Topic 9: A ROMAN CITY: POMPEII

The aim of this topic is to introduce students to the everyday life of the Romans. It should be pointed out that because of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, Pompeii is the bestpreserved Roman site and therefore the most important site for a study of Roman life.

The following are necessary to illustrate this topic:

• Map of Italy
• Plan of the city of Pompeii

• Plan of the Forum and its buildings

1. Position

• Italy - Campania
• Bay of Naples
• on promontory formed by earlier eruptions of Vesuvius
• River Sarno

2. There was a settlement here because of

• defence - promontory
• the fertile soil - volcanic ash - crops
• trade - River Sarno and seaport
• pleasant climate
• the scenic setting adjacent to Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples

3. Plan

• grid system (though some parts are dictated by terrain). Grid system of planning is believed to have been devised by the fifth century BC architect Hippodamus of Miletos.

4. Important dates

5. The city (See plan)

The Forum (See plan)

• rectangular area: pedestrians only
• centre of religious, political, economic and social life
• peristyle consists of two-tier columns, with Doric below and Ionic above
• statues of important people were placed in the Forum

Buildings of the Forum

• Temple of Jupiter, with arches on each side of the temple (temple dedicated to three gods - Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva - a Roman custom)
• Temple of Apollo (bronze statue of Apollo)
• Ponderaria Table (measures controlled)
• Basilica - courthouse and business transactions
• public administration buildings
  • Aediles' office (Aediles were in charge of public buildings, roads, corn dole, and shows)
  • Senate House (town council met there)
• Office of Duoviri (the two most important magistrates of the town)
• comitium -election building
• building of Eumachia (priestess - Guild of Fullones; door with marble surround)
• Temple of Vespasian (Emperor - marble altar with sacrifice scene)
• Temple of Lares (spirits of protecting gods of town)
• Macellum (market with Tholos)

Triangular Forum

• Sixth century BC Greek - Temple of Heracles

Other temples in the city

• Temple of Venus, patron of the city
• Temple of Fortuna Augusta
• Temple of Isis (Egyptian goddess); holy water - Nile
• Temple of Zeus Milichius (Greek god).

From the temples one can deduce:

• the importance of religion
• the religious influence from outside (Egypt and Greece)
• that the emperors were raised to the level of gods
• their belief in afterlife (Lares)
• that there were great architects and builders
• a concern for aesthetics

7. Religion

• public: temples, festivals, Villa of the Mysteries
• private: penates, Lares

8. Places of entertainment

• theatres
• amphitheatre
• gymnasium (palaestra)
• baths
• forum and city > informal entertainment

Theatres

• Large theatre
  • plays
  • plan
  • D-shaped orchestra
  • stage (scaena) with three doors
  • auditorium (cavea) - semicircular with seats in tiers
  • important people sometimes sat in the orchestra of a Roman theatre
• mosaics
• awning
• special effects: stones and pebbles used for impression of thunder and rain
• scented water sprinkled on audience
• Small theatre
  • music roofed and originally similar in shape to large theatre
  • carved male figures (telamones) at the outer ends
    
• Note difference between Greek and Roman theatres

The Romans , however , continued to use Greek theatres where these already existed but often reconstructed them, changing the shape of the orchestra and joining the stage to the auditorium (see also Topic 7, The Roman Theatre - Comedy) .

Amphitheatre

• word means double theatre
• amphitheatre was in Pompeii before Rome - oldest stone built amphitheatre in the world
• exhibition killings - animals and men
• riot
  • Nucerians and Pompeiians in AD59 (depicted in painting)
  • closed by Nero for ten years as a result.
  • (The amphitheatre in Rome is called the Colosseum . In Christian times Christians were thrown to the lions in the amphitheatre.)

Gladiators and gladiatorial barracks

• slaves or criminals (often from Samnite Hill tribe)
• some were worshipped as heroes and were set free if they fought well
• stayed in gladiator barracks behind the stage of great theatre
  • tiny rooms for the gladiators around the Doric portico (lower part of column not fluted)
  • this was originally part of the theatre; the public gathered there before and after a performance. It was converted to a gladiatorial barracks after AD62 in this area were found armour and bodies, including a rich woman , probably a lover of one of the gladiators
• gladiator shows were abolished by Emperor Honorus in AD401
• music: "Spartacus" by Khachaturian is appropriate to this topic.

