The castle that has been sleeping for thousands of years: the prosperity and decline of Pompeii

More than 200 years ago, people accidentally discovered a mysterious castle that had been sleeping for thousands of years - the ancient city of Pompeii. The ancient city of Pompeii is located in southern Italy. According to archaeological discoveries, it was annihilated by a devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It has since faded from human sight until that accidental discovery. Since then, memories of Pompeii have continued to be dug up.

The ancient city of Pompeii reproduces the life of people in the ancient Roman period and is a precious historical treasure. UNESCO has designated this place as a world cultural and natural heritage, and tourists call it a "natural history museum." However, only one third of Pompeii is open now, and the rest is still buried underground. But now even this third is facing a huge test: On the morning of November 6, 2010, an important building in Pompeii, the Gladiator Training Camp Stone House, collapsed in heavy rain; The outer wall of the garden of the "House of the Moral", which was only a few meters away, collapsed; on December 1, the walls of two more buildings collapsed. There was an uproar in Italy, with Italian President Giorgio Onapolitano calling it "Italy's shame."

The second largest city after Rome

The word Pompeii comes from the Greek verb "Pempo", which means "execute", and is also translated as Pompeii to commemorate Gnaeus Pompey, an ancient Roman politician and military strategist. Pompeii is located at the southern foot of Mount Vesuvius, with the tranquil Sarno River at its feet. The history of Pompeii can be traced back to the 10th century BC. After experiencing the rule of the Greeks and Samnites, Pompeii was finally conquered by Rome in 89 BC and became a colony of the Roman Empire. Since then, the history of Pompeii has been linked to Rome. The Roman Empire was a slave country with highly developed economy and culture. Pompeii developed peacefully under the rule of the Roman Empire for nearly 160 years and quickly became the second largest city in the empire after Rome.

In 62 AD, a major earthquake occurred in Pompeii, and the ancient city was severely damaged. The Roman Emperor Nero at the time even considered whether to abandon this place. Many residents of Pompeii chose to stay. But as the inscription on a mural in the ancient city ruins said, "Nothing in the world lasts forever." Before the reconstruction of Pompeii was completed, a disaster followed.

It only took 18 hours to disappear

Before 62 AD, the active volcano Vesuvius was like a gentle and quiet lady, and people did not worry that its existence would What's the danger?

But beneath this peaceful appearance, it has accumulated strength for thousands of years. On August 24, 79 AD (some say it was October 24), this power finally broke out. In 18 hours from 1:00 noon to 7:00 the next morning, Pompeii was completely annihilated after being hit by volcanic eruptions, four lava flows, and three dust storms.

This most famous disaster in human history was recorded thanks to Pliny the Younger, who was only 17 years old at the time. When the volcano erupted, he and his mother were visiting his uncle Pliny the Elder at Misena (20 kilometers across from Pompeii). Pliny the Younger "watched the fire from the other side" and witnessed the entire process of the volcanic eruption. Six years later, he wrote two letters at the request of the famous Roman historian Tacitus. One recorded the participation of Pliny the Elder, the commander of the Roman Empire's navy, in the rescue process, and the other described Situation of the volcanic eruption: "A large cedar-shaped dark cloud suddenly appeared on the horizon, and a huge flame burned blazingly. As the sky became dark, the flames appeared particularly dazzling. Earthquakes occurred frequently, and we did not dare to go out because of the Are the burning volcanic rocks crashing down from the sky like hailstones?"

Tacitus incorporated Pliny the Younger's letter into his writings, and also made it possible for people buried deep in the ground to Pompeii and other ancient Roman cities have left clues in historical records.

The letter also said that after the disaster struck, the Roman Empire fleet sent some ships to the other side to try to rescue, but the pouring volcanic ash and gravel, the thick smoke from the raging fire, and the lava The toxic gases emitted during the eruption could not subside for several days, making it impossible to carry out rescue operations. Many rescuers failed to take care of themselves and unfortunately died.

This disaster swallowed up the lives of more than 2,000 people (Pompei had about 20,000 residents, most of whom were able to escape), and also buried the crystallization of human civilization.

A hoe unearthed an eternal wonder

Time passed by, and more than 1,600 years passed in a flash. People seem to have forgotten the huge disaster that the eruption of Mount Vesuvius brought to the Romans, and they have also forgotten the ancient city of Pompeii buried deep underground.

In the early 18th century, when a historian was looking through historical materials, he accidentally discovered that there had been several annihilated cities near Mount Vesuvius. Although many precious statues, coins and human remains were later discovered in this area, it was not until 1763, when archaeologists unearthed a stone engraved with the word "Pompei" that people realized that this was Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried by a volcanic eruption.

