No left overs

Tags

79AD, cuisine, fast food, Pompeii, Rome, Vesuvius

With careful planning and measurements of people’s appetite it is possible to avoid leftovers. This year we have no leftovers, it all went quickly knowing that people today do not have the appetites of Edwardians.

Also today I read about Fast Food in Ancient Rome, yes it was a big thing back then. Most people living in Rome or in this case Pompeii went to neighbourhood taverns for beer and a bite and also to the corned fast food emporium for a meal. It was a serve yourself thing offering various soups, stews, bread and cheese. It was a meal on the go and it worked pretty well given that most inhabitants did not have a kitchen at home. Same for bathing houses and public latrines, life was communal in antiquity, unless you were very wealthy and had a large mansion with tons of slaves/servants. The every day Romans lived in apartment blocks, 5 storeys tall and went out for food, bathing and the latrines. There really was no privacy they way we understand it in our world today.

In Pompeii archeologist uncovered a fast food joint called a “thermopolium” hot food served. It is brightly painted with animals telling customers what is in every pot, duck, chicken, pork, beef. Same for wine and beer, great amphoras were used to store the liquid and you were served or served yourself. In this dig they found amphoras full of ash but the smell of wine was still strong once they started to analyze the contents. This thermopolium was frozen in time by the disaster that struck the city.

There were 80 such establishments in Pompeii. This is a great and well preserved find and illustrates the lives of people before 79 AD when Vesuvius blew up and buried the city in ash.

Excavation

Tags

Archeology, Germany, history, Italy, Pompeii

Reading and reading a lot about various historical sites and discoveries and history, renovations and reconstructions, archeology and discovering ancient artifacts shedding light on the past.

Here are paintings on the topic of Pompeii, a resort city of ancient Rome destroyed in 79 AD by the spectacular eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Here a young peasant woman from the area of Naples admiring the frescoes of ancient villas as the site is unearth. Much of the frescoes discovered were then removed and placed indoors in Museums both in Naples and in Rome. A highly romantic painting but nonetheless it gives an impression of what workers saw.

The book of Teresa Demauro entitled Restauri a Pompei 1748-1860 is presented by the Parco Archeologico a Pompei. In her doctoral thesis she narrates through her research the story of the discoveries of the archeological work in Pompeii from 1748 to 1860 the last period of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. pompeiisites.org/en/projects-and-research/publications/

Pompeii and Herculanum are two very rich sites, though it requires some knowledge of history before you go otherwise it won’t make much sense.

Here is another painting showing char women carrying basket full of rubble in an area which looks like the central Forum of Pompeii with the Vesuvius in the background.

Italian Universities and international teams of archeologists publish on a regular basis studies of findings, it really never ends because what we know, though important and somewhat extensive, is not complete and so the research goes on.

Martin G. Conde in his blog details archeological research and also for many years now the damage done to sites like Pompeii by the constant flow of mass tourism. https://romaarcheologiaerestauroarchitettura.wordpress.com/author/romaarcheologiaerestauroarchitettura/

Martin has also written a lot on the new Metro line C in Rome which has become one of the most expensive infrastructure project in the world. The Metro line C currently under construction crosses the Roman Forum one of the most rich archeological sites in the world. Metro Line C is also a decade behind schedule and no one is counting the cost overrun anymore in the billions of Euros. Eventually line A and B of the Rome Metro will connect to line C and everyone it is hope will be happy.

Other site I follow currently, The rebuilding of the Garnison Church in Potsdam built in 1735, blown up by the Communist regime of East Germany in 1968.

The Palace of Versailles multiple projects of rehabilitation, conservation and re-furnishing of various rooms, an unending process with dramatic results, not to mention the gardens and the rehabilitation of the numerous water fountains and sculptures.

The Berlin City Palace now Humboldt Forum built in 1445 and blown up in 1957 by the Communist regime of East Germany, rebuilt and re-opening on 17 December 2020.

Reconstruction work in Dresden old city centre which is almost complete and re-creates the city centre as it once was prior to its destruction by fire bombing on 14 and 15 February 1945.

Potsdam old city centre of the 17th and 18th Century and the palace complex and gardens around Sans Souci and the Neues Palais.

What is fascinating about all this is the number of stone cutters and sculptors, artists and artisans employed for this work using original techniques and finding inspiration in paintings, drawings and old photograph and archival records for their work.