Paestum: A Taste of Greece in Italy

Paestum was founded in 600 B.C. by Greeks. It was originally named Poseidonia for the Greek sea god Poseidon. Despite the name the patron god of the city was Hera, the goddess of fertility. This coincided with the fertility of the surrounding land and the importance of farming in the area.

                  Near the end of the 5^th century B.C. the town came under control of the Lucanians, a native group that lived nearby. They renamed the town Paistom and when the Romans conquered the town in 273 B.C. they changed the name to Paestom, which is the Latin equivalent. This conquest brought a lot of change to the city including new Roman architecture and a new Roman forum to replace the Greek agora. On example of this change can be seen in the remains of the towns Heroon. This was a temple dedicated to a hero, most likely the founder of the town, and was filled with things associated with the hero Hercules. When the Romans took control of the town they completely buried the building and all of its contents.

                  The city began to decline in the 4^th century A.D. when the marshes began to sneak closer to the town due to the deforestation taking place in the region. This new marshy land was a good place for malaria to spread and, as a result, the town center was moved from the south of town to the north in the Temple of Athena.

                  In the 5^th century A.D. the first Christian basilica was built in the town, the remains of which can still be seen. It is likely that the temple of Athena was also converted into a Christian church

                  Between the malaria and then attacks from Saracenes, the city of Paestom was abandoned sometime in the 9^th century.

                  The first temple to be built in Paestum was the Hearion. It was built around 570 B.C. and contains hints of its origin coming from Jason and the Argonauts. This temple is now nearly destroyed and unrecognizable. The three main temples that are still standing are all from a later period. The Temple of Hera was built in 550 B.C. When it was first unearthed it was mistakenly called “the Basilica.” The temple next to the Temple of Hera is the Temple of Neptune, although now there is some debate about it really being a temple dedicated to Apollo. This temple was built around 500 B.C. The last temple still standing in Paestum is the Temple of Athena. It is set apart from the others in the north of the city. It was built around 450 B.C. (coinciding with the building of the Parthenon in Athens). These three freestanding temples are the best preserved Doric temples in the world.

                  Besides the temples the town still has evidence of many structures. These include a Roman forum, a city pool, and a wall that enclosed the city and is 4750 meters long. Outside the city walls are the remains of the Necropolis. Here can be found some extremely well preserved Greek tomb paintings. The most famous of these paintings is the Tuffatore or “diver” which can still be seen on display in the Paestum museum. This image of a man diving into the water is one of many from the same tomb that shows the transition from life into death.

                  I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when visiting Paestum. Would the site be much different from the ancient Roman remains that we had been looking at? When we got to the site I was amazed. Here are the best standing examples of Doric temples in the world, and they are here in Italy for us to see. I really enjoyed seeing the temples and comparing them to the examples of Roman temples that we had already seen. It was a great way to end the class!

~ Hannah Strey

Undressing, and Uncovering Pompeii

The Shady Side:

Aside from the gigantic houses and fantastic gardens of the rich and powerful, life in Pompeii before the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD was likely not as glamorous for those who didn’t belong to the Patrician upper classes. The streets were filthy, filled with sewage and refuse thrown from the surrounding homes and animal drawn carts.  This concept can be demonstrated by the large stepping stones still present today, that allowed citizens to pass over the lowered road and on to raised sidewalks in order to avoid the filth. The sight however, would have had no comparison with the stench.  Judging by the beating sun and intense heat while touring the site, I can only imagine how disgusting the streets must have been.  The deep marks left in the roads by the wagon wheels suggest a wider use of the lowered road for transport other than by foot. 

Also considered to be a slightly less savory aspect of Pompeii is its definitive mark of sexual promiscuity.  With estimates of the presence of nearly 40 brothels, it is evident that this type of elicit behavior was a common occurrence. It should be said however, that early excavations of the site deemed any structure containing erotic artwork as a brothel.  As it was not uncommon for Romans to have these types of erotic scenes and phallic symbols in their homes, the estimated number may be slightly high, and most of the known brothels are simply rooms above stores or apartments.   In Pompeii, the largest and most famous brothel is the Lupanar on the Vico del Lupunare. A Lupanar, Latin for brothel (literally “den of she-wolves”) housed Lupas, slang for prostitutes.  In the Lupanar, there are very small rooms with stone beds which may have had a thin cushion.  Above the doorways of the rooms are wall paintings depicting the various services that were offered at the particular location, and customers often voiced their opinions of the girls in lewd graffiti that can still be found on some of the walls.  Female children in Roman society were not desired to the level of males they were not a suffiencient heirs to the family line.  Thus, many young girls were abandoned and left to prostitution, a fate that may have been relatively common in Pompeii. 

