Take a Virtual Tour of Two Recently Excavated Homes in Pompeii

Smithsonian Magazine ^ | April 10, 2020 | Nora McGreevy

[SunkenCiv]

In the video, Pompeii Archaeological Park Director Massimo Osanna narrates a tour of two Pompeiian homes that were entombed in ash alongside the rest of the city when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. The director's Italian remarks are translated into English in a statement and can also be read using YouTube's auto-translate feature, according to HeritageDaily.

Osanna takes viewers inside two domus dwellings, or private residences, on either side of Vicolo dei Balconi, or Alley of the Balconies. In the first home, dubbed the House With the Garden, researchers were able to make casts of the roots of plants that grew in the family's garden. The team also found macabre evidence of Mount Vesuvius' toll: the remains of 11 people, mostly women and children, who were likely taking shelter from the fatal blast during their final moments.

Just across the street is the House of Orion, which derives its name from colorful floor mosaics that depict Orion, suspended over a coiled cobra, turning into a constellation. The snake's appearance may reference a Greek myth with ancient Egyptian influences, Osanna speculates during the tour.

"The owner of the house must have been greatly attracted to this myth, considering it features in two different rooms in which two different scenes of the myth are depicted," the director continues. "It is a small house which has proved to be an extraordinary treasure chest of art."

[SunkenCiv]

"I understand every language except Greek -- and it's all Greek to me!" -- /vaudevillerimshot

[Ouchthatonehurt]

The graffiti I’m looking at is the two words in red on a door post.
What I take for a lambda I believe is a shorthand way of writing “ai”.
I don’t make out any word associated with vote or public office though, and I don’t think either is a proper noun.

[JimRed]

So when they dig us up to “study” us a thousand years down the road, it’s archaeology?

[Irish Eyes]

LOL..it is an interesting language. Have forgotten a lot . Never get a chance to speak it. Forget trying to write in Greek.

[SunkenCiv]

I’ve heard that from people who’ve taken it as their language in divinity school — easiest is to learn to read it, then after a while to speak it.

[SunkenCiv]

Right, because it’s archaeology, not desecration, not graverobbing.

[SunkenCiv]

English translation / transcript of the video narration:

http://pompeiisites.org/en/comunicati/the-new-excavations-of-pompeii-in-regio-v-revealed-in-an-exclusive-virtual-tour-by-massimo-osanna-director-of-the-archaeological-park-of-pompeii/

[SunkenCiv]

I’m stumped, what is the link?

[SunkenCiv]

From the very beginning, archaeologists noticed copious amounts of graffiti on the outsides of buildings. In the late 1800s, scholars began making careful copies of Latin inscriptions throughout the ancient Roman world, including Pompeii, and cataloging them. This effort is a boon to scholars like Benefiel, since more than 90 percent of Pompeii's recorded graffiti have since been erased by exposure to the elements...

In the ancient Roman world, graffiti was a respected form of writing -- often interactive - not the kind of defacement we now see on rocky cliffs and bathroom stalls. Inside elite dwellings like that of Maius Castricius -- a four-story home with panoramic windows overlooking the Bay of Naples that was excavated in the 1960s -- she's examined 85 graffito. Some were greetings from friends, carefully incised around the edges of frescoes in the home's finest room. In a stairwell, people took turns quoting popular poems and adding their own clever twists. In other places, the graffiti include drawings: a boat, a peacock, a leaping deer...

Benefiel's study of Pompeii's graffiti has revealed a number of surprises... She's found that declarations of love were every bit as common then as they are today and that it was acceptable for visitors to carve their opinions about the city into its walls. She's discovered that the people of Pompeii loved displaying their cleverness via graffiti, from poetry contests to playful recombinations of the letters that form Roman numerals.

And she's found that Pompeians expressed far more goodwill than ill will. "They were much nicer in their graffiti than we are," she says. "There are lots of pairings with the word 'felicter,' which means 'happily.' When you pair it with someone's name, it means you're hoping things go well for that person. There are lots of graffiti that say 'Felicter Pompeii,' wishing the whole town well."

Reading the Writing on Pompeii's Walls | Smithsonian Magazine | Kristin Ohlson | July 26, 2010

[wafflehouse]

So when they dig us up to “study” us a thousand years down the road, it’s archaeology?

Our wood and plastic civilization? There wont be much to dig up

[eldoradude]

" In the late 1800s, scholars began making careful copies of Latin inscriptions throughout the ancient Roman world, including Pompeii, and cataloging them. This effort is a boon to scholars like Benefiel, since more than 90 percent of Pompeii's recorded graffiti have since been erased by exposure to the elements..."

Kind of a tossup on whether to excavate more before the next eruption or wait and let future archaeologists use (improved?) methods that better preserve the treasures.

[SunkenCiv]

The rest should be left for later. Some have worried that the volcano will have a serious eruption again and rebury everything, so let's quick dig. And the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum is speculated to have a second, lower storey -- AFAIK based on absolutely nothing. Their dream is that there's an identical library under the first one with another box of scrolls. The story of the wasteful destructive "study" of the scrolls should be enough to convince most that the buried Roman towns should be left there for a long while yet.

• Mysterious scrolls linked to Julius Caesar could be read for first time ever [2019]
• 'Spectacular' ancient public library discovered in Germany [2018]
• Metallic ink used in the Herculaneum scrolls [2016]
• X-ray technique 'reads' burnt Vesuvius scroll [2015]
• Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum [2013]
• UK to 'unroll' papyrus scrolls buried by Vesuvius [Kentucky prof has non-invasive scanning technique [2009]
• In search of Western civilisation's lost classics (Herculaneum) [2008]
• In search of Western civilisation's lost classics [2008]
• Scientists use MRI at Kadlec to look at ancient Roman scrolls [2008]
• Rare Ancient Wooden Throne Found in Herculaneum (Buried by Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius) [2007]
• Battle for the books of Herculaneum (1 of finest libraries of the ancient world, covered in Lava) [2005]
• Millionaire to fund dig for lost Roman library [Villa of the Papyri] [2005]
• New hope in hunt for Roman library [2005]
• Focus: The search for the lost library of Rome [2005]
• Focus: The search for the lost library of Rome [2005]
• Herculean task for modern scholars - More on the Discovered Roman Literature being unearthed. [2002]
• Experts urge race against time to unearth last secrets of Herculaneum s lost library [2002]
• Ancient Roman Villa May Hold World's Richest Literary Treasure [2002]

[MikelTackNailer]

Oh Great Chronicler hopefully not on the chronic, please include Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Cities In Dust". She was so intruiged by the disaster and plaster people casts that she made this song and video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsOHvP1XnRg

[SunkenCiv]

:^)

[SunkenCiv]

• Drone video shows new excavations at Pompeii | April 29th 2020 | Sean Captain | DroneDJ

A drone flight over the ancient city and and the new excavations leads us to discover the newly uncovered domus, including: the House with the Garden with its splendid triclinium frescoes and painted portico; the House of Orion with its First Style paintings and the mosaic of Orion, which is the only one of its kind; and in addition the settings of everyday life. It is an extraordinary cross-section of the daily life of the city.
The new excavations of Pompeii in Regio V revealed in an exclusive virtual tour by Massimo Osanna | Pompeii Sites | Published on April 20, 2020