Palaestra (Gymnasium)

Small palaestra

• in front of the large theatre
• Samnite era, second century B C
• older of the two
• small rectangular area with peristyle on three sides
• statue of spearman (copy of fifth-century B C statue by Polycleitus called the Doryphorus, Naples Museum)
• used by rich noble youth o f Pompeii

Large palaestra

• near the amphitheatre
• built to replace the small one in the Augustan period
• used for gymnastics by Pompeiian youths
• square with high wall; inside there was a portico and a double row of plane trees
• swimming-pool in middle
• south-west corner - latrines; skeletons were found
• there gladiators trained there - graffiti

Baths (thermae)

• three public baths in Pompeii
  • Stabian
  • Forum
  • Central

• Main areas

• Heating - hypocaust
• Decoration: stucco; mosaics
• The tepidarium of the forum baths has a ceiling supported by telamones (telamones also in s m a l l theatre)
• Function: cleanse and entertain
• Oil used for cleansing; removed with strigil
• Wooden sandals were worn in the baths because of the hot floors
• Opened at midday ; a slave announced the opening
• Equivalent to modern sports complex
• Seneca (c.4BC - AD65) lived over the baths and complained about the noise!
• Private baths
  • house of Julia Felix
  • these were sometimes rented out

Informal entertainment

The Forum and city

• Basilica - listening to law cases
• listening to philosophers
• talking to friends
• informal debates and discussions
• walking around the shops (markets)
• reading the posters and graffiti
• enjoying the sculpture, painting, and mosaic
• watching the craftsmen and trades men at work , e.g. jeweller or blacksmith

9. Houses and villas

See Pompeii by Andrews for house plans.

The house (domus)

The following areas could be discussed :

Plan

Parts of house

• porch - vestibulum - often has mosaic of chained dog
• shops - tabernae
• atrium with a compluvium and an impluvium
• family room - tablinum
• dining room - triclinium
• bedrooms - cubicula
• garden with peristyle peristylium
  • statues and fountains
  • seeds of plants found

Other areas

• Ostia blocks of apartments (insulae) - built upwards because of space problem
• port of Rome
• legendary landing place of Aenus
  
• Herculaneum
  • houses with balconies - destroyed by mud in AD79 hence preservation of wood
    
• Central heating - hypocaust as in baths
• Light: candles; later oil lamps
• Furniture (see Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome)
• Art: mosaic and painting (fresco).

10. Painting in Pompeii

Pompeii is the most important centre for the study of the history of Roman painting. Many of the houses were painted, and four styles can be identified (fresco).

First style: Encrustation or masonry style

• 150 - 80 BC: second Samnite period to first decade of Roman colony
• House of the Faun
• House of Sallust
• Stucco facing coloured to look like veneers of slabs (crustae) of marble.

Second style: Architectural style

• 80BC - AD14 (death of Augustus)
• Heyday of trompe l'oeil (illusion): three-dimensional architectural features to give sense of space Figurative elements introduced; small or large pictures between the architectural features representing views through windows Also life-size figures on a stage, as in the initiation rites of the cult of Dionysus in the triclinium of the Villa of the Mysteries. (The tablinum has third style.)

Third style: Egyptianised

• early empire to AD62
• influence from Egypt
• architectural features used more as ornamentation than as an imitation of reality
• extreme delicacy and fine sense of colour: great areas of light yellow and clear red
• small motifs, landscapes and gardens as in second style
• panels framed in garlands and impression of a real picture hanging into an architectural background
• Villa of Cicero, Grant, Pompeii and Herculaneum, p. 54 and 55 House of Marcus Lucretius (tablinum), Grant, p. 32 Villa of the Mysteries (tablinum)

Fourth style: Ornamental

• AD62 - 79: last years of Pompeii
• shows the wealth of Pompeii in its final years
• small pictures with heroic or mythological themes
• elements of second and third style
• architecture and ornamentation but with feeling of flatness
• House of the Vettii, Grant, p. 28 and 56.

