Essay: Influence of excavations of Pompeii on Europe

Oftentimes, individuals view the past as an archive of our achievements and our failures; we refrain from recalling that each and every person has lived a life as impassioned and as intricate as our own, most especially/particularly in the case of the immortalized figures of our forebears, as we are all occupied with the amassed load of our own enjoyments, aspirations, companions, worries, and aversions. Grace Lee Boggs, a former American author, social activist, philosopher and feminist, sagely stated in her powerful and deeply humanistic novel, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century, “History is not the past. It is the stories we tell about the past. How we tell these stories – triumphantly or self-critically, metaphysically or dialectally – has a lot to do with whether we cut short or advance our evolution as human beings.” If history is not the past, then how may we unveil the truth behind past predicaments, and how they were handled, without the blight of bias? How may we acknowledge our ancestors, and learn from their experiences? What are we if not our history?
The (approximately 20,000) citizens of the prosperous city of Pompeii were long accustomed to the frequent though faint tremors that rocked the earth of their home; thus, upon feeling the ground gently quiver on (that fateful date in) October 24, 79 AD, the preponderance of the populace were unconcerned. Pompeii was one of an abundance of towns within the vicinity of Mount Vesuvius, a stratovolcano in modern-day Italy.
It was an early autumn morning, and smaller fissures and releases of ash and smoke on the mountain went largely unnoticed, the residents of the region much too preoccupied with their own established routines. Promptly, in a manner quite parallel to the/a (frightful powerful earthquake/occurrence) seventeen years prior, the ground began to vibrate especially violently; the residents were in a panic, many attempting to evacuate (in a frenzied (fashion)).
(At approximately 1:00 pm, Mount Vesuvius cataclysmically erupted, spewing up a high-altitude column from which ash and pumice began to fall, blanketing the area — frantic rescues and escapes transpired during this time. Lights seen on the mountain were perceived as flames. Individuals as far away as Misenum fled for their lives. Subsequently, pyroclastic flows of the volcano emerged; the flows were rapid-moving, dense, and scalding, toppling wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating all population remaining there and altering the landscape, including the coastline. These were accompanied by additional light tremors and a mild tsunami in the Bay of Naples. By evening of the second day, the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere through which the sun shone weakly/dimly.)
Vesuvius was dormant for centuries and no eruption was recorded in memory until 79 AD. Due to this unfortunate lack of information, the inhabitants of the Campanian towns could not foresee the fatal and grave consequences of a volcanic explosion; many remained stationed in their hometowns and houses, assuming that the catastrophe would be short-termed, and (only result in a mere fraction of the destruction that transpired in actuality.)
This catastrophic disaster lingered in the minds of many; in the years following, all tensions and dynamics of the Roman world became increasingly focused and intensified. As the society strove to rebuild and recover itself, a competitive, ambitious and treacherous world was revealed. New money challenged old values. The traditional hierarchies of power and status could no longer be taken for granted.
Centuries later, the name and location of the city had long since faded into obscurity — that was, until coincidences during the 16th and 17th centuries led to some chance discoveries of ancient building materials and artifacts from the buried Campanian city.
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During a construction project devised by Count Muzzio Tuttavilla, who planned to divert the water of the Sarno river to his villa in Torre Annunziata, the city of Pompeii was spotted for the first time in the centuries — the planned underground channel of the shortest route happened to pass across the ruins of Pompeii.
From 1592 to 1600, under the instruction of Italian architect Domenico Fontana, several inscriptions were unearthed by the laymen, who were unaware that they were excavating over the top surface of a 66 hectares ancient city lying deep below.
An inscription bearing two clearly visible words, ‘decurio pompeis’, referring to a Pompeian magistrate, was archaeologically diagnostic evidence, but was misinterpreted as referring to the villa of the Roman general, Pompey, not the Roman city of Pompeii; therefore, its discovery did not arouse further discussion or interest. The canal was already completed when Lucas Holstenius, a German antiquarian, visited the area in 1637, and proposed correctly that Pompeii and la Civita were the same — his proposal was not welcomed; however, another inscription bearing the name Pompei found in 1689 instigated an intellectual debate on its identification, prompting further personal interest. Early archeologist, Giuseppe Macrini, visited the site in 1693 to venture down the tunnels, noting the ruins of ramparts and buildings, and suggesting excavation to clarify whether these ruins belonged to the ancient city of Pompeii called ‘la Civita’ — no attempt was made until 1748.
The exploration of the ancient site started in an area called ‘Civita’, in 1748 was found to be a comparatively easy task, because the debris that had caused such chaos was light and not compacted.
During the first phase, the excavation was carried out essentially in order to find art objects. Many artifacts considered suitable for the private collection of the Bourbon king, Charles III, were removed, and transported to Naples, reinforcing the political and cultural prestige of the municipality, where they remain to this day, displayed in the Museo Nazionale. Other wall paintings were stripped from the walls and framed, or irreparably destroyed due to excessive damage.
By the end of the 18th century, two wide areas had been uncovered: the Quartiere dei Teatri with the Tempio d’Iside, and the Via delle Tombe with the Villa di Diomede. Two of the archaeologists most connected with this phase were Karl Weber and Francesco La Vega, who wrote detailed diary accounts of the works they carried out, and made very precise designs of the buildings being uncovered.
During the period of French control of Naples (1806-1815), the excavation methodology changed: organization was of greater importance, and an itinerary was drawn up to accommodate the visits of scholars, as well as important personages.
