In the
last post, we made it as far as the
Porta Erolano. It opens onto a road leading to the town of Herculaneum. The road is lined with tombs. It was a common practice to bury the dead outside of town. The area is known as the Necropolis, the city of the dead! The tombs range from the first century BC to the first century AD.
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Via della Tombe as our map called it |
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A fancy tomb |
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Also fancy |
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Regular tombs (those are "do not enter" signs!) |
Going back into town, we discovered the
House of the Tragic Poet. It is so called because of the mosaics of theater rehearsals and scenes from the
Iliad. They've all been taken to the archeology museum. One mosaic left behind is right by the front door--the famous
Cave Canem or
Beware of Dog mosaic.
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Walking back into town |
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Entrance to House of the Tragic Poet |
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Cave Canem! |
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As much of the house as we could see--we couldn't get past the dog! |
We headed back toward the forum (where the only functioning restaurant inside the ruins is located) and discovered the Temple of
Fortuna Augusta, built in the first decade BC to honor the divine emperor
Augustus, who had returned from a military campaign in 13 BC.
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Temple of Fortuna Augusta |
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Memorial Arch leading into the forum |
Just by the Arch is the Forum Baths, where locals would bathe, typically in the afternoons. The layout has separate areas for men and women and provides a series of rooms--the dressing room, a cold room (
frigidarium), a warm room (
tepidarium), and a hot room (
caldarium).
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Forum Baths entrance |
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Relaxing portico before the bath |
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First room |
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The cold room? |
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The tepid room? |
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The hot room? |
We had a simple lunch at the cafeteria, the usual pasta and pizza. It wasn't particularly outstanding food but it kept us going.
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L and her pizza |
After lunch, we visited the
House of the Faun, so named for the bronze statue of a faun found in the fountain in the main courtyard. The house is the largest in Pompeii, measuring about 3000 square meters. It has many fine decorations as well.
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Entrance to the House of the Faun |
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Faun Fountain |
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Statue detail (the original statue is in a museum) |
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Floor mosaic |
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A wall mosaic |
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The back garden |
The somewhat smaller but still opulent House of the Dioscuri (named after a mosaic of Castor and Pollux who are collectively known as the
Dioscures) is up the street. It also has many paintings and mosaics, mostly taken off to the museum.
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Portico still being worked on |
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Some still lifes that didn't get moved |
This house isn't far from the town walls. We could see one of the towers that guarded the town. Sadly we could not go in the tower.
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Wall tower |
We also discovered the House of the Scienziati, presumably for some scientific something or other inside. This was another home into which we were not allowed.
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House of Scienziati |
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Detail |
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Portico from another house |
At this point (actually long before this point), the children were pretty tired, so we headed back to our hotel for an afternoon nap. It was great to visit the ruins of Pompeii.
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