11. Popular subjects

Paintings on popular subjects, especially those concerned with city background and social customs (e.g. shop sign, riot in amphitheatre), do not belong to any of the above classifications.

12. Mosaic

Mosaic was another important art form. Mosaics could be composed of pebbles or, in their more elaborate form, of tesserae of coloured stone. In Greek times mosaics were an alternative to floor rugs , but in Italy the floor tended to be covered entirely with mosaic. The most famous floor mosaic in Pompeii is that showing Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, which is in the House of the Faun .

A new feature of mosaic work in Pompeii and Herculaneum was its use as a wall decoration, especially for fountains (house of the large fountain - garden).

13. Important houses in Pompeii

Villas

The villas were usually outside the walls

• Villa of the Mysteries
  • fresco of initiation of a bride into the mysteries of Dionysus
  • second style
• Villa of Cicero - third style

14. Important achievements of Roman architecture

Evidence of arches in

• triumphal arches
• bridges
• aqueducts
• theatres
• amphitheatre
• temples
• basilicas
• circular buildings (tholos)
• baths (thermae)
• roofs
  • vault
  • dome

15. The Town Council

See Pompeii by Andrews

Main officials in Pompeii

16. People - three classes:

1. patricians (aristocrats)
2. plebeians (ordinary citizens)
3. slaves

• Human remains
  • before eruption: tombs
  • at time of eruption: in city, on spot where they died

Animals

• Dog
  • skeleton
  • mosaics in porches
• Cats , birds , wild animals - mosaics and paintings

17. Languages

• Oscan
• Samnite
• Greek
• Latin

Clothes

• Men - tunica - toga
  • inner garment: long shirt of linen or wool with belt
  • outer garment: circular woollen garment
  • worn by citizens only
  • normally white
  • toga praetexta had a purple stripe and was worn by priests and magistrates. Young freeborn boys also wore a toga with a purple stripe before they received the white toga (toga virilis)

• Children - tunica - toga
  • bulla freeborn children wore a bulla (small box with a charm) around their necks.

Women often had elaborate hairstyles or wigs and wore jewellery.

(For Greek dress see, First-Year Guidelines , p.71; see also Grant, Pompeii and Herculaneum (jewellery); Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome; Barker: Latin in our Language p. 44.)

18. Industry and trade

Shops and inns

• usually to the front of the houses and on each side of the door
• holes in the counter to hold containers
• inns often had rooms for renting to visitors

Sauce trade

• garum was a fish sauce
• fish sauce was held in an amphora (for recipe see Introduction to Pompeii b y Grant)
• probably exported to other parts of the Roman world, including Rome
• large tomb to Umbricius Scaurus, an important sauce maker in Pompeii
• statue of Umbricius on a horse in the Forum

Wool trade

• very important trade in Pompeii
• the people who worked here were called fullones
• buildings associated with the wool trade
  • the building of Eumachia
  • the fullery of Verecundus

Mills (see, Andrews , Pompeii, p. 26)

• on a brick base
• mill had two parts
  • the top part turned on the bottom part
  • the top was turned by horses ormen walking around the base
• associated with a bakery
• nearby were counters for kneading dough
  • large ovens
  • shops for selling bread
  • in the bakery of Modestus eighty-one carbonised loaves were found

Some other areas of employment:

• accountancy and banking
• architecture and engineering crafts
• crafts
  • silversmiths and goldsmiths
  • stonemasons
  • painting and mosaic
• actors
• gladiators
• public office

19. Education

• largely in the hands of Greek slaves
• girls: housecrafts at home
• boys : reading , writing and arithmetic were taught by a citizen from the lower
• middle classes
• higher education: rhetoric to speak eloquently

Medicine

• doctors - usually slaves
• cures often fatal!
• mosaics: theme of death - showed that Pompeiians were aware of the nearness of death
• two kinds of medicine in Pompeii in first century AD

(1) folklore

• head of family (man) in charge
• herbs , animal fats, and chanting!

