Pompey: Glory Buried Underground

Author: Etienne
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2000-03-01
Features: On August 24, 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius, located in what is now Italy, suddenly erupted violently, covering the nearby city of Pompeii with lava. An active city was instantly frozen, with three meters of volcanic ash burying it to death. Though they died in an instant, they entered eternal life—with archaeological excavations, the city was brought back to life. We return to the past, getting to know Pompeii from every detail: its people and gods, its desires and joys, its life and death. With the king's permission, the buried city was looted. The governors stationed in southern Italy by Austria sent people to dig wells and tunnels, stealing some statues and transporting them to their castle in Vienna. These people were reckless, drilling holes in walls adorned with beautiful frescoes. Only one voice dared to oppose this act of robbery—the Pope. Unfortunately, the King of Two Sicilies, Charles III of Spain, later, summoned Rocco Gioacchino de Alcubierre from Spain to resume this excavation work. Alcubierre was a surveyor who also supplied statues and various treasures to the Spanish court. In 1748, he opened a new excavation site near the streets of Stabiana and Nola, about 200 meters away from the Temple of Fortuna Augusta. However, soon after, Alcubierre closed this site and focused on Herculaneum. It wasn't until 1754 that he resumed excavations in Pompeii. Nine years later, a marker was discovered, inscribed with the name of the city. It turned out that the true name of Vesuvia was Pompeii. The Upper Class: The Benefits of Land Long ago, Campania was a paradise for agriculture. The slopes of Mount Vesuvius were filled with the properties of the upper class. Between rows of grapevines and olive trees, crops, vegetables, and forage grew. Wheat was also grown here, yielding two harvests a year, bringing more wealth to the owners of vineyards. The owner of the mysterious villa had a press and storage rooms, where large amphorae were filled with wine and olive oil. The agricultural products in this area were abundant. Livestock farming was also thriving. Eumachia, a wealthy woman, had a mansion in the forum. She married a sheep farmer, Numisclus. In his farmyard, there were flocks of sheep and goats, guarded by shepherd dogs. The city itself relied on the vegetables provided by the suburbs. The vegetable gardens outside Pompeii were famous for onions, herbs, and honey, which are still specialties of the region today. The wealth derived from the land was concentrated in the hands of prominent figures, who, after gaining economic advantage, also wielded political influence. Many members of the city council owned land. At that time, my uncle was commanding the fleet in Misenum. Around 1:00 PM on August 24, my mother told him that a cloud appeared in the sky, unusually large and bizarre in shape. My uncle had just finished sunbathing, taken a cold shower, eaten something, and rested, and my mother came while he was working. He asked for his boots and climbed to a high point where he could see far. However, due to the distance, he couldn’t determine which mountain the cloud was coming from. Later, it was revealed to be Mount Vesuvius. The shape of the cloud was like an Italian pine, with a huge trunk piercing the sky and branches spreading at the top. This might have been because the strong updraft that initially lifted the cloud had disappeared, or the cloud had gradually descended and dispersed under its own weight. Part of the cloud was white, while the rest was dirty and spotted, mixed with dust or soil. My uncle found this phenomenon significant enough to warrant a closer look, a thought typical of a scholar. He ordered his men to prepare a light warship with two banks of oars and asked if I wanted to go with him. I replied that I wanted to stay and read, thinking about an article I had been asked to write. On the way out, he received a note from his friend Cascus’s wife, Rectina, who was terrified by the danger and begged him to save her. Her villa was at the foot of the volcano and could only be escaped by sea. Thus, my uncle abandoned his original intention of conducting scientific research and instead fulfilled a higher duty. He ordered all the large ships to set sail and also boarded one himself, preparing to rescue others as well, since the coastal areas were densely populated. He acted bravely, rushing to the disaster zone in his ship, observing and recording various phenomena along the way. The same issues of improper mixing or poor quality could occur when repairing painted walls. In the past, repairs used iron clamps, which were not only unsightly but also prone to rusting and expanding, causing the surrounding walls to crack. Later, there were slight improvements, but they seemed to have no significant effect. To reattach the paint that was at risk of falling off without removing the entire layer, workers would scrape away the deformed and wrinkled edges on the surface, then insert an iron wire from below between the coating and the support, removing the old plaster and filling it with new mortar. The problem was that the plaster never seemed to be completely clean, even if it was clean enough, the surface would still crack. Therefore, after grouting, there