Architecture as a source in discovering Pompeii & Herculaneum

1. Architecture as a source in discovering Pompeii & Herculaneum

2. Architecture can provide an image of Pompeiian society, but much of the architectural evidence has disappeared forever. • The reporting on excavated houses and buildings has been patchy and careless, and a lot of the information produced about the buildings was based on sometimes inexpert opinion. • Many of the artifacts from buildings were looted or removed without recording their position, and without a record of their context, making it difficult to make deductions on the status and standards of living of the people.

3. Archaeologists do not really know, for example, what Pompeiians called different rooms, as there is no matching literary evidence. • Within Pompeii itself, there was no boundary between residential and commercial units. They sat side by side in the streets, and shops and workshops were incorporated into the house’s structure. • The layout of Pompeii, set between the slopes of Mt Vesuvius and the sea, meant that the city could only develop with a confined space. As the population of this prosperous city grew bigger, the houses tended to be extended upwards instead of outwards. • Dwellings were set into rectangular urban blocks, known as insulae, and 1 insula could include: Tabernas, Cauponas (bars), houses, a Fullonica (laundry), a Thermopolia, and a brothel.

4. What kind of buildings and architecture in Pompeii and Herculaneum are useful as primary sources? • Walls, gates and streets • Aqueducts, water towers, fountains and sewerage systems • The Forum – temples, law courts, markets • Public lavatories and baths • Theatres • Ampitheatre • Exercise grounds (palaestra and gymnasiums) • Temples • Townhouses – grand and humble • Suburban and country villas (rustica and otium) • Shops – bakeries, hot food bars • Taverns and inns • Workshops – e.g. fulleries • Brothels • Tombs

5. What kind of evidence can we get from these primary sources, and what deductions are we able to make about Pompeii as a society?

6. Tombs lined the roads that led into Pompeii, as the dead were not permitted to be buried inside the town walls.

8. The streets of both towns were paved with lava stone, and raised in the centre to allow for drainage. Water and the contents of chamber pots were thrown out into the streets, so stepping stones were set into the road to stop people’s feet getting dirty. • The streets had no names at the time of excavation, and were named by early archaeologists

10. 8 gates around the defensive walls of Pompeii led people into the city. The city walls were built by the Samnites. The gates were shut each night and opened in the morning after saying prayers to Minerva, goddess of wisdom and defender of cities.

11. Richer households had water fountains, which were supplied with water by ingenious underwater channelling systems known as aqueducts. • The water in P & H came from the Sarno

12. Although most houses in the 1st century AD had a running water connection, those that didn’t could access fresh water at any one of over 40 fountains in the city. • The water from the aqueduct into the city was forced through small pipes into lead tanks inside water towers around the city. From the water tower, smaller pipes (fistulae) supplied private homes, businesses, gardens and public fountains.

13. The forum, or town centre, was where the government offices, temples and markets were centered in P & H. • The forum was decorated with about 40 statues, usually of emperors and other important Roman heroes • The rows of columns that surrounded the open space of the forum were painted brightly, as were the buildings. The Romans loved reds and yellows as building colours • No wheeled traffic was allowed into the forum. • The lower storey buildings’ walls were covered in painted notices informing the public about auctions, elections, theatre productions, etc.

18. The Comitium (people’s assembly) was a roofless building where citizens could question the members of government • It may also have been used for voting on election day

20. The basilica was the seat of the judiciary and law courts, as well as a centre for business activities. • It was generally considered to be the finest building in both P & H. • Basilicas usually followed a standard plan – a long rectangular central hall, with colonnaded aisles on either side and an apse at one end.

22. The Forum also contained some temples devoted to the worship of Roman gods • The Capitoline Triad was a temple dedicated to 3 gods – Jupiter, Juno and Minerva (the Roman equivalents of Zeus, Hera and Athena), and was modelled on the Capitoline in Rome. • The temple of Apollo (god of music and light), and the temple of Vespasian (a former Emperor who was deified) were also situated in the Forum

35. The amphitheatre in Pompeii was large enough to seat the entire population. • It was the most popular place to go for entertainment, and wealthy Romans would put on free shows of gladiator fights to the death, or hunting animals to death, in order to win the approval of the people. (0nly wealthy Romans could seek to be elected into public office) • The Gladiators lived in the Gladiatorial barracks near the Stabian Gate

37. The palaestra was a large sports centre where ordinary Pompeiians could take part in boxing, wrestling, weight-lifting, bowls, discus-throwing, running and gymnastics. • The smaller sports centres attached to the baths around Pompeii catered for the wealthy

39. The theatre was a publicly owned building, and entry to see shows was free. • The theatre was able to be shaded by awnings, and patrons could be sprayed with scented water on hot days • Greek tragedies were performed, as were comedies and mimes. • You could also see dancing, juggling, clowning and athletic displays at the theatre.