Pompeii

Yesterday I learnt about Pompeii. the site is an entire city and an important archaeological site because it is the clearest and most well-preserved evidence in huge amounts that gives modern day people an insight into how the ancient Roman civilisation would have been as well as a sense of the communication that they had with other ancient civilisations. I learnt that out of the 20,000 approximate inhabitants it had at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., only about 2000 of of them died. There is clear evidence of shop’s even down to the little details of what shops they were as they were preserved in the volcanic ash and rock. Also found at the site are things like pots and other small objects people would have used as well as mosaic, posters and graffiti. In my opinion one of the most extraordinary things at the site is the detailed casts of people running away from the eruption and the agony they faced when the volcanic matter out ran them. The mosaics also give us a detailed insight into art and political views of the time as well as simple things like warnings such as beware of the dogs signs. From this site you can differentiate the rich from the poor as the rich would have lived in better built marble houses and often had mosaics in their homes. On the other hand, poorer people would have lived in small settlements amongst farms around the edges of the city.