Pompeii

a. 23 km southwest of Naples, the city of Pompeii. Are you in sørItalia, you should definitely pay a visit to Pompeii. The train from Naples stops right outside the ruins and there awaits you a world full of surprises.

The city was buried in the ashes of Mount Vesuvius erupts in the year 79 AD. Since the city was not affected by the lava, but buried under 6 feet ashes, the city was preserved. More than two thousand people were killed, out of a population of approximately 10 000 people. People fled in all directions when they realized that Mount Vesuvius erupted. Others waited in the hope that the crowd in the streets would slow down, or hid in their houses and thought they were safe from the ashes snowing and the deadly gas that crept around.

Pompeii is a very old city, the most ancient historical references dating back to approx. 600 before Christ.

In the nineteenth century, the extensive excavation of the city. Two thirds of the city is currently excavated. Since the city was covered in ash, much preserved. During the excavations have found footprints of humans and animals, pots and tools, which let the ashes like a cement block around. The people and Dyrnes gradually crumbled up, but fingerprints remained. Archaeologists age of these fingerprints with gypsum and thus they were preserved. Through migration in Pompeii you can see how people sit huddled for protection against ash flow, or crumbled stairs during flight.

Pompeii was a well-functioning society, surprisingly advanced in terms of society and technology. Compared to other Roman society, was the living standard of Pompeii high. The houses are large and richly decorated. In the walls, we see remnants of water pipes, suggesting that the houses had "admitted" water. In the middle of the houses there was usually an atrium, where rainwater was collected in a well. Around the atrium were often the bedrooms.

In Pompeii, there were about 30 bakeries. Street Kitchens was next door in the street towards the theater. Here there is still the disks where the food was kept in large stone jars. Behind the disks are rooms where people ate the food.

Trade and agriculture were well developed in Pompeii, and they produced the wine and olive oil. There were a number of trading companies in the city, ranging from hairdressers to bakers and blacksmiths. Public offices you can see as well.

In private homes, one can still see the wonderful frescoes on the walls. The gardens are decorated with frescoes, fountains, pillars and statues. Illuminated streets, they had also in Pompeii, though not in the form of street lighting. Pompeiierne used a special pebbles as they leave the cobblestones, so that when the moon shone down on the streets gave pebbles glare where you went.

When you walk around Pompeii (and compute time, the city is great and much to see), one can almost "see" people who once lived and worked here.

Pompeii is worth a visit, and often more. This is world history that is well preserved.