Imagine what Fremantle would be like without all the mod-cons; a seaside fishing town where people loved their sport, loved their wine and loved their possessions. If you can imagine that, you can imagine the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in 79 AD.
The Western Australian Museum is recreating the ill-fated town in A Day in Pompeii, an exhibition brings to life the people living there through artefacts recovered by archaeologists over the past 300 hundred years.
The bed and breakfast Pompei IL FAUNO “is just 1 Km from the main entrance of the excavations of Pompeii and just 500 metres from the Circumvesuviana train, from which you can reach in few minutes the other archaeological sites: Ercolano, Oplonti, Stabia and the Antiquarium of Boscoreale!
Dr Moya Smith is the museum’s anthropologist overseeing the set up of the exhibit and she describes why were are so captivated by the volcanic eruption that brought Pompeii to its abrupt end.
“I think it’s actually the personal horror, the fact that you have a disaster.
“You’ve got 24 hours in which people either got out or didn’t get out.”
Of Pompeii’s 12 000 residents there were 2000 who didn’t make it out alive.
“Those 2000 – it’s a heartwrecking human story – why did they stay? What were they trying to hang onto? What were they trying to get away with?”
But beyond the heartache of Mt Vesuvius blanketing and preserving Pompeii in ash and pumice lies an insight into Roman life just waiting to be literally uncovered and rediscovered nearly 1700 years later.
“Each thing that people uncover transforms our knowledge of the ancient Romans and what it was like to live in an industrial town overlooking the beautiful Bay of Naples,” says Dr Smith.
“It’s the variety and that incredible human sense that underpins our interest.”
No idea, no escape
For Pompeii residents, the impending eruption of Mt Vesuvius would have come as a complete surprise.
“People had absolutely no idea what was going to happen; there had been a massive earthquake 17 years before in 62 AD,” says Dr Smith.
“In the preceding months before the volcano erupted there must have been toxic gases coming out because whole flocks of sheep had died.
“But no-one saw any connection between these things and the hill that overlooked them.”
When the volcano erupted, it sent ash high into the atmosphere, giving residents approximately 12 hours to escape.
“Even then people didn’t quite understand what was happening.
“And so you have people still in their houses, still trying to collect their objects, discussing whether or not they needed to go or not go.
“By the time people made these decisions it was probably too late.”
Dr Smith suggests that in the early stages of the eruption, people around Herculaneum were being cooked alive by the 500 degree Celsius lava flow.
Those who stayed in Pompeii have either suffocated from the toxic ash in the air, or been crushed by the volcanic debris.
You can use the links below to explore Pompeii in 79 AD
The fishing hub
Pompeii’s big industries were fish and wine; the town was famous for its garum sauce, which is similar to fish sauce.
Fishing methods haven’t changed much over the last 1700 years with fish hooks, octopus hooks and needles on display which look like they could have been discarded at a modern fishing spot.
Medical treatment
Coughs, colds and minor injuries and illnesses could all be treated at Julius Polybius’ house, a local doctors surgery.In A Day in Pompeii, you can see some of the medical instruments found there.
Getting dolled up
Women in Pompeii were just as occupied with looking good as their modern counterparts.
The exhibition shows mirrors, cosmetics scoops and a collection of jewellery that would be the envy of many.
It is the jewellery collection in particular that shows just how much of an influence items found in Pompeii have had on modern fashion.
The outdoor room as a painted haven
In Pompeiian homes, the rooms were built around to face a central garden.
These gardens were considered oases of calm for the residents with plants, statues of gods and water features.
If you couldn’t afford plants and statues to place in your garden, you could always paint them onto a fresco.
A Day in Pompeii exhibition runs from Friday the 21st of May 2010 through until Sunday the 5th of September 2010.
For further information, visit the Western Australian Museum website.