Good morning today I would speak upon the cities of Vesuvius
The cities of Vesuvius were flourishing port cities within the Italian Peninsula which attracted large amounts of the rich upper class; but was inevitably destroyed and preserved by the volcanic activity of Mt.Vesuvius in 79 AD as indicated by Pliny the Elder. The cities included Pompeii and Herculaneum, both center’s of trade and commerce resided within a region called Campania Felix. The name Campania Felix is correlated to its abundance of fertile land, corn, olives, and fleeces of its sheep resulting in the land being named blessed and fortunate though this was due to its volcanic nature of Vesuvius. The ancient port cities were excavated by many archaeologists within the span
…show more content…
Vittorio Spinazzola swiftly excavated the sites and uncovered many aspects of ‘A Pompeii that was scarcely dreamed of’, this name referred to the commonly forgotten side of Pompeian society known as the lives of the everyday middle classed man. Spinazzola was known for his meticulous digging techniques of ‘The Street of Abundance’ which allowed him to reconstruct the frontages and facades of many buildings as fully as possible. Figure 4.9 and 4.10 of Chapter 4 Cities of Vesuvius page 37 showcases the the Street of Abundance and the reconstructed frontages of the buildings as a result of Spinzzola’s work. Spinazzola’s methods were also criticized by many as he focused solely on the frontages which resulted in him shoring up the the sides to support the weight of the earth behind the buildings, Spinazzola could also only guess the functions of many of the shops. Though due to the rise of a fascist government Spinazzola was forced to retire and leave his legacy towards his successor Amedo Maiuri as indicated by Pamela Bradley within the Cities of
Castex, Jean. Architecture Of Italy. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 5 Feb. 2012.
On the afternoon of 24th August 79 AD, a volcano called Mt. Vesuvius erupted, which resulted in destroyed lives of citizens, it was estimated that there were 10 to 12 thousand people who occupied the city .The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and a few others were severely affected by the eruption. The cities are well known for its beautiful landscapes and its temperate climate.Pompeii is based in the south, close to Naples in the region of Campania in Italy.The eruption started a series of events such as pumice,rocks and ashes falling down and caused hot volcanic gases to rise high in the sky, people from around 100 miles away could see the event unfolding.The remains of Pompeii and other cities was frozen in time due to the pyroclastic surges
Andrea Palladio was born in 1508A.D. in Italy. At a very young age he became a stone mason, however his journey into architecture began when he met Gian Giorgio Trissino who immediately saw ability in him and decided to mentor Palladio. Trissino combined a study of classical architecture with architecture of the time, all the while allowing Palladio room to develop a style of his own. In time Palladio was constructing villas through out the country side of Italy, in all he constructed 30 villas, 18 of which are still standing today. Perhaps Palladio’s most famous work was the Villa Rotondra or La Rotondra which was started around 1565 and took approximately 4 years to build and was greatly inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. It is interesting to note that la Rotondra is different from Palladio’s other villas in a number of ways, and it is evident that these differences help distinguish it from the rest. The main differences between Palladio’s Rotondra and his other work are, The Rotonda is set on a hilltop, it is located near a...
A prominent feature that contributed heavily to the way of life in Pompeii was the cities geographical location. The city was situated on a bay and was surrounded by rivers. Seneca tells us that “the city is a pleasant bay ….. bounded by the shores of Surrantum and Stabiae.” This meant that a large amount of trade took place in Pompeii, not only from the sea but from inland as well. Pompeii was also close to Vesuvius, a volcanic mountain. Pliny the Elder writes of this in his Natural History, “Pompeii [with Vesuvius visible close at hand.” Previous volcanic activity in the region led to extremely fertile soil. This contributes heavily to Pompeii’s productive and successful agricultural lands. The geographical location of Pompeii was a prominent feature as it contributed heavily to the city’s economic, industrial, and social aspects.
Mount Vesuvius is located in the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. Its Latitude and Longitude is 40.8224° N, 14.4289° E. It is a stratovolcano and has a height of 1277 meters (1490 feet) and base of 48 kilometers (30 miles). Mount Vesuvius has erupted over 30 times and has a repose time that can last for months or even years between eruptions. Its eruptions are explosive and is dominated by pyroclastic flows. The eruption materials are usually an ash cloud with lightening that spews out dense ash falls. The lava can shoot up to 4km into the air. The most famous eruptions of Mt. Vesuvius were in 79 A.D. which destroyed the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The cities were covered in 20 feet of volcanic debris. The estimated death toll was over 1000 people. The
Nearly two millenniums ago a massive eruption rocked the Roman city of Pompeii, destroying buildings and coating the town in deep layers of volcanic ash. Fortunately, this same ash served as a tool for preservation and has allowed archaeologists to discover the remains of various types of Pompeii’s art. The values, beliefs, and daily workings of Roman culture have been brought to new light through the paintings, mosaics, statues and other forms of art found in the lost city of Pompeii.