(2) Greek medicine

• each individual had a different approach
• no set study: any man could set himself up as a doctor

21. Coins

The denarius (plural denarii) and as (plural asses)

• oil: 4 asses
• wreath: 3 asses
• legionaries in time of Caesar received 10 asses a day (225 denarii a year)

22. Tombs

• burials outside the walls
• north-west - street of the t mbs (tomb of the sauce man)
• south-east near Nucerian Gate (Eumachia's tomb)
• monuments could be simple or elaborate
• usually gave the name and rank of the dead person

23. Inscription

Inscriptions are important because they often give names and dates, and many refer to daily life in a city. They can be found on:

1. walls, e.g.Sulla
2. tables
3. statue bases
4. sundials
5. forum baths - three bronze benches; donor: Vacula
6. forum - building of Eumachia
7. tombs
8. theatre and amphitheatre
9. graffiti - especially on walls of inns

Important names associated with Pompeii

A number of other well - known people have been associated with Pompeii, including Charles Dickens , Mark Twain , Robert Adam , Goethe, Sir William Hamilton, Josiah Wedgwood , Chateau briand,Madame de Stael, Stendhal, Shelley, Renoir, and Sir Walter Scott.

Influence

Pompeian influence can be seen in literature, music, architecture, painting, sculpture, furniture, porcelain, jewellery, wallpaper, and textiles.

(See, Trevelyan: The Shadow of Vesuvius.)

Music

• Giovanni Pacini, L 'ultimo Giorno di Pompei [The Last Day of Pompeii]
• Main features of Pompeii and other Roman cities
• When the study of Pompeii has been completed it should be pointed out that the main features of Pompeii are also common to other Roman cities. These are:
• Forum and its buildings
  • temples
  • basilica (courthouse)
  • government buildings
  • markets
• theatre and odeon
• amphitheatre
• baths
• houses and villas
• triumphal arches
• aqueducts
• paved streets and stepping-stones
• fountains at crossroads

A day in the life of a Pompeian aristocrat

See also Topic 8, The Life and Times of Julius Caesar, for further aspects of Roman Life.

24. References

Andrews, I.: Pompeii, Cambridge University Press, 1991

Barker, P.: Latin in our language, Bristol Classical Press, 1993. (An interesting little book that could be used in a Latin, civilisation or English class.)

Bonechi: Art and History of Pompeii, Casa Editrice Bonechi, Florence, 1995

Carcopino, J.: Daily life in Ancient Rome, Peregrine Books, 1985

Carpececi, AC.: Pompeii Nowadays and 2000 Years Ago

Conticello, B.: Pompeii, (Guide de Agastini) Instituto Geografico de Agostini, Novara, 1989.

Corbett, P.: Roman Art, Avenel Books, New York, 1980

Cottrell, L.: Lost Cities, Pan, 1957

Dal Maso, L B.: Rome of the Caesars, (translated by H. Hollingworth), Bonechi

Green, H.: Roman Technology and Crafts, Aspects of Roman Life series, Longman, 1979.

Grant, M.: The Art and Life of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Newsweek Books, New York, 1979

Hodge, P.: Roman Trade and Travel, Aspects of Roman Life series, Longman, 1978

Ling, R.: Roman Painting, Cambridge University Press, 1991

Maiuri, A.: Pompeii, Istituto Poligrafico dello Strato (available in public library, Dundrum, Dublin)

Ogilvie, R M.: The Romans and their Gods, Hogarth Press, London, 1969.

Sangi, G.: Rome Then and Now in Overlay, G. and G. Editrice, Roma

Staccioli, R A.: Ancient Rome Monuments Past and Present, Nova Zincografica, Fiorentina 1989 Vision.

Trevelyan, R.: The Shadow of Vesuvius, Jarrold, Norwich, 1978

Vickers, M.: The Ancient Romans, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1992

National Geographic:
Vol. 120, no. 5 (Nov. 1961)
Vol. 162, no. 6 (Dec. 1982)
Vol. 165, no. 5 (May 1984)

Audio-visual materials

• National Geographic video, In the Shadow of Vesuvius.
• Cambridge School Classics Project, Cambridge University Press (Includes teacher handbooks and booklets for students).
• Video: A Journey through Ancient Pompeii, Bluelle, 1992, Pompei, (Available from Bluelle STL, Via A, Diaz 17, 80045 Pompei (NA), Italy; telephone 0039 81 8631010.
  The video has an accompanying booklet and plan.