The ruins of Pompeii are quite a journey through a time- machine. My trip through the ruins began outside the walls of the city proper, with a walk through the tombs where the Romans considered it proper to bury their dead. I entered through the front gates, and found myself in a ghost town. The entire city has been astonishingly well preserved, from the worm-eaten lintels of the doors to the wheel ruts worn in the roads, which can be seen in the foreground of this picture.
Early in my journey I came across the glass case that houses an entire family of thirteen who were caught trying to scale a high wall and were suffocated and buried by falling ash and pumice. Due to the method of extraction the bodies are covered in plaster, preserving the position in which they died and even their facial expressions. I disliked looking at them--especially the children--so that's all I'll say on the subject.
Their ampitheater is far better preserved than the Colosseum, and the gymnasium (now a huge sunlit courtyard surrounded by Ionic pillars) was quite striking. An interesting fact: the Spartacus slave rebellion originated in this area! It was neat to stand in the center of the ring and imagine all the people and animals who'd struggled and died in that place. Gladiator games were very popular in the area and alot of the graffiti preserved in the place is about gladiators, their reputations, jokes about them, etc.
Most of the inhabitants of Pompeii were working class, and so many of the rooms are humble, but you can really get a sense of what it was like to be a Roman in the city in 79 AD.
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