General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy are so many people fascinated by Pompeii?
I know I am, ever since I read the short story "The Dog of Pompeii" by Louis Untermeyer.
2ndAmForComputers
(3,527 posts)And creepy sells.
Just remembering the photos of those instant-statue people gives me the chilly willies. Egads.
brooklynite
(94,727 posts)southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)came off the mountains. There is so much history to see. If you ever have a chance you must go to Italy and see history all around you. It's beautiful and the food is great.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Plus it was a wealthy and advanced city. Then it all ended so abruptly. Fascinating.
The stories are poignant, too, like the skeleton of the teen girl holding the baby ... They think it was a malnourished slave girl holding her charge that she was trying to save. (That was actually in Herculaneum, but the two places are lumped together in the public imagination.)
pinto
(106,886 posts)MissB
(15,812 posts)Echoing the frozen in time thing. Sudden death happens all too frequently, but the citizens here were somewhat preserved.
benddem
(3,172 posts)not that long ago...they were still finding bodies and bones. It is great testament to the force of volcanoes.
derby378
(30,252 posts)A thriving settlement, wiped out literally overnight by Vesuvius, but leaving plenty for future archaeologists and explorers to discover.
mainer
(12,029 posts)right down to the fast-food stalls. And then to think how long ago all this was...
RevStPatrick
(2,208 posts)Normal people living their lives, and BOOM! frozen in ash forever.
I think we can all relate to and fear that happening to us.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)if we rile the gods of the Cascades ...
Capn Sunshine
(14,378 posts)Nice spot when it isn't raining lava.
sinkingfeeling
(51,473 posts)and art work. We think all things just came into being a 100 years or so ago, and then find out they existed well before that.
sammytko
(2,480 posts)Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)something like that. They showed the erotic frescoes in the brothels and discussed the lives of the prostitutes (usually slaves from conquered lands). Evidently, Pompeii was not as sex obsessed as Rome was. It was an interesting show.
duffyduff
(3,251 posts)Saw it in 2007.
The dogs that live there are pretty interesting in and of themselves. It is said that many of them are descended from the original dogs of Pompeii.
sammytko
(2,480 posts)Looked like he could have been frozen in time.
Spazito
(50,453 posts)worn smooth by the footsteps of those who lived and died in Pompeii, it really struck home with me for some reason, made it more than just a historic site, very eerie feeling.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)In an instant, all life was wiped out, yet preserved in time for future generations to see. They had no idea what hit them. It was the ultimate conquest of nature over man.
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)and how we often cannot know what's about to happen.
the fact that they were all just going on about their daily lives and were caught totally unprepared, is a reminder to us all..
No doubt they had noticed the volcano spewing off and on, and yet never realized that it would kill them