This area was originally the foyer for the theater, but demand for entertainment in the amphitheater with fighters forced the need for a training area for fighters. This was it.
Slaves (fighters) were housed in these small rooms.
Detail showing the water drainage system. A cistern was beneath the field.
Inside one of the fighter cells. Wooden roof beams originally fit into the holes at the top.
This is a theater. (We didn’t actually see the amphitheater! Just a couple theaters). Acoustics were (and are) marvelous.
Architectural decoration at the theater.
The theater architect signed his work.
Stairway up to the women’s seats at the top of the theater.
Seat numbers.
Permanently reserved seat for a politician.
The other theater (intended for drama).
View into another building from the top of the theater. No idea what it is.
Graffiti in a hallway to the theater.
Laelo lecturing on the graffiti.
Penis imagery abounds at the Pompeii ruins, in both graffiti and decoration. They symbolized fertility and good luck.
Stepping stones with chariot tracks worn into the street.
Laelo called this shop a “Pompeiian McDonalds”. They sold soup from the urns that were insulated like thermoses.
More stepping stones in a Pompeii street.
Political endorsements changed with each election and were displayed on the outside walls of some houses.
The atrium of the house hid the cistern, often below mosaics. The cylindrical object in the lower left provided access to the water in the cistern. The roof above was open to the elements.
Marble table in the atrium was a symbol of wealth.
The marble chips in the floor of this room reflected moonlight so people could find their way in the dark.
Floor mosaics and marble chips.
Frescoes adorned the walls. The colors are muted by dust, but would have been much more vivid when people were living there.
Another fresco
Many frescoes depicted nature.
Detail of fresco. It’s a bird.
A mallard and a swan.
Laelo makes a point.
Iris fresco, floor mosaic with Neptune’s trident, and another floor mosaic
This fresco shows how well Roman artists understood perspective drawing.
A garden in the back of a house.
This fresco shows that the Romans had books, and not just papyrus scrolls.
Older ruins exposed during the excavation of the room above. Laelo told us that a ladder collapsed the floor that used to conceal this lower part.
A sundial in the garden.
Beautiful swan fresco
Lead drain pipe embedded in an exterior wall.
Street view.
Mount Vesuvius
We climbed steps to reach this farmhouse that was built over the ash and ruins of Pompeii. The ash provided fertile soil and the farmer didn’t know anything about the ruins concealed below.
View of the city.
Plaster cast of a folding door at a shop entrance.
Vivid frescoes of Roman gods.
Zeus in the wall.
Another Roman god.
Early “beware of the dog” sign at the entrance to a home.
More floor mosaics. You can see we are getting into a classier neighborhood.
Floor mosaics
Floor mosaics
Amphorae in original ash from the Vesuvius eruption.
Public fountain
Utensils.
Bakery with two ovens.
The second oven
Another fountain. The designs on the fountains provided landmarks, since there were no visible street names.
Laelo called this wide street the Rodeo Drive of Pompeii
Mount Vesuvius looms over Pompeii. It lost two thirds of its height in the 79 AD eruption. It is now about 4200 feet tall.
Bas relief decorations. Again knowledge of perspective is demonstrated.
A plaster cast of a slave girl uncovered during the excavation of Pompeii. The leather belt is what marks her as a slave.
Vaulted ceiling decorations. Laelo told us it was a precursor to the Sistine Chapel.
The baths in Pompeii were a gathering place for social interaction and sex.
Ceiling designs in the baths
A stone bed in the brothel. Keep ’em moving.
Brothel exterior
Brothel menu.
More brothel menu.
Another stone bed in the brothel.
Graffito rating the services in the brothel.
We think this is a shrine to Neptune, in a home.
More frescoes.
Fresco
This is the “granary” at the forum. The plaster cast is displayed so you can see the suffering of death by suffocation, but the body was actually found face down.
Mount Vesuvius looms over the forum.
William and Elaine in the forum.
This was the basilica – a tribunal met here to decide things.
Laelo took a selfie of us at the end of our guided tour.
Palm tree and snow-capped Vesuvius
Columns were built with an interior wooden post, to allow for flexibility during earthquakes.
The gate to the sea (Porta Marina). Pompeii was originally a port city, before its port was filled with volcanic ash.
Boats arriving at Pompeii would tie up at the stones pictured above, when the Mediterranean sea used to be here.
Relaxing at a local bar after the tour.
A small lemon tree growing in the bar’s patio.
Exterior of the above-mentioned bar.
Lemon trees and Mediterranean pines at the parking lot near Pompeii.
Back in Sorrento, the Christmas lights were still up.
A flower shop in Sorrento.
Dinner at ‘O Canonico 1898. We were unfashionably early, arriving at about 7:30 to an empty dining room. Several other parties came after 9:00.
