was the first decorative object a visitor would see upon entering that room.

The Alexander Mosaic was preserved due to the volcanic ash that collected over the mosaic during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the city of Pompeii in 79 CE. This Roman artwork was found inlaid into the ground of the House of the Faun in between two open peristyles. The House of the Faun was a large estate comprising one whole block in Pompeii; this is an area of about 3,000 square meters.

A close-up of Alexander the Great  (356 - 323 BC) in the original mosaic.

The mosaic was rediscovered in 1831 in Pompeii, Italy, and was later transported to Naples in September 1843.

Passing through the Forum again.  The crowds had increased noticeably on our way out.
 

Judging from this map, I figure we maybe got to see 25% of Pompeii on our four-hour tour.  In addition to the museum, we didn't get to see the amphitheatre, or large theatre.  That said, we really enjoyed seeing Pompeii and would like to come back someday and spend an entire day here.