were always gaps between the old and new mortar, which were prone to cracking due to different compositions. The walls in this area cracked in this way. Could the plaster fill all the gaps? Far from it! In 1979, while repairing a wall in the Pygmees mansion, the plan was to restore a height of 1.5 meters. In some places, it was repaired to 22 centimeters, while in others, it was as little as 4 centimeters. The mortar was sometimes not continuous. Additionally, the gaps between walls were not treated. As a result, the repair process had to be restarted soon after. The workers cut away the edges of the layer again. This happened time and again, until the original appearance was completely lost. Some repairs were difficult due to the shoddy work of Pompeian builders in the 1st century. An analysis conducted in Paris revealed that even if the original paint quality was good, the underlying material might not have been of equal quality. The amount of lime in the plaster might have been insufficient, initially to save costs, but now it was easily prone to crumbling or even being blown away by the wind. In damp areas, it absorbed moisture, damaging the wall paintings. It was precisely because the lime content in the walls and the surface was different that so many walls peeled. […] Fertile soil is also an enemy of the site. Why, then, did people choose the area around Mount Vesuvius despite the danger? Because it is one of the most fertile regions in the world. Thanks to Mount Vesuvius, the surface soil here is several meters thick, rich in minerals that are quickly absorbed. In the early 1st century, during the reign of Emperor Augustus, the Greek geographer Strabo mentioned in his works that in some parts of Campania, wheat could be grown twice a year, along with a first and second crop of millet, and sometimes even a second crop of vegetables. Even today, local farmers’ orchards still yield multiple harvests of seasonal vegetables and fruits. However, this fertile soil in Pompeii (which is slightly thinner now) has become a curse. G. Aymonin, a staff member at the National Museum of Natural History in France, identified 31 species of parasitic plants in the site area, so many that they could fill a botanical atlas. Various wild grasses and wild carrots intertwined, the formidable fennel, the terrible banyan trees, the morning glories, and the raspberries. These plants easily invade bare land. In open areas where visitors can enter, the trampling of feet actually helps suppress the spread of weeds. In closed areas, such as gardens, courtyard-style courtyards, and courtyards, they quickly grow and climb the walls, gradually corroding and damaging them. The plant growth was particularly severe near the most damaged buildings and the areas that had not yet been excavated. The plants also eroded the concrete and its decorative elements, even damaging the painted floors. As soon as a small tile fell off, plants would take root there. The roots of some plants could even cause the road and walls to crack. Visitors are not aware of these problems; they only see five or six well-preserved buildings, while the damage elsewhere goes unnoticed. A recent exhibition about Pompeii has been touring Europe. The exhibition includes a map showing the preserved original paved floors in the excavated areas. These areas have become fewer. However, when first excavated, all the floors were paved, some with elaborate mosaics and others at least with plaster. Thousands of square meters of this flooring have been destroyed and no longer exist, and this destruction continues. Without roofs, the plaster layers were damaged or peeled off, and the walls may also have been damaged. Raspberries, fennel, and wisteria took root on the rooftops, forming thick and large piles that eventually caused the walls to collapse. Along the inner walls, bittersweet, catkins, and raspberries clung, their roots the walls. These plants rapidly spread their roots, making them thicker and stronger, penetrating deeper into the walls. Some cracks in the walls provided easy entry for moisture. ivy also got involved, clinging to the walls, causing the coating to gradually peel off. It adhered so firmly to the wall that it was even stronger than the relationship between the wall and the structure, and when you tried to pull it down, the entire coating came off with it. A Foreseeable Archaeological Disaster To prevent these hazards, a small team of patient and cautious cleaners, as well as a group of restoration experts, is needed. […] Today, in the areas of Pompeii that are not open to the public, one can see walls overwhelmed by various plants, cracked columns and walls, and falling mosaics. The spread of plants, along with moisture corrosion, and the careless destruction of humans, pose a threat to the site that is no less severe than past earthquakes. A building that was previously excavated is now difficult to enter due to plant growth. Near the unexcavated areas, the courtyards of some ancient buildings have turned into thickets. The plants silently erode these structures, causing them to slowly crack and deteriorate. This slow, gradual disaster will eventually leave the buildings on this site completely destroyed. Pompeii has become a tragic example in the restoration and preservation of ancient sites, an unparalleled disaster in the history of archaeology. Science et Avenir