The Best Sites in Pompeii

Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert

Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist

www.dreamdestinations.com

Pompeii was a thriving trading center during the Roman Empire days about 1,943 years ago. It was not wealthy or poor—just a middle class port that prospered. Wealthy and poor lived side by side, as was often the case in many Roman cities.

Daily life for many was working in the fields, or other occupations and getting goods from the vendors, supplied by the port and local merchants. There were food vendors, wine bars, hotels, theaters to hear music and plays, an amphitheater and even brothels. As always in all societies, the wealthy lived lives of luxury in fine villas with great food and wine. The benefits of Roman control of the Mediterranean made life pretty good for most during this time.

A catastrophic event would quickly change the lives of the residents of Pompeii—on August 24, 79 AD Mt Vesuvius erupted (some scholars now believer it was 24 October 79 AD). 18 hours later, the city was destroyed, all who remained were killed (an estimated 2,000 of the 12,000 residents), and the city was buried under 20 feet of ash and pumice.

The city’s location was lost over time and lay relatively untouched until 1764, before archaeological excavations started and still continue today. We visited in 2011 and it appears that many finds continue to be discovered and are on display since our visit.

This large city is divided into regions based upon excavations. There are 9 regions (I thru IX).

So, let’s explore together and learn about Pompeii and get a little insight into what life was like in ancient times in a Roman city.

Forum

This was the center of life in Pompeii, as is the central place for commercial, political, and religious activity in Pompeii. It is located at the intersection of the two main streets of Pompeii.

There were no private houses in this area. The most important temples, government offices and a few markets line this space. The forum runs north-south for 142 meters and is 38 meters wide in an east-west orientation.

Among the structures and buildings that surround the forum are the Temple of Jupiter, 2 arches (Drusus and Germanicus), municipal buildings, the Comitium (an open air hall that was used in elections), the Basilica (used for administer justice and business negotiations and transactions), the Macellum (the main food market for the city) and the Eumachia (a wool trading business).

The temples of the forum are covered later in this blog.

In the far background, the round arch is the Nero Arch (previously named the Germanicus Arch), one of the two arch entrances into the Forum from the north. In the left, in the foreground with the 3 columns, is the entrance to the Marcellum (the covered market)

This is a view of the western side of the forum. The 3 columns topped by 3 smaller columns in the center of this photo is the entrance to the basilica.

Located in the eastern side of of the Forum, the Eumachia building was a wool trading business shop.

Inside the Marcellum (the covered market) in the Forum area.

This is a carved sign to tell residents that no chariots and carts were allowed in this area during shopping hours—it was pedestrian only. This is in the Forum area.
The sign below tells us this is in region VII (7) and site IV (4)—the system used by archeological investigators to study and catalog Pompeii.

The Streets and Fountains of Pompeii

This picture shows the cart and chariot ruts from the paved streets. The round raised stones are for residents as stepping stones to avoid the water that was used to clean the flooded streets by stepping stone to stone.

Teatro Grande and Little Theater

There are two theaters here—the large one that had seating for 5,000 and the smaller one which had room for 1,000.

The Little Theater was covered, had seating for about 1,000 and was used for music performances as the covering helped the patrons hear the music performances better,

Amphitheater

This was the place where the population was entertained by Gladiators and wild animals fighting.

This is the oldest stone amphitheater in the Roman Empire—the Colosseum in Rome was built a 100 years later.

The amphitheater is 445 ft by 341 feet. It was important to the culture of Roman society. Similar to sports contests today, the gladiators were advertised by slogans and painted posters. According to Wikipedia, one gladiator was identified as “Heart throb of the girls”.

These contests were seen as a reward for the citizens of Pompeii. Followers must have been intense fans of these contests—in 59 AD a deadly brawl happened between the residents of Pompei and the nearby residents of Nuceria. As a punishment, the emperor banned all contests in Pompeii’s amphitheater for 10 years.

Baths in Pompeii

There were five public baths of Pompeii.

The Stabian Baths are oldest preserved public baths from the ancient Roman Empire.

Some of the Domus of Pompeii

A Domus is a large or massive house that the Roman upper classes lived in during the Roman Empire. These villas were very important for aristocrats in Roman society as the reinforced their position and wealth.

In their Domus, the owners would meet with clients in the atrium of the villa to conduct business—the clients would see the magnificently decorated structures and the wealth it took to live in such a luxurious manner. There was constant pressure that these villas were tasteful and fashionable.

Here is a little about 4 of these large villas (there are more than these but these are generally considered the most important):

House of Menander

The House of Menander is a typical example of home of a high-ranking family. The house name comes from a picture in the building of Meander, a playwriter from Athens.

There were other high quality paintings in this villa. They include scenes of the Nile and paintings of the various battles of the Trojan War.

A box containing 118 pieces of silverware was discovered during excavation of the site and now are on display in Naples at the National Archaeological Museum. There is speculation that these were stored for safe keeping as the villa was probably under renovation when the volcano erupted.