Due to the lack of unified management for a long time, the ruins of Pompeii were completely destroyed by "treasure diggers". In 1789, Napoleon incorporated Pompeii into French territory and handed over the excavation work to a royal couple in Naples, Marshal Frans Moura and his wife Carolina (Napoleon's sister), so Pompeii was treated slightly correctly. Carolina hired 500 people to excavate at her own expense. She was fascinated by the excavation process. She often took time away from the royal affairs of Naples to look around the site and ask the people in charge about their work. In order to keep abreast of the progress, Karolina also built a house near the ruins.

In 1860, Pompeii, which had gone through many hardships, ushered in the spring of its life. After Victor Emmanuel II unified Italy, he appointed Guiseppe Fe, who was later revered as the pioneer of modern archaeology. O'Reilly was responsible for the excavations at Pompeii.

After Fiorelli explored the walls of the ancient city, he drew an engineering map that marked each block and numbered each building in a logical order. Fiorelli ensured that each newly unearthed artifact was accurately described, not only in terms of its appearance and properties, but also its location and relationship to other objects. Newly discovered artifacts are always kept where possible, rather than being removed and shipped to museums or collections.

Because the volcanic ash that wrapped the corpse solidified into a hard shell, and when the human body rotted, it formed a human-shaped volcanic ash shell. Fioreli invented the "gypsum casting method", injecting plaster of paris into the body. After solidifying in the shell and removing the volcanic ash wrapped outside, a lifelike human body emerged, thus recreating the various tragic scenes of the victims before their death: some held their heads in their hands, curled up into a ball, and squirmed in pain. Sitting; there was a slave who was chained by his master and could not break free when disaster struck, so he had to sit and wait for death; the most admirable was an ordinary soldier who stayed by the city gate until the lava and fire swallowed him up. His expression remained calm and calm. After more than 100 years of excavation, the ancient city of Pompeii, which had been dormant for nearly 2,000 years, finally reappeared. The solidified luxury of regenerated Pompeii

After visiting Pompeii, Goethe once said: "Among the many disasters that have occurred in the world, there has never been any disaster like Pompeii, which brought great consequences to future generations. Such a great joy for people." Unexpected disasters provide us with the possibility of understanding Pompeii.

Pompeii covers an area of ??approximately 1.9 square kilometers and is surrounded by a stone wall more than 4,800 meters long. There are two straight and flat streets from south to north and from east to west, dividing the city into 9 urban areas. Each urban area is connected vertically and horizontally by many streets and alleys. The street is 10 meters wide and paved with large stone slabs. There are deep ruts left on the road in the middle, which have been worn down an inch or two. It turns out that ancient Roman carriages were very developed, and carriages of warriors and nobles were always speeding in the middle of the road.

At all intersections, there are raised "stone-separating carts" about 30 centimeters high. When the speeding carriage approaches the intersection, it will naturally slow down and allow the wheels to drive slowly through the gaps between the stones. It is similar to the "speed bumps" and "zebra crossings" on the road today. Pompeii's commercial and handicraft industries have been quite developed, with a variety of handicraft workshops and small shops. There are also many workshops for grinding flour, baking bread, and oil mills for pressing olive oil. There are also some small hotels on various streets. The counters are made of smooth stones, and wine jars of different sizes are built in the counters. Customers can either come to take drinks home or just sit at the counter. Drinking heavily, many inns also offer "business" such as alcohol, food and accommodation, and casinos. The people of Pompeii did not hide their love for money at all. A businessman wrote on a plaque in his store - "Money, you are welcome".

Pompeii people attached great importance to leisure, health care and entertainment. 10% of the land in the city was used to build leisure and entertainment facilities. There were three large baths, an arena and two theaters in the city. There were many black slaves in the bathhouses, providing services such as massage, olive oil application, makeup and hair removal for bathers. The arena can accommodate nearly 20,000 spectators. The arena is low in the middle and surrounded by stone walls. The spectator stands are in the shape of steps, very similar to modern stadiums.

Pompeii, like other Roman cities, had a prevalent culture of prostitution. There are 25 brothels in the small city of Pompeii. The most formal brothel is located in a relatively dense middle- and lower-class residential area east of the city center. The brothel has 10 rooms and there is a statue of the god of lust, Priap, at the door. Si's portrait is used to show the function of this place. There will be *** murals with different contents at the door of each guest room.

Among all the ruins, the walls of Pompeii are the most distinctive. There are more than 6,000 graffiti on them. The content of the graffiti is rich and colorful, and all imaginable words can be found on the walls. For example, one person cursed another person: "Ah! Jess, may your festering abscess burst open again and hurt more than last time." The person expressing gratitude wrote: "I wish the person who invited me to lunch good health. Health!" Dissatisfied abuses also appeared frequently: "Samis to Knorris: Go hang yourself!"

The ancient city of Pompeii "disappeared" for thousands of years and miraculously regenerated, but while it was being excavated, the restoration work Tourism has also damaged the ancient city. Regarding the recent collapse, Pompeii Mayor Alessio pointed out: "This was an avoidable event. We should realize that Pompeii is the largest open-air museum in the world, but unfortunately it is often ignored. ”