Pompeii: Under the volcano

The Press

POMPEII: Few things fuel the imagination like the story of a long-lost and forgotten city that somehow gets found.

Relevant offers

International

Universal park for Singapore Loneliness of the solo traveller Edinburgh Festival follows sun World's best airport lounge named Rock'n at the Hard Rock Hotel Mt Everest to host gay weddings Europe's most eye-catching buildings How to rent a private island 'Nakations' - holidays for nudists Hotels to celebrate St Patrick's Day

Few things fuel the imagination like the story of a long-lost and forgotten city that somehow gets found.

As archaeological tales go, there is probably no better one than that of this ancient town in the Campania region of southern Italy. Just ask anyone who has ever made it through elementary school.

When Mt Vesuvius suddenly erupted in AD79, it spewed a mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke, ash and molten lava 32 kilometres into the sky, plunging Pompeii - a thriving commercial centre with about 20,000 residents - into darkness.

As prevailing winds caused the volcanic matter to rain down on the city and cover it in a thick layer of pumice and ash, fast-moving avalanches of boiling gas and dust poured down the side of the mountain.

Floors and roofs collapsed, and the people of Pompeii, along with the temples, baths, brothels and countless other buildings, were buried under up to 7.6 metres of debris.

After the eruption, Pompeians returned to dig through the ash and see what they could salvage. Emperor Titus even offered financial assistance for cleanup and recovery, but the wasteland could not be saved.

Abandoned and eventually forgotten, Pompeii lay lost to history for the next 1500 years, until workers digging a canal in the 16th century accidentally stumbled upon its relics.

It would take another 200 years before Pompeii, under the King of Naples, Charles III, of Bourbon, was recognised for what it was and truly explored in 1748. Scientific excavations started at the end of the 19th century and have continued ever since. Today, the archaeological site near Naples is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy, drawing more than 2.5 million visitors each year. Many who make the trek are eager to get a first- hand look at the famous plaster casts made of some of the victims.

But Pompeii is more about gaining an insight into how these people lived.

The ancient world comes alive when you wander along the same raised stone streets - many still bearing cart-wheel tracks - where Pompeians went about their daily business: to the Temple of Apollo, the town's most important religious building, across the street to the rectangular basilica, where justice was administered, and on to the colonnade-lined forum, a busy shopping area where elections were held and official announcements made.

Who knew that people in the first century enjoyed snack bars and public baths, and bought their daily bread from bakeries, instead of making it at home? Or that social life revolved around the peristyle, an interior garden surrounded by a colonnade of porticos? Or that Pompeians had such an affinity for colour, not to mention love of the pleasures of the flesh?

But there it is, right in front of you for the touching, seeing and imagining: the thermopolia, with terracotta containers sunk into masonry counters, where people would have bought hot food and drinks - it was customary to eat lunch outside the home; the House of the Baker, with its machinery for grinding wheat and its giant, vaulted oven; the richly decorated walls in the atrium of the House of the Small Fountain; the colourful, erotic murals depicting the various services offered in the 10-room Lupanare, the best organised of Pompeii's many brothels (not surprisingly, the line to get inside this building was 40 people deep).

The sheer scale of Pompeii is staggering. The archaeological area covers more than 66 hectares, of which about 45 hectares have been excavated. Even with a schematic map, it is easy to get lost amid the ruins, because building numbers on the audio tour (a must) didn't seem to match up with the numbers posted on the buildings.

Yet even with a good map or the services of one of the local guides who offer narrated tours of the hot spots, it is impossible to see it all in one day - Pompeii is that big. Thank goodness many buildings are often closed.

But unfortunately, the Villa of the Mysteries, a spectacular villa outside the city walls with Pompeii's best- preserved frescoes, was off limits to the public the day we visited.

Happily, we were able to see both the Forum and Stabian baths, where Pompeians would have bathed in the early afternoon; the Fullonica of Stephanus, where raw wool was processed and washed in a mixture of water and urine; and the sumptuous "fourth style" frescoes in the House of the Ancient Hunt.

We also made it to the stone amphitheatre, large enough for 20,000 spectators and one of the oldest (circa 80BC) and best-preserved amphitheatres in existence.

Was this the type of structure where Maximus, the Roman gladiator played by Russell Crowe in the 2000 film Gladiator would have battled?

More to the point, what caused the violent riot that broke out between fans in AD59 and forced the closure of the field for 10 years?

Many of Pompeii's most spectacular finds - say, the colourful floor mosaic depicting the Battle of Issus that was unearthed in the House of the Faun, along with sculptures, gems, glass, silver and a collection of Roman erotica - are safely housed in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale.

Modern-day graffiti mars a delightful fresco of a dancing woman in the House of the Lararium of Achilles. Then again, ancient Pompeians themselves were fond of scratching risque jokes, caricatures of famous people and "appreciative" remarks about beautiful women on the walls.

To me, the most haunting site was our last stop of the day: the Garden of the Fugitives, a former farm in the shadow of Vesuvius that has been cultivated as a vineyard. It is on these grounds that 13 doomed Pompeians were overtaken by a toxic cloud of sulfurous gas as they tried to escape, covered in ash and left in situ.

In 1860, archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli devised a method of producing casts of the victims by pouring liquid plaster into the cavities left in the hardened ash by the decomposed bodies. Today, the three families are encased in glass, with the children still close to their parents.

There are also ancient ruins at Herculaneum, a few kilometres away. Smaller and wealthier than Pompeii, this seaside resort was buried under a river of semi-liquid volcanic mud when Mt Vesuvius erupted. According to our guidebook, it is actually better preserved than its more famous cousin, with some of its original wooden staircases and furniture on display.

Next time, we will probably squeeze in a climb to the summit of Mt Vesuvius which, when the weather is clear, offers a sweeping view of the Bay of Naples.

It is still an active volcano, having erupted three times since 1906, but it is only from that perch, 1280 metres above the sea, that you can fully appreciate the magnitude of its power and the devastation it rained down on so many people so long ago.

Te Papa's exhibition, A Day in Pompeii, in Wellington runs until April 25.