House of Vetti

The house of Vetti was the home to two rich merchant brothers and is the best-preserved house in Pompeii.

Some researchers have identified these two brothers as freedmen or former slaves and perhaps these two chose two remarkable items in their atrium area as a result of their former poor life circumstances to let all who visited them they were quite rich and now prominent citizens,.

First, there were two large strongboxes. used to store valuables—a sure sign of immense wealth. The other display was a painting of the god Priapus, (I’m not making this up, as the Romans of this era often were quite open about sex and human body parts), who is weighing a bag of money against his rather large erect penis on a scale.

Instead thinking this is lewd, the painting has a real message. The penis represents fertility; the money wealth; and the scale is a measure of both—without balance you can’t have abundance.

No wonder this house has been a favorite of visitors to Pompeii.

House of Faun

This was the largest home in Pompeii—it had 40 rooms and covered an entire city block.

The house has a copy of the Alexander Mosaic, showing him in battle against Darius III of Persia and the small statue of a faun (half human and half goat). Both are replicas, as the originals are in the museum in Naples.

The home had 3 more mosaics that are now on display in the museum in Naples. There are the cat and hen mosaic, the dove mosaic, and the tiger riding mosaic.

A copy of the Alexander mosaic on display in Pompeii. Over 50 figures are displayed in this mosaic. The original is on display in Naples. The mosaic is 18 feet long by 8 feet wide.

This picture is from the British Museum in London showing the detail of just Alexander the Great during the battle. It is a copy as the original mosaic is on display in the museum in Naples.

Villa Del Misteri (the Villa of Mysteries)

On the road leading to the city harbor is a villa that displays frescoes of a woman being initiated into the cult of Dionysus (Bacchus to the Romans)—the god of decadence. This cult was forbidden, and the frescoes seem to depict a secret initiation right.

Pompeii’s Brothel

Lupanare (Brothel) fresco is the picture on the wall below. Romans used to call prostitutes lupe or she-wolves. On the walls of this tiny house there are frescoes painted with sex scenes and we are not sure if it was an advertisement of services available or they served as decorations.

Archaeologists believe this was the largest of the 25 brothels that were in operation in Pompeii.

Gladiator Barracks

This is the living quarter of the gladiators and the area where they trained.

It is located behind the large theater. Armor, shields, and weapons were found here during excavations.

4 Important Temples

Temple of Apollo (Forum Area)

This was originally a 6th century BC temple dedicated to the Greek and Roman God Apollo. Before Pompeii became part of the Roman Empire, it was a Greek outpost.

The Temple of Apollo is considered the most important religious temple of Pompeii. It was rebuilt between the 3rd and 2nd century BC and was the first temple in Pompeii. It is recognized as most important due to its age and Apollo was seen as the god of commerce.

Gradually, the Temple of Jupiter became more important in Pompeii and probably had more followers in the later era of Pompeii.

The Temple of Jupiter (Forum Area)

This Temple was built around the 2nd century BC. By placing the temple on a raised platform, it helped to make it more prominent.

While the Temple was originally to honor just Jupiter alone, the temple also later was used to worship and honor the Capitoline Triad (the gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva). In 80 BC, after the city was besieged by Sulla, this temple became the main temple in Pompeii.

The Temple of Jupiter is on a raised platform, about 9 and 1/2 feet high. Entrance to the Temple was by the 15 steps.

Temple of Isis

This Roman Temple is dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. It was discovered in 1764.

This temple pre-dates Roman times and probably was bult in 100 BC. Isis was worshiped as the ideal woman goddess—an ideal mother and wife; a matron of magic and nature.

Temple of Vespasian (Forum Area)

Vespasian was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 69 to 79 AD. This temple is significant that the population of Pompeii not only worshiped gods, they also saw their emperor as a god.

The altar in the Temple of Vespasian. The carvings depict a scene of typical sacrifice in Roman times—a man leads an ox to the Priests as they prepare to make an offering.

The entrance to the temple of Vespasian.

Mt Vesuvius

The volcano mountain that made this site available to us today, is still an active volcano. Mount Vesuvius has erupted at least 30 times or more since 79 AD.

This famous eruption was the so significant, that geologists created a name for eruptions based on the Roman god of fire and forgery—Vulcan. That is why we describe the cone shaped mountains as volcanos today.

Vesuvius is the only active Volcano in the European mainland and there is a potential that the 3 million people living near this volcano could perish if a major eruption happen again, so some call it the world’s most dangerous volcano.

Here are 2 photos of looming danger in the distance—a silent threat until that fateful day:

Our Final Thoughts

This is an eerie but significant site and well worth a visit. A word or two of caution—there is no shade in Pompeii, so bring a good hat, water, wear sturdy shoes and use sunscreen.

We hope you enjoyed this report.

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ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.

HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 50 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications: