Things you might not have known about POMPEII
*image is from thetimes.co.uk
So here's how this post came about.
A couple of months ago my daughter had to do a project on volcanos (whoosh, now that's an awesome blog post!) and because she had been misbehaving a bit in the weeks leading up to it I really cracked the whip out on this one. For some reason no one really kicks a stink up if you don't do a project at her school BUT it certainly improves the parent-teacher and student-teacher relationship if you do the projects. I suggested Mt Versuvius because I remembered the whole Pompeii thing and it would be easier for me to teach her something about it. She was fascinated and as a result remembered the content pretty good when she went solo in front of the class.
Today I went on a road trip. I don't really remember how we ended up talking about volcanos and Pompeii, but it came up again. As this was another adult in the car, I had to ask if she had heard of learnt about the same stuff I heard. OTHER stuff. So that's how I get to blogs. They just come up. Anyways, lets have a look and see.....
*image is from museumsyndicate.com
Mt Versuvius erupted on the 24th August 79 AD
Oh yup. You knew that. Good! Did you know that serious pre eruption tremors occurred in the weeks, and more specifically, the four days leading up this eruption (thanks Geologists and avid excavators) and not just in 64AD and 62AD? Even though some inhabitants actually evacuated back then, many stayed back in Pompeii for all kinds of reasons such as possessions, income, family ties and slave duties? It didn't seem like a big deal at the time because they were more worried about the tremors. They actually thought Mt Versuvius was really was just a mountain.
*image is from get in travel.com
Heaps of people live or have lived or work, even to this day, remarkably close to Mt Versuvius.
Soil is good. It's great for tourism. I have always lived here. I haven't died yet. I'm sure there's lots of other reasons. When Pompeii was wiped out in 79AD so was Herculaneum. These days there's plenty of rural homes most of the way up the mountain and densely populated cities, including Naples all around Mt Versuvius. I could type the names of the other ones down but I can't pronounce them. You can look them up if you like.
The body casts in Pompeii don't tell the story of people who were killed by lava.
When excavators were digging around in Pompeii they found signs of what people were doing in their final hours. Some were huddled together, some where shielding themselves, some cowered and some doing other things-adults, children, dogs. These people died from the layers and layers of (really) hot ash and pumice that pelted them consistently hour after hour and not lava. Hard to imagine? Me too. I'm not keen on finding out first hand though how that works exactly. Anyways, y'know what that means? There was bones! So as the story goes, as they got to each cavity during excavation they filled them and made casts. Some still have bones poking out. Kind of freakishly traumatic and educational at the same time.
*image is from italyinlimo.com
The People of Pompeii had a lot of art.
Some of them were about animals. So they loved their art. Pretty awesome.
Priapus, the god of fertility was the god of this slice of the Roman empire too so it is not unusual that there was a lot of nudity or sexual art. There was also a brothel, not too unusual. There's been pictures, wall art, clay work, statues and dining items all with people screwing animals on them, among other things too though. Don't get me wrong. There's other artwork there too. The Beastiality things stands out though. Some people argue that it's just art. Everyone's dead though so I guess we will never really know and won't be asking them anytime soon. Look it up if you don't believe me and look hard enough. I'm not here to write an essay. In fact did you know beastiality isn't illegal in all countries? Swallow that.
Anyways they loved their art and their sex. It's not a bad thing as long as it's not with animals. But that's just my opinion.
Well that's all for now. I'll leave you with two links. They are pretty ordinary. I'm feeling pretty ordinary.
Did you learn any new useless information? I'm full of useless information. Maybe you are now too.
Till next time.
-Mez
some other links to look at