Lecture 15

Ostia and Pompeii

A. Ostia

1. The port of Rome

 

2. At the mouth of the Tiber

 

3. Apparently a “working-class” city with insulae (apartment houses/tenements) and bar

 

4. Offices of the shipping companies

 B. Pompeii   

1. One of the prime archaeological sites of the Mediterranean, always known, important in the development of archaeology

2. Prosperous city on the Bay of Naples south of Rome

3.  Destroyed by eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79—destruction was sudden and buildings and objects left where they lay

4. Great human tragedy, but great good fortune for archaeology

5. First-hand account by Pliny the Younger

6. Nearby city of Herculaneum also destroyed

7. Provides much evidence about life in a Roman city—influence from Greece (Hellenistic Greece, especially Alexandria), local peoples (Samnites), and Rome

8.  Public life: forum, temples, palaistra, amphitheater

9.  More information about private life, especially houses

10.  “Atrium houses” characterized by atrium with impluvium in the front and a peristyle court in the back

11.  Lavish houses, suggesting a rich lifestyle

12.  Certain indications that Pompeii was not an ordinary city

13.  Cf. poorer neighborhoods in Rome (from literary sources) and at Ostia,

14. Paintings (frescoes) and other decorations also important as indication of ancient lifestyle

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