Sunday, September 16, 2012

Pompei, the delightful yet morbid attraction

Deciding to use my short time in Naples to see some surrounding areas as well, I took a short train ride to the ancient city of Pompeii for the day. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. Pompeii was covered in volcanic ash. So many lives were lost and the ancient city was destroyed, and a metropolis of ruins is what remains today.  Surrounded by other eager tourists, I entered the archeological site from the main road and began to explore the city. The columns that remain in various part of the city that were once a clean white color are now a dark grey. The remnants of houses, government districts, and city centre buildings are now just a representation of what once was. The most memorable, yet upsetting, part of the excavation site are the human forms on display that have been cast by pouring plaster into the air pocket of the ruins where bodies had disintegrated. There are some human figures that are cast in a position which archeologists can only assume mean they were sleeping when disaster struck. Roaming the city for hours, I tried to take it all in, in just one short afternoon.
 








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