The French wished to excavate the buried town systematically, from west to east. In some periods of their influence, they employed as many as 1500 workmen, and this concentration of effort resulted in the Foro’s, the Terme’s, the Casa di Pansa’s, the Casa di Sallustio’s, and the Casa del Chirurgo’s excavation.
With the return of the Bourbon king Ferdinand I to Naples, this method of organizing the excavations continued, but there were fewer funds available to back the project. By 1860, much of the western portion of the town had been excavated.
Giuseppe Fiorelli directed the Pompeii excavation from 1863 to 1875 – introducing an entirely new system for the project; rather than uncovering the streets first, he imposed a system of uncovering the houses from the top down, in order to excavate the houses from the ground floor up — a much more efficient way of preserving everything that was discovered.
During these excavations of the site, occasional voids in the ash layer had been found that contained human remains. It was Fiorelli who realized these were spaces left by the decomposed bodies, and so devised the technique of injecting plaster into them to recreate the forms of Vesuvius’s victims. This technique is still in use today, with a clear resin now used instead of plaster, as it is more durable, and does not destroy the bones, allowing further analysis.
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In this way the data collected during the excavations could be used to help with the restoration of the ancient buildings and of their interiors – although the most important wall paintings and mosaics still continued to be stripped and transported to Naples.
Fiorelli also took the topography of the town and divided it into a system of ‘regiones’, ‘insulae’ and ‘domus’ – and he developed the use of plaster casts to recreate the forms of plants and human bodies that had been covered by the volcanic ash, and had then left a hole – shaped in the form of the plant or person – in that ash after putrefaction.
Michele Ruggiero, Giulio De Petra, Ettore Pais and Antonio Sogliano, continued Fiorelli’s work in the following years, and during the last 20 years of the century began to restore the roofs of the houses with wood and tiles – in order to protect the remaining wall paintings and mosaics inside.
During these years many famous scholars came to study the remains of Pompeii, and one of them, August Mau, in 1882, created a system for categorizing the Pompeian pictures into a range of decorative styles. His work still provides the standard framework for the study of these ancient Roman paintings.
Vittorio Spinazzola, starting from around 1910, uncovered the Casa di Loreio Tiburtino, the Casa dell’Efebo, the Casa di Trebio Valente and Via dell’Abbondanza, which goes from west to east all along the length of the town.
He reconstructed the façades of the houses along this street with their balconies, upper floors and roofs, using a meticulous excavation technique. In doing so he demonstrated how it was possible both to understand the dynamics of how the buildings had been buried in the first place, and also what the original structure of the houses had been – thus making it possible to restore them accurately.
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Spinazzola was succeeded by one of the most dynamic and controversial archaeologists in the history of the excavation of Pompeii — Amedeo Maiuri.
Maiuri uncovered the city’s walls, and found a large necropolis along its southern walls – while his excavation of the Via di Nocera allowed him also to explore Regio I and Regio II. This, however, was carried out using inaccurate methodology, with inadequate instruments, and the project suffered from chronic underfunding, so the houses were not well restored and were eventually practically abandoned.
Maiuri also uncovered the Casa del Menandro and Villa dei Mister, and he undertook stratigraphical research under the AD 79 level, in his search for the origins of Pompeii.
Alfonso De Franciscis became director of excavations in 1964 – his period in charge was characterised by an emphasis on the restoration of buildings that had already been uncovered. Only the magnificent Casa di Polibio was uncovered in this period.
Following him, Fausto Zevi and Giuseppina Cerulli Irelli had to work hard to resolve the problems caused in Pompeii by the earthquake of 1980. Then in 1984 Baldassare Conticello started an extensive and systematic restoration of buildings in Regio I and II, where excavation work had already been completed.
The excavation of the Complesso dei Casti Amanti was done ex novo (from scratch). The present director, Pietro Giovanni Guzzo (who started his stint in Pompeii in 1994) has had to confront many management and financial problems in order to plan the finishing of excavations and the complete restoration of the buildings. In the most recent years, excavations have been carried out outside the Porta Stabia, and also in Murecine, near the river Sarno, where the Hospitium dei Sulpici has been uncovered.
Many areas are still to be uncovered in Pompeii, but it is even more important to restore what has already been excavated. Today 44 of the 66 hectares of urban area are visible, and it is unanimously considered that the other 22 hectares must be left under the volcanic debris, in order to preserve this important part of our past for future generations.
The nine books of Antichità d’Ercolano Esposte by the Accademia Ercolanese (from 1757 onwards), as well as the works of Winckelmann, Francois Mazois and William Gell, informed the whole of Europe about what was being revealed as the ancient Roman towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii were slowly being uncovered.
The discoveries aroused great interest, and emotion, among Enlightenment circles – and offered many new subjects for cultural debate. Slowly a new, Neo-classical, attitude emerged, influencing philosophers, men of letters and artists. Painters, sculptors, jewellers, upholsterers, cabinet-makers, joiners, decorators – all made explicit reference to the findings in the towns that Vesuvius buried, and there was a constant demand for books illustrated with accurate pictures.
Many European countries, thanks to the new importance given to the ancient world, opened academies in Naples and Rome to offer hospitality to those who wanted to study the newly excavated towns. In this period the younger members of many of the noble and rich families of Europe completed their education by doing a ‘grand tour’ of Europe, and a visit to Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Museo Archeologico in Naples was considered an essential part of these trips.
The diaries of some of the people who made these journeys show how much influence the excavations had all over Europe, and these discoveries certainly eventually gave rise to modern archaeology, and led to the finding of many other ancient Greek and Roman towns.