Day 7 Pompeii

This is it, the iconic destination at the heart of any archaeological journey to Italy. The site itself is huge. Unlike Herculaneum (neatly contained within the walls of its excavation), there is no vantage point at which to observe the whole town and instead it unfolds before us as a sprawling ancient city. We enter through one of the ancient gates in the perimeter walls which defended the city in pre Roman times and walk along the beautiful little roads (paved in antiquity!). Pompeii's architectural relics reflect all the diversity of its society; magnificent temples, opulent villas, luxurious bath houses, ancient restaurants, bars and bakeries, laundries etc, etc. And everywhere is the ever present reminder of the great exploited slave workforce that powered daily life; a heavy grinding mill in a bakery or a giant washbasin for treading clothes in urine. There are beautiful frescoes, statues and mosaics (many are replicas - we will view the originals tomorrow in the Museum of Naples), yet it is the mundane imprints of everyday existence that really resonate; the ruts in the roads worn by countless years of chariot traffic, the marble worn by a thousand hands around the rim of a drinking fountain (which we still drink from today as we move around the site), this is the subtle evidence of the human occupation that really illuminates the experience.

Immersed in the wonder of the preservation it is often easy to lose sight of the human disaster. However, when faced up close with the casts of the victims, the shocking reality of their deaths reminds us all of the terrifying reality which must have unfolded here two thousand years ago. At the Garden of the Fugitives, one is captured in a kind of defiant half crawl, vainly struggling on in an ultimately fruitless search for refuge. Others cower together or lie face down in exhaustion, starved of oxygen. An adult bravely shields a small child. There is nothing peaceful about these passings and we are uncomfortable witnesses to their final breaths, captured eternally (like everything here) at a terrifying moment in time. The ethical debate that surrounds the display of these human remains plays out very strongly indeed at Pompeii.

All day we are privileged to be accompanied by Dr Estelle Lazer, the pre-eminent expert on the site, author of textbooks, and (most importantly), a wonderfully warm and engaging, down to earth person who takes the time to walk and talk with students, listen to their observations and comments, and answer their questions, all in such a humble and sincere manner. The students (and this teacher) are suitably starstruck! A magnificent day...and the weather was pretty good too (again!!).

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