Bringing the City to Light:

Excavation of Pompeii began in 1748, in an effort to obtain artwork for the collection of Bourbon king Charles III.  As a result of this, many of the beautiful mosaics and wall paintings had been destroyed or severely damaged, however many remain in the Museo Notational in Napoli.  Over several centuries, various teams of archaeologists have worked to uncover the lost city of Pompeii, a task that may not be as difficult as one would think because the volcanic debris covering the site was light and not compact.  One of the most famous archaeologists was Giuseppe Fiorelli, who employed an excavation technique working from top to bottom in order to better preserve the remains.   Fiorelli also developed the use of the plaster casts, made using the forms left from the decayed bodies covered in volcanic ash to recreate the states of those victim to the fateful eruption.  Today, almost 70% of Pompeii has been excavated and there is a continuous effort to restore the uncovered remains.  Many believe it is necessary to leave the other 30% beneath the volcanic debris in order to preserve Pompeii’s fateful legacy for future generations.

When I took my first steps on to the almost perfectly preserved road that led into Pompeii, I felt an overwhelming feeling of awe.  I had hoped to come here since I was in grade school, with a strong interest in Roman history and archaeology, and it was everything I had imagined and more.  Mount Vesuvius stood looming over the ruins, a fateful reminder of the devastation that happened here.  As I walked through the streets and saw the plaster body castings it felt incredibly surreal.  I can’t even imagine the terror the citizens must have felt as the volcano erupted into an enormous pillar, followed by an intense heat wave, and finally showers of volcanic ash and gaseous air that would have eventually smothered them.  These people had no recognizable warning, and no explanation for what was happening to them.  Unidentified distant booming sent a bit of shiver up my spine today as we traversed the ancient town, as Vesuvius is still an active volcano.  From start to finish, roads, ruins and people, Pompeii was not a sight that I will not soon forget.

~Alissa Douglass

The City of Pompeii

It is August 24, 79 AD in Pompeii, the city of twenty thousand citizens. People are panicking and seeking shelter in at their houses and public baths; some flee the city. Everyone has pillows tied to their heads to protect their heads from falling objects.  Mount Vesuvius has just erupted. Clouds of ash mixed with big pieces of pumice have risen about Vesuvius and have started to move towards Pompeii. The city was covered in ash, pumice, and pieces hardened lava within a few hours.

I was very excited to go to Pompeii. I could not believe that I was going to see a completely preserved city from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, go into the ancient houses, and walk on the streets used more than two thousand years ago. One of the most interesting parts of the visit was going into magnificent houses of wealthy people. The houses had the typical Roman house plan. When a person walked in he could see most of the house and how grandiose it was. First he would encounter the atrium where there was usually a basin collecting the rainwater. There were a lot of bedrooms surrounding all sides of the atrium. As he would walk in further, he would see a beautiful garden with bedrooms, kitchen, and garden room on its sides. The interesting part about the plan of the houses was that all of the rooms were facing the inside of the house and they did not have windows facing the streets.  Also, houses where not grouped into residential areas like nowadays. Houses would be surrounded by little shops and have a busy street running by them.

In Pompeii we went into a house of Menander. It was built in the third century BC and belonged to the family of Emperor Nero’s second wife. The house takes up almost a block and has the same structure as I just described above. As it was uncommon for people of that time, the owners flaunted their wealth through the size of the house and its paintings and architecture.  The house also has a private bath, which was a luxury at that time. The house of Menander has beautiful bright paintings, frescos and mosaics. One of the paintings shows a Greek playwright Menander, which explains the name of the house. It is unbelievable how well preserved and bright the paintings are. The house left a huge impression on me. The size, colors of the walls, and structure of it was impressive.

Another interesting observation that I want to share with you was the sign ‘HAVE” in front of the entrance in one of the other houses, which is a sign that welcomes people. It is interesting how customs of people two thousand years are so similar to ours.

