Ever since I can remember I’ve been fascinated by Pompeii. The stories that I heard in history never whetted my appetite for knowledge about this ancient city so having studied it with my children a few weeks ago in our Mystery of History studies – we had to visit.
Okay, we didn’t get to visit physically (one of these days, one of these days!) but we did get to visit in a way, through a trip to a semi-local museum.
The children standing next to a cut away of a volcano.
It was against the law to bury loved ones within the walls of the city so tombs were outside the city and some were very ornate. Also cremation became popular.
Memorial markers and jar
This is an oil lamp – when I saw this I thought about Jesus having used something like this to light His home.
A portable oven.
One thing that I am thankful for is that we have modern laundry cleaning equipment. The local laundry merchants would leave jars for passerby’s to relieve themselves in as urine was used like bleach is today. Then someone would stand in the urine and stomp on the robes. Yes, gross.
A loaf of bread, molded from the original.
Visiting exhibits like this is somewhat of a ethereal experience to me – when I think of the men, women and children who once lived and worked and played in the cities that were destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 A.D. – it almost seems as if I could picture the loaf of bread in a baker’s oven, a slave or a wife cooking her family’s breakfast, etc and it becomes almost like a sense of loss.
Mosaic of two women.
A small angel as part of a huge 3 panel mosaic.
As much as I was moved by the beautiful mosaics – it was hard to believe how much color and detail were still around – I think the most moving part were the body casts. Archaeologists poured plaster into the cavities where bodies were and out came their last pose.
This man is crouching as he tries to avoid his death, you can even see him covering his nose and mouth to avoid the burning ash.
This is the cast of a man who is reaching out to try and help a woman near by. His wife? A daughter? A sister? We’ll never know but moving none the less.
A large picture of part of Pompeii that has been unearthed.
What amazes me is the fact that there are thousands and thousands of people who still live within a short distance of Mt. Vesuvius and while it’s considered inactive, some speculate it could erupt without warning like it did in 79 and the early 1940’s.
These have nothing to do with our visit to Pompeii but here are some more pictures:
A coca-cola polar bear made out of recycled lids.
My middle daughter, Bethanne with one of her best friends.
My oldest, Hannah, with one of her best friends.
GrowingForChrist 