Sunday 30th March 2008

The campsite is also very close to the railway line between Naples and Sorrento and today we decided to visit the Roman villa at Oplontis and the Roman town of Herculaneum, both easily accessible using this line. I wanted to visit a few buildings that I missed in Pompeii, so I went in early and spent an hour there (not a problem because it was free) and then we went to the train station.
Oplontis was the villa owned by Nero's wife Poppea and was also destroyed by the Vesuvius eruption. There was much construction work going on to consolidate the building and many areas were closed but it was still possible to see the luxury that Poppea would have enjoyed, pampered by her many servants. There was 61m x 17m swimming pool with attached exercise area, trees, grass , plants and many high quality sculptures; a bath complex; a large 'public' garden, a private garden; small indoor gardens with flowers and shrubs with the background frescos showing fountains, trees, plants and birds. The frescos in the majors rooms, mostly closed or partly covered at the moment due to the works, are beautiful and, once the work has been completed, the villa is well worth a visit.
On then to another cheerful place, Herculaneum, whose residents had a slightly better fate than those in Pompeii. Rather than the slow death of choking on ash, the people of Herculaneum who were not able to escape by boat were instantly vaporised by a river of superheated ash (a pyroclastic flow) that came from a different phase of the same 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius. This poured over the town filling every gap and, at 16m, covering the buildings thus freezing the scene at that point. The exclusion of air as this happened has lead to an incredible state of preservation with archaeologists finding food on tables and in jars, carbonised wooden objects (tables, wine presses, a laundry press, room screens, staircases, joists, beams etc) thus providing an invaluable insight into the life of the inhabitants. Some objects and people were vaporized but this left gaps into which the archaeologists poured plaster to produce casts. Examples are a man holding his nose to exclude the dust and fumes, a dog and wooden shutters etc. Much of the site still lies buried under the modern town although tunnels have been dug since 1738 to investigate the site. There is much excitement over the Villa dei Papiri built by Julius Caesar's father-in-law and containing 1,800 carbonised papyrus scrolls thought to include a number of literary works of the time. Archaeologists have discovered that these can be read by very careful excavation and modern technology. This is likely to produce an invaluable record of Roman life and Greek (the Romans kept and reproduced this) and Roman literature but progress will be, quite correctly, very slow as techniques will improve over time.
The site is much more compact than Pompeii and the buildings are original because, unlike Pompeii where buildings often collapsed due to the weight of the volcanic ash, the pyroclastic flow filled the buildings and supported their structure. This means that buildings are still standing to the second storeys and ceilings, with their plaster decorations and frescos are preserved. We were intrigued by the fact that, although in both of the sites all life was extinguished, frescos with vivid colours were preserved for nearly 2,000 years – I am sure that there is a scientific explanation. One of the most evocative areas of the site is the port where you stand looking at 16m of sheer rock, which was the sea before the eruption and beyond this the modern town continues to the new shore. Boats were found here, in the water before they were overcome by the pyroclastic flow. Likewise many skeletons were found where people were sheltering in the arches of the port buildings waiting for the boats that would have delivered them to safety.
On the way back from the site to the station we were stopped by a series of explosions. These turned out to be very loud firecrackers that were accompanying a religious parade. This appeared to be a sort of 'beating the bounds' but involving a large boat with Mary, Jesus and the odd saint aboard being carried by on the shoulders of a number of men. The boat was preceded by a number of groups carrying banners and as they approached each shrine on the route the banner bearers would make the banners bow to the shrine before they moved on. This took some time and meanwhile, the boat bearers would rock rhythmically in time with the accompanying band. Two singers, an older man and a young girl took turns to sing chants to the shrine before the procession moved on to the next point of worship.
It was interesting to think of the ancient pagan worship and the current Roman Catholic traditions as we returned to Pompeii. I am sure that there are many pagan facets preserved in Christian traditions.
Photos: One of the indoor garden areas viewable from guests 'salons' on either side; The port area of Herculaneum viewed from the top of the pyroclastic flow that covered the town – the green area in front of the arches was the sea in 79 AD; Herculaneum – the Hall of the Augustals was built by the freed slaves (the 'liberta') for the worship of emperor Augustus. The skeleton of the very loyal caretaker of the building was found on his bed in his room behind the wall on the right. He didn't leave his post even when his life was threatened; The Ercolano church parade with boat – the man at the front is helping to stop the boat from moving too quickly own the hill!