This site visit was one of my favorites so far. When I walked into the city I felt like I had traveled through time.  The entire structure of the city, houses, shops, and roads were right in front of my eyes. There were political campaigns written on walls of the street, public drinking fountains in the middle of the street, and marks of the wagon wheels on the roads. We even needed to use a map to not get lost in the city. The visit also left a grim mark on me. We have seen the plastic casts of people that were killed during the eruption. The bodies left holes in the volcanic ash and disappeared with time. It was scary to see the exact positions and face expressions of dying people. Pompeii was definitely one of the most impressive sites I have ever seen.

~Natasha Antropova

Tiberius’ Villa at Sperlonga

Sperlonga, a coastal town south of Rome, was an ancient Roman resort that housed the very elite, or as Professor McClure stated, “the one percent of the top one percent.” It was in Sperlonga that Tiberius, Emperor from 14 to 37 a.d., built his famous villa consisting of both a villa residence and an adjacent natural grotto with elaborate sculptures and fish ponds. In the residence area of the villa we were able to see some remains, including a few rooms around a courtyard, a kiln, and a bread oven. There are almost no sculpture remains in the grotto, although a few were reconstructed and are now located in the Sperlonga Archaeological Museum. Researchers were also able to plan out and display where the statues would be placed, although it is hypothetical.

A circular pool is in the center of the grotto and it is hypothesized that a Scylla sculpture would be mounted on a base in the middle. The pool then extends out in a rectangular shape. The pools were divided by two platforms that held two statues called the Theft of the Palladium and the Pasquino. Inside the grotto in the far back is where the Polyphemus statuary group would have stood. The statues in this group depict the scene of the blinding of Polyphemus by Odysseus, a common theme used in decorations of grottoes and nyphaeums among the elite residences. These major sculptures display the main themes of Tiberius’ villa – the myth of Odysseus and the Hellenistic art style.

Sperlonga and Tiberius’ villa was a really interesting site to visit and it definitely exceeded my expectations. I was already excited that the group and I would be able to see the villa and grotto, but I didn’t realize that we would actually be able to walk inside of it – so that was really cool. I’m glad we were able to get that sort of hands on experience with the ancient history we learned about. It was cool trying to imagine what the villa and grotto would have looked like with all of the decorations and statues and people around. I was trying to picture Tiberius, a very disliked Emperor, at his summer villa. I am also glad we visited this site since it provided a good example of what the summer villas of the elites, used to escape the busy life in Rome, would have looked like. Overall, this was a really interesting site to visit on our way to Castellammare di Stabia and I was very impressed.

~Nicole Hoffman

At Trajan's Market

Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey: San Clemente

So, Wednesday was our last official site visit in Rome before moving south to Castellamare di Stabia.  It’s incredible to think that we’ve been here for two weeks already; the time has spun by in a jumbled blur of ancient history and modern adventures.  I think we’ve all agreed that we just don’t want this trip to be over and return to America and reality.

Our last class site visit was to the Basilica di San Clemente, a church located a few block’s walking distance from the Colosseum, which has over the course of these past few weeks become a normal part of the skyline—something to navigate by!  The Basilica is located in a quieter, greener, more residential-looking area than many of the other monuments we’ve visited thus far, and the entrance blends into the other buildings on the street well enough that I was initially a bit surprised to discover we had reached it—it was nothing like the Pantheon, surrounded by shops and apartments and sticking out like a sore thumb.

I got over the initial surprise quickly, as I had been quite looking forward to this site visit.  The Basilica has a long and interesting history that plays into many of the themes I’ve been pondering on as we’ve made our way through our overview of Roman culture.  It is, in fact, not a single church from the 12^th century, but a building with three architectural levels, each from further in the past and each having served a different purpose from the other.  

The lowest level of the structure is that of a republican-era house, upon which the next levels were built.  This house was destroyed in the Great Fire of 64 CE, through which Nero supposedly fiddled.  While there were many accusations that Nero himself began the fire (and later blamed it on the Christians), there is little evidence to back up such a claim.

The next level is house of Roman consul Titus Flavius Clemens.  I found the history of Clemens to be an interesting one.  He was of the senatorial class and actually a member of the imperial family—the great nephew of Vespasian and the second cousin of both Titus and Domitian.  In addition to his patrician lineage, he makes appearances in both Jewish and Christian traditions—in fact, I found at least three different stories about the life of this Titus Flavius Clemens.   It was unclear from the little research I was able to do whether the mentions of Clemens in each tradition are references to the same man, but both stories refer to a man by his name who served as Roman consul—I suppose from there, it is up to the historians to determine what parts are fact and which are myth.