The documentary Pompeii: The Mystery of the People Frozen in Time is about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that happened 2,000 years ago and affected the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pompeii was a major city for entertainment in the Roman Empire with residents coming from all over and Herculaneum was a small city mostly for the powerful and wealthy. The documentary goes into detail on both cities from resident lifestyles, the volcanic eruption, how long after the eruption before people started to die, and how the cities were affected differently by the explosion. During the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, an eyewitness in Naples named Pliny the Younger was writing letters to the Roman historian Tacitus about the volcanic eruption giving an accurate time frame and
...ctives and elevations of the fountain recall the cityscapes seen on the walls of the cubiculum and other paintings having something to do with scenae frons architecture (11). The exhedrae, which usually adjoined open palestria or peristyles, offer a good comparison with their semicircular arcades forming annular volumes. These spaces communicate with the outer area but still have their own sense of place and charm. They also have a particular public character more appropriate to looking at the Piazza, than say, the semicircular arcades of the markets of Trajan behind one exhedra of his forum (12). While an engaging space in its own right, the Piazza d'Italia fountain operates only partially within the realm of ancient Greco-Roman architecture (Moore's Ph.D dissertation at Princeton was on water in architecture, so he had ample material to draw from. Kiem pp. 196-198).
The private and public leisure activities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were largely abundant. Many activities could be participated in and were used often. These include Drama performances, gladiatorial games, drinking, gambling, brothels, exercise, gardens, baths and food and dining. All these were an important part of Pompeian and Herculaneum life. They were seen as important to keep the body and mind healthy in most cases. Though some opposed some of the activities like brothels, gambling and drinking. But all give a important look into the life of those in Pompeii and Herculaneum before the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius which completely destroyed both towns and all its inhabitants.
This volcano had previously erupted thousands of times, but there was a certain eruption that became very famous. The town of Pompeii, located about 5 miles from the volcano, was a flourishing resort for Romes most wealthy and popular citizens. The town of pompeii was a very fancy town, having nicely paved roads and nicely built houses. This town, being only 5 miles from the deadly volcano, was bound to be remembered as a tragedy. On the eve of this fateful eruption, there was about 20,000 citizens living in Pompeii.
Pompeii is possibly the best-documented catastrophe in Antiquity. Because of it, we know now how the Pompeians lived because they left behind an extensive legacy of art, including monuments, sculptures and paintings. Pompeii lay on a plateau of ancient lava near the Bay of Naples in western Italy in a region called Campania, less than 1.6 kilometers from the foot of Mount Vesuvius. With the coast to the west and the Apennine Mountains to the East, Campania is a fertile plain, traversed by two major rivers and rich soil. However, in the early days, it was not a remarkable city. Scholars have not been able to identify Pompeii’s original inhabitants. The first people to settle in this region were probably prehistoric hunters and fishers. By at least the eight century B.C., a group of Italic people known as the Oscans occupied the region; they most likely established Pompeii, although the exact date of its origin is unknown. “The root of the word Pompeii would appear to be the Oscan word for the number five, pompe, which suggests that either the community consisted of five hamlets or, perhaps, was settled by a family group (gens Pompeia)”(Kraus 7). In the course of the eight century B.C., Greek and Etruscan colonization stimulated the development of Pompeii as a city around the area of the Forum. A point for important trade routes, it became a place for trading towards the inland. Up until the middle of the 5th century B.C., the city was dominated politically by the Etruscans.
Florence, Italy was a city just like any other during the Renaissance. It was city of 50,000 people, less than there were in Paris and Venice but more than most other European cities. The busiest parts of the city were the Ponte Vecchio, a place lined with markets and houses, the neighborhood of the Orsanmichele and Mercato Vecchio, or the Old Market. Florence was a place of beauty and leisure. A Venetian visitor once said, “There is in my opinion no region more sweeter than that wherein Florence is a placed for Florence is situated in a plain surrounded on all sides by hills and mountains…And the hills are fertile cultivated, pleasant…” (Unger, pg. 1). Florence was a very prosperous city; it made fortunes off of wool and banking trades. A certain Florentine family contributed to the vast wealth as well. The Medici family was no doubt the foundation of prosperity for Florence.
Jerusalem is holy to Christians, Jews, and Muslims. For anyone curious about, or connected to, these three monotheistic faiths, then a trip to Jerusalem is obligatory. Visit the Temple Mount complex, home to two monumental Islamic sites, The Dome of The Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque, in addition to the Western Wall which is holy to Judaism. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, underneath which lies the tomb of Jesus, is one of the many sites holy to Christians in Jerusalem. Old City Bazaar
Attention getter: The Great Pyramid at Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, still standing.
Mount Vesuvius is a strato-volcano consisting of a volcanic cone (Gran Cono) that was built within a summit caldera (Mount Somma). The Somma-Vesuvius complex has formed over the last 25,000 years by means of a sequence of eruptions of variable explosiveness, ranging from the quiet lava outpourings that characterized much of the latest activity (for example from 1881 to 1899 and from 1926 to 1930) to the explosive Plinian eruptions, including the one that destroyed Pompeii and killed thousands of people in 79 A.D. At least seven Plinian eruptions have been identified in