POMPEII
Pompeii: Exploring a Roman Ghost Town (Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1986)
Pompeii is a fascinating place! Yes, it is ruins, but so much has been uncovered that you can easily imagine what life was like in a small Roman town more than 1900 years ago. You can tour beautiful villas with frescoed walls and mosaic floors, you can enter the many shops that line the paved streets. You can sit in the bleachers of the Amphitheater and almost hear the sound of the crowd roaring as two gladiators fight each other to the death. You can jog around the rim of the Large Palestra, the sports center, and see yourself taking a swim in the Olympic-sized pool. It is truly a living ghost town.
We were wowed by Pompeii on our first trip to Italy in 1970. Years later we came back with our young children. They were entranced by Pompeii and we thought, hmm, this might make a good children’s book. We returned 3 times so I could take photos and Nancy could take notes.
Alex and Dan loved to explore the ruins. They ran off on their own while I took pictures. We learned that the best time to explore the ruins was after lunch. All the tours had left and we had the place to ourselves. This was very important because it would have been impossible for me to take photos with thousands of people packed into rooms and walking around outside. We found a knowledgeable guard/guide who gave us a complete tour. He had keys to every building so he was able to unlock the wonders of Pompeii for us. One evening after the ruins were closed, he took us through a villa that hadn’t been opened to the public yet. I was walking down a poorly lit staircase, when I saw a body. Startled, I jumped back to avoid stepping on it. It turned out that it was a cast of a body that, in the dusk, looked like it was alive.
One of the most striking things for us about Pompeii was how sophisticated this ancient city was. It was not a big or important city such as Rome, but Pompeii in 79 AD had an infrastructure and amenities more advanced than Williamsburg, Virginia, in the 1700s. For instance, they had roads paved with stone and raised, concrete sidewalks. Running water was brought down from the mountains and distributed to the city in lead pipes under the sidewalks. They used the same water valves and surgical tools we use today. They had drinking fountains throughout the city. They had running water for public and private toilets and for gardens. A large swimming pool was graduated from shallow to deep just like ours is today. Graffiti on buildings and outdoor theaters promoted candidates during elections, announced games, athletic competitions, and meetings of the chess club and other activities, expressed people’s adoration of certain gladiators, and most important, gave archaeologists invaluable information about life in Pompeii.
Although it is a children’s book, it is equally as interesting and informative for adults. When you go to Pompeii, be sure to take your own copy! The photos in the slide show below are the illustrations from the book. For the full book with text, check your local library or amazon.com.
Click on the arrow at the top right of the photo to go to the next pages in the slide show of the book below.
Pompeii is a fascinating place! Yes, it is ruins, but so much has been uncovered that you can easily imagine what life was like in a small Roman town more than 1900 years ago. You can tour beautiful villas with frescoed walls and mosaic floors, you can enter the many shops that line the paved streets. You can sit in the bleachers of the Amphitheater and almost hear the sound of the crowd roaring as two gladiators fight each other to the death. You can jog around the rim of the Large Palestra, the sports center, and see yourself taking a swim in the Olympic-sized pool. It is truly a living ghost town.
We were wowed by Pompeii on our first trip to Italy in 1970. Years later we came back with our young children. They were entranced by Pompeii and we thought, hmm, this might make a good children’s book. We returned 3 times so I could take photos and Nancy could take notes.
Alex and Dan loved to explore the ruins. They ran off on their own while I took pictures. We learned that the best time to explore the ruins was after lunch. All the tours had left and we had the place to ourselves. This was very important because it would have been impossible for me to take photos with thousands of people packed into rooms and walking around outside. We found a knowledgeable guard/guide who gave us a complete tour. He had keys to every building so he was able to unlock the wonders of Pompeii for us. One evening after the ruins were closed, he took us through a villa that hadn’t been opened to the public yet. I was walking down a poorly lit staircase, when I saw a body. Startled, I jumped back to avoid stepping on it. It turned out that it was a cast of a body that, in the dusk, looked like it was alive.
One of the most striking things for us about Pompeii was how sophisticated this ancient city was. It was not a big or important city such as Rome, but Pompeii in 79 AD had an infrastructure and amenities more advanced than Williamsburg, Virginia, in the 1700s. For instance, they had roads paved with stone and raised, concrete sidewalks. Running water was brought down from the mountains and distributed to the city in lead pipes under the sidewalks. They used the same water valves and surgical tools we use today. They had drinking fountains throughout the city. They had running water for public and private toilets and for gardens. A large swimming pool was graduated from shallow to deep just like ours is today. Graffiti on buildings and outdoor theaters promoted candidates during elections, announced games, athletic competitions, and meetings of the chess club and other activities, expressed people’s adoration of certain gladiators, and most important, gave archaeologists invaluable information about life in Pompeii.
Although it is a children’s book, it is equally as interesting and informative for adults. When you go to Pompeii, be sure to take your own copy! The photos in the slide show below are the illustrations from the book. For the full book with text, check your local library or amazon.com.
Click on the arrow at the top right of the photo to go to the next pages in the slide show of the book below.