According to the Jewish Talmud, Clemens and his wife were on a ship in the Mediterranean when they were caught in a storm.  Convinced they were going to die, they instead witnessed the Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph praying on deck for the seas to calm—and they did.  Through study under ben Joseph and other contemporary Jewish thinkers, Clemens and his wife eventually converted to Judaism.  Under the reign of the emperor Domitian (remember, Clemens’ second cousin!), an edict was put out that all Jews and Christians should be slaughtered.  In a development reminiscent of the Hebrew Bible’s story of Esther, Clemens was urged to use his position as consul to do everything he could to stop the edict.  He eventually turned himself in and allowed himself to be executed, thus forcing a new consul to be chosen in his place and delaying the passing of the edict. (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5268-domitian)

In Christian tradition, Clemens is a Catholic Saint, thought to be one of the earlier Christians among the Roman noblemen.  Here, Clemens continues to assume the role of the staunch supporter of the illegal, underdog faith, this time by allowing his house to be used as a gathering place for Christian worshippers in a time when the faith was illegal to practice.  The Basilica’s website also claims that Clemens authored a Roman epistle and was exiled and eventually killed, not under Domitian, but Trajan.  The story becomes clearly mythical as the accounts that document this execution also claim that the water later receded, revealing a miraculous tomb. 

Finally, classical sources list a Flavius Titus Clemens being killed suddenly under the reign of Domitian, and make mention to only his “contemptible laziness.” (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Domitian*.html#15)

But, that’s enough of his life!  In the 2^nd century CE, the basement of this house was converted into a mithraeum, a temple of worship of the god Mithras.  This god was the center of a mystery religion practiced in Rome during this time period and is often depicted as being born from a rock and sacrificing a bull, an image depicted in every Mithraic temple.  There are, as usual,  several theories as to Mithras’s origin as an object of worship in Rome, with some claiming Persian or Zoroastrian roots, while many modern scholars actually claim he was a product of Rome itself, springing up in opposition to Christianity.  Whatever the source, very little is known about the rituals practiced by Mithraic followers.  What has been gleaned from archaeological studies indicates that the rites often involved feasting and occurred in the midsummer.

But, the Mithraic temple could not last.  In the 4^th century CE, the basement was filled in and the temple converted into a Christian church, with the expanded floorplan laying roughly over what was once the Mithraic house of worship.  This first church was dedicated to Pope Clement I—a first century Christian who many historians believe to be the one and only Titus Flavius Clemens, owner of the original house.

Finally, we come to the third layer, the one at today’s ground level and the most recent.  This layer, a second basilica built over the first when that was destroyed, dates to 1100 CE and is the level of the church a visitor will first come to on their visit.

I was unaware of most of the history of the Church of San Clemente and as such, I had little idea of what to expect.  I knew that the church, as all of the monuments we’ve visited, was filled with layers of history; I knew that it was all at once a church, a house, and the site of an ancient pagan temple; I knew that an aqueduct ran right under it and that you can still hear the water flowing through the pipes.  I imagined a dank, spooky place; the kind that looks like it came right out of Dracula and that may possibly be haunted.

So, I was a little surprised when we came into the first level of the basilica and everything was intricately decorated and covered in gold.  There were pillars down each side, a raised altar at the front, and chapels in enclaves off to each side, flickering candles whispering prayers in front of each of them.  It was beautiful, but nothing like I was expecting.  However, once we entered the stairwell to descend to the lower levels, I knew instantly that it would be even better than I could have hoped.

The stairwell and first level looked exactly how I imagined them.  Dark, dimly lit by electric lights made to resemble torches, this cool chamber would have been eerie to descend into by myself.  Around the corner, the temple of Mithras stood in much better condition than I could have hoped, the centerpiece depicting the god’s earthen birth and sacrifice standing in the middle of the room.  Further down, there was what appeared to be a Christian altar or tomb, dedicated to the saint.  As we descended further, the sound of the water got louder, and once we were at the level of the ancient republican house, it was easier to find the aqueduct source spilling water out underneath us.

What I was probably most overcome by was the smell.  The entire place just had an earthy smell, one that conveyed its age.  Everything there was so old, and even though it was still standing, something about the air just reminded me that I was standing in a centuries old temple, one that held so much history, life, sacrifice, and faith.

The visit to San Clemente reinforced an idea that I have been thinking on for most of this trip.  Rome is a city built on top of itself; there are literal, physical layers of history under your feet at any given time.  This is SO DIFFERENT from what I know as a European-descended American.  My history isn’t something I’m standing on; it’s a story that’s only recently come to the soil I’m standing on.  When something new is built, we have enough space to build it without destroying our culture’s current achievements, and we don't need to dig through multiple intellectual eras in order to get to the archaeological site we're interested in.  Certainly, some have fallen into disrepair or been destroyed, but for the most part, as a white American, I have two hundred years of history, and that is simply not enough time to even fill up all the physical space we have with history, much less start piling history on top of itself.  We, as white Americans, really don't have much to stand on, and this really gave me a stronger appreciation for those peoples who are literally living on top of centuries of their people's history.  I honestly wonder if Italians realize how incredible it is that their classical history is part of the soil they’re standing on.  Or if, as white Americans, we really thought about what that means, we would have more respect for the indigenous groups on our continent, whose history really is piled beneath our feet.

~ Bailey Strom

The Imperial Fora: Trajan's Column

Upon skimming over the topics that we could choose from to write our report on I was immediately drawn to the Imperial Fora because of the picture of Trajan’s Column.  I did not necessarily know what it was, what it meant or why it was constructed, but it enthused me enough to choose the Imperial Fora as my project.  After reading more into the Fora itself I was quite happy with my choice as it had a multitude of purpose behind its construction, many ornate monuments and a few of the most recognizable Roman emperors scattered throughout.  However, the Column of Trajan was still the most interesting piece and the portion that this report will most heavily cover. 

I expected that the Forum would be huge in size and a fairly barren landscape with few remaining architectures still standing.  I hoped that there would be a lot; however, the likeliness of that rock buildings would survive two centuries is fairly slim. From seeing the Column of Trajan during our tour of the Domus Romane I had a better picture of what was to come but from a basement window that permitted a skewed view I assumed that there was much more detail that would not be noticed until a clearer view was offered.

My initial impression when we were waiting for our special tour of the Fora was very overwhelming as from where we were seated we had a spectacular view of the Column.  As expected, there were scattered remains of what once was and the size was absolutely enormous once we had seen all that is the Imperial Fora.   Moreover, even more impressive is that our first impression of how large it is was actually terribly skewed as the Fora was cut in half by the Via dei Fori Imperiale.  Looking more closely at the Column it was apparent that the completion of this masterpiece had to take a great amount of time, effort and planning to construct such a monstrosity.  The detail in the artwork showing the Daecian campaigns was a marvelous and witty way of telling the story as it spirals up the 100 Roman foot shaft.  I am not too pleased that there is a Christaian statue atop the Column and would have been much more pleased to see Trajan himself holding up his staff triumphantly, but it is what it is and I guess it is better than not having the Column there at all.  The rest was fairly boring and mostly piles of the rubble and debris that had fallen or been burned down by a plethora of reasons so it was not too appealing to eye.  It was, however, intriguing to hear the stories about Caesar, Pompey and the Venus Genetrix and seeing where Marcus Aurelius held auctions to raise money for war efforts.  I enjoyed the stories but hardly enjoyed the scenery.

Knowing who had once walked in these Fora and pondering how many millions of people had walked these same paths before was a very humbling experience.  The thought that the Marcus Aurelius, Caesar and Trajan roaming these places once in time was incredibly awesome, as well.  I also seriously enjoyed learning about how they constructed these monuments with what technologies they used in their day. Being an engineer, figuring our ways out ways to get projects done the fastest, easiest and most efficient way is very interesting to me.  To be able to watch the construction of something like the Column of Trajan or the Temple to Venus Genetrix would be something I would love to do.  The fact that the Column was painted as well as carved into marble blew my mind as that would add an entire new facet to how glorious it would have looked when it was completed. 

My opinion of the Fora, and especially the Column, after seeing them truly changed immensely.  Knowing that the Column was painted and seeing just how grand the buildings and structures still standing looked in the past is a shame and renders it sort of unbecoming and/or boring.  However, with the knowledge of what it was in the past and seeing the visual recreations I definitely think it was one of the greatest sights to ever be gazed upon and whoever did get the chance to se it was quite a lucky person.  

~Sam Enerson