Shiloh Horse Rescue: Traveler explores Pompeii and Herculaneum

Up early for the drive down to Naples to visit the ancient site of POMPEII and Herculaneum! I was so excited!

Here it is, Pompeii. It is thought that a city was first founded here in the first half of the 6th Century. Pompeii, which was at first considered part of Greece, was absorbed into the Roman Empire as a colony in 80 B.C. Mount Vesuvius suddenly erupted on August 24th at 2pm in the year 79 A.D. Over two days, Pompeii was buried under 60 feet of ash and pumice. Those residents who did not leave right away, were buried along with their town.

I am outside of the Sea Gate. This was one of the gates into the city.

This was a Mill, a horse used to walk around this pedestal and turn the grinder.

These were like modern speedbumps, they were placed in the road and wagons had to go over them and horses had to go on either side. Pedestrians could also use them to cross the dirty and muddy street.

This was the part of the road which was to be used by animals and carts...

This was the side walk to be used by people.

The Pompeiians used this type of honeycomb wall construction to provide stability for earthquakes which were, and still are, common in this area.

The marble floor of part of the city's Forum.

The central road leading to the Forum with it's line of arches.

This is the remains of a person who died in the eruption. Most people were immediately vaporized by the hot ash and gas. These are actually plaster castings of the empty space left by the bodies in the volcanic ash. The casts include the bones and in this case the teeth. It's very sad to see these people...

Most of the bodies died with upraised arms as they tried to ward off the hot gas and choking ash.

Here is a remaining fresco left in a home. Some of the frescos are just beautiful and a wonderful glimpse into how homes would have looked thousands of years ago.

A beautiful tree filled courtyard in the extensive public bath complex.

The plastered roof of a bathing chamber.

Another courtyard of a private home. Every house had an inner courtyard surrounded by rooms. I love the layout of the homes...

There were also inner courtyards in the home entrances which had shallow pools to catch fresh rain water which then drained the water into a cistern for use by the household.

See the wagon tracks in the street? They go right over the street bumps. Some of the streets actually had white reflective stones (called Cat's Eyes) embedded in them for illumination at night. The Pompeiians (and the Romans) used very advanced technology.

This was a swimming pool in a outside courtyard of a home.

Here is the Brothel. I was nervous about going in...

And look who I found in one of the rooms! Sally, you get out of there!

My favorite mosaic, it shows birds taking a shiny necklace out of a jewelry box.

I found lots of sleeping dogs laying around the ruins...

Here's another one.

And this one! I though it was best to let sleeping dogs lie...

Especially after I saw this mosaic in the floor of a house. It says in Latin, "Cave Canem" which translates to "Beware of Dog".

After exploring Pompeii, we got ready to head over to nearby Herculaneum. That is after Sally stopped flirting with our guide Cosimo...

Herculaneum is close to Pompeii, but closer to the sea. It wasa smaller and wealthier town than Pompeii. It was also buried in the euruption. Herculaneum's remains are in much better shape, wood, furniture and even cloth was preserved.

Looking down over the ruins.

The wall on my right shows the height to which Herculaneum has been buried over the years.

The hole in the cliff is one of the vaults which was probably used as a warehouse. Most of the remains of residents killed in the euruption were found in these vaults where they gathered to try to find safety during the eruption.