Naples Archaeological Museum: Farnese Collection

The next day we went into Naples again, to see the National Archaeological Museum there, where the major finds from Pompei and Herculaneum now reside. But we detoured first to its Farnese Collection--the first of several we'll see--which features sculpture and other things from ancient Rome. The Farnese were a powerful Roman family of the Renaissance, aristocratic, papal, etc. They were in power when Caraculla's Baths were being plundered and quarried for stone to build St. Peter's, and the Collection here includes some of the colossal scultpures found, saved, and restored. Give them credit for that.... Anyhow, the Farnese Collections came to the Kings of Naples via royal marriage a couple centuries later.

The National Archaeological Museum, at Naples

Into the collection, colossal in every way



Vicki stands for scale

Artemis, from Ephesus--we have seen her

before

The Farnese Toros--it's a long mythological story, but 
this is the largest sculpture from one piece of marble 
known; pieced back together by no less than 
Michaelangelo and others (another long story)

Hercules at Rest; sort of a Farnese emblem, the tallest marble 
sculpture...

First century copy of a 50 BC bust of Julius

Caesar

Two-fer department--busts of Herodotus and Thucydides

Socrates, Roman copy of a nearly contemporary Greek 
original

Great Hall of the Palace

The Farnese Cup--cameo on one piece of stone...

A Day In Pompeii,II

OK, it was a long day.

In the Fullonicus of Stephanus--the fuller, where wool was cared for, sort of a dry 
cleaners, only not very dry--the principal cleaning agent was urine; here's the big 
tank where slaves tromped around on soiled togas

And the last two of the cascading rinsing tanks; drying was up on the roof



Pompeii has a number of surviving bill boards--messages painted onto walls--
advertising items for sale, election candidates, upcoming gladitorial contests 
and other shows

Pompeii had dozens of eateries; pictured is a counter with built-in bowls for 
foods, wines; in this particular establishment, you could eat around the 
counter or in some of the back rooms; this place may also have had a triclinium, 
a room with three couches for reclining, that could be rented

Up closer of the eatery fresco; note snakes

All kinds of efforts to hold things up, preserve, restore

Not always effective

Larger frescoes at the House of Venus in the Conch Shell



Ditto

Ditto again

Really nice water feature, same place, which was nearly

large enough to be a villa

Vineyard near the anfiteatro; planted again with grapes of the same variety as 
grown in 79

These were discovered using the plaster-cast method in root- and stake-holes; 
same as for human and animal forms; and the grape variety thus identified; the 
grapes are now grown and made into wine using the ancient methods and

sold under the label Villa dei Misteri; we looked all over for a bottle, finally 
finding a 2002 in Sorrento...for 111 euros!

Inside the sizeable and very well preserved/restored amphitheater, mostly the site 
of gladiatorial "games"

Inside the large (Greek) theater

And the small theater

Temple to Isis--by the first century, Romans were getting into the assorted "mystery" 
religions of the east, those that provided a caring god who promised eternal 
salvation--this temple was financed by a six-year-old (whose family was thus 
ensuring his political future; sic transit, Gloria)

The Samnite Palestra; the Samnites were a powerful central Italian tribe, major 
rivals to the Romans; they held Pompeii from the 4th and 3rd centuries, 
succeeded by the Romans

Back near the Porta Marina entrance, remains of the Temple of Venus, perhaps the 
oldest structure in Pompeii

And, lastly, Vesuvius, from Pompeii's Forum; continue the ridge lines right and 
left and you can appreciate the size of the mountain--and the scale of the 
catastrophe--in 79

A Day In Pompeii

[Note: actually, the day recounted here occurred before the day in Capri; in order to preserve narrative flow, I have thus departed from the usual chronological purity of this blog].

Fortified by Stephen Tuck's lectures and much additional reading, we embarked upon our first day in Pompeii, 7 hours and 500 pix of a variety of subjects we had been looking forward to seeing. While everyone knows the basic story of Pompeii--thriving Etruscan/Samnite/Roman city of 20,000, buried and frozen in time by the August 24-26, 79 AD eruption of nearby Mt. Vesuvius--a few additional notes bear on the variety of Pompeii posts that will follow. Neighboring Herculaneum was actually discovered before Pompeii, earlier in the 18th century. The pyroclastic flows that had buried Herculaneum in 60 feet of solid rock meant that the only explorations undertaken in those times were through tunnel mining and not excavation, as at Pompeii, which was covered by cinder and ash. (Half of Vesuvius had blown up and much of it had fallen on Pompeii and neighboring towns and villas south and west of the mountain). "Exploration" in those days was very largely a matter of treasure-hunting, financed by aristocracy and royalty. Thus, most of what was brought up and out of Herculaneum and Pompeii until very nearly the 20th century is now in a variety of royal-collections-turned-public-museums. The Kings of Naples hoarded most of the art and other treasures, and thus most of what was taken from Herculaneum and Pompeii is now at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. Don't worry, we visited it too. Anyhow, that explains the relative starkness of what one sees in Pompeii, apart of from the occasional replicas placed in the ruins by modern curators and others.

In the public area at the northwest corner of the city, the Temple of Apollo; prior 
to the '79 catastrophe, Pompeii was rocked by a major earthquake in '62 that 
brought down most of the largest structures; they were still re-building in '79...

Remains of the Basilica, the meeting place, hall of justice, et cetera

There are frescoes all around, not plentiful, but worth seeking out

In one of the baths, cubby-holes in which to stow one's clothing

In the same baths, a bronze massage table/bed

Lead piping

Us in Pompeii

In the House of the Faun, a replica piece of the Alexander mosaic, depicting the 
Battle of Issus, wherein Alexander defeated the Persian king Darius, and opened 
the way through Persia to the east and India

One of Pompeii's numerous neighborhood bakeries; the millstones on the left 
were driven by slaves or donkeys; the ovens on the right

More frescoes

And more; the snake was considered a blessing upon any house or business

Another fresco figure I liked; it was the only painting form that has come down 
to us

At the House of the Tragic Poet, the very famous Cave Canem mosaic; apparently 
a joke among middle and upper class Romans, since the doors to their homes were 
open for business from dawn to dusk every day

In the spare parts shed (among gazillions of items)

A particularly large atrium/peristyle garden in someone's large house

After the Forum and the Baths, the Brothel is Pompeii's most popular sight; here's 
Vicki on