What surprised me about Pompeii

Someone recently asked what surprised me the most about our visit to the ruins of Pompeii. It’s the sheer magnitude of ash that had to be removed to reveal the hidden city. Incredible that 19 feet (6 meters) of solidified ash had to be painstakingly removed, and that includes from the centers of all the open-air buildings that had all their open spaces filled up. Despite all that, the city was looted while the tops of buildings were still visible. Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, but it took until 1599 for the city to be initially found under all the rubble. It took until the early 1700s for workers constructing a palace for the King of Naples to discover a portion of the ruins. It was plundered again, but this time by royals who wanted artifacts for their palaces. It took until the early1800s to begin formal study by archaeologists.

One of the more titillating tidbits that I wasn’t previously aware of is that there’s an entire secret room full of erotic art excavated from Pompeii and Herculaneum in the Archeological Museum in Naples. The items were isolated because they are considered pornographic and unsuitable for the general public, especially when they first arrived in the museum. Later, for an additional fee, men could view the items, but not women.

More than anything else, though, I am deeply aware of how incredible it is that my feet walk and my eyes see across the centuries within these ancient grounds.