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divendres, 10 de maig de 2024

> The Volcanic Eruption of 79 AD

> Pompeii

> Pliny the Elder: a Writer's Courage

dijous, 19 de maig de 2005

'A Day in Pompeii, Between Vesuvius and the Mediterranean': this is the title of an exhibition opened on the 13th of May at Barcelona's Maritime Museum, where one can see over two hundred original pieces from the archaeological site of Pompeii, the ancient city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The exhibition will continue up to the 20th of October and has been organised in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompeii, the institute that manages the Pompeii site. All kinds of objects are included: domestic furniture, jewellery, paintings, statues, marble reliefs..., as well as a pair of moulds made from the empty space left by the bodies of two people who lost their lives under the lava from the volcano.

'A Day in Pompeii, Between Vesuvius and the Mediterranean' is arranged into a dozen or so spaces dealing with different themes: religion, medicine, food, the relationship with the sea, funeral rites, and so on, all of which gives one a good idea of urban life in Roman times.

In addition, and within the context of the exhibition, a number of activities are to be held, organised together with the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia and aimed at both young and old.

+ Webs relacionades dins Nosaltres.Com: Història i arqueologia

The Volcanic Eruption of 79 AD

+ Pompeii was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

In the first century AD, Pompeii was a prosperous town on the Italian peninsula. It had just over fifteen thousand inhabitants. But this prosperity turned to rack and ruin with the incredibly violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius that began on the morning of the 24th of August, 79 AD and that lasted over 24 hours, burying the town under a six metre thick layer of ash and rubble and causing two thousand fatalities. Located near Naples, the excavation of Pompeii, which continues to this day, began in 1748, uncovering an impressive Roman archaeological site, the richest in the world.

Pompeii

+ The amphitheatre at Pompeii could seat around 20,000 people.

Indeed, the ruins of Pompeii are a priceless source of knowledge of the Roman era. Extremely well conserved, they give us a picture of the life led by the inhabitants, the places and the main buildings (forum, amphitheatre, theatres, thermal baths, palaestra...), the works of art, houses, villas... In relation to the villas, one must bear in mind that many wealthy Romans had had splendid villas built on the outskirts of Pompeii, at Herculaneum and Stabiae..., attracted by the great beauty of the Bay of Naples. Herculaneum and Stabiae are of great archaeological value, and they were also destroyed by the volcanic eruption of 79 AD.

Pliny the Elder: a Writer's Courage

+ Portrait of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder was a Roman writer with great curiosity, the author of a thirty-seven volume magnum opus, the 'Natural History', a true compendium of knowledge at the time, with information on cosmology, geography, anthropology, botany, medicine, architecture, etc. On the 24th of August of 79 AD, the day that Mount Vesuvius erupted, Pliny the Elder was commandeering the naval fleet of Misenum and ordered his ships to approach the area in order to observe the phenomenon and save the lives of the people who were fleeing into the sea. His curiosity and solidarity led him to his death, trapped by the current of lava.

MATERIALS

Museu Marítim de Barcelona
Format:Web
Espai de l'exposició 'Un dia a Pompeia, entre el Vesuvi i la Mediterrània'.
Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei
Format:Web
Organisme rector dels jaciments arqueològics de Pompeia, Herculà, Stabias i Oplontis, i del museu de Boscoreale.
Pompeii: The Last Day
Format:Web
Pàgina del programa de la BBC en què es relaten els darrers moments de Pompeia. Informa profusament sobre aquesta ciutat romana.
Pompeii Virtual Tour
Format:Web
Tomb virtual per Pompeia.
Laberint
Format:Web
Portal enterament dedicat a la civilització greco-romana.

QUE HO SABIES?

Mount Vesuvius is the only active volcano on continental Europe. Further South, on the island of Sicily, lies Mount Etna, the highest volcano in Europe, at over three thousand three hundred metres.
Covering over three thousand square metres, the House of the Faun is the largest of ancient Pompeii. The famous Alexander mosaic was found inside it, and is now kept in the National Archaeology Museum of Naples.
The excavation works at Herculaneum brought to light the Villa of the Papyri, on the outskirts of the town, so named because a vast library was found inside, with texts written mostly in Greek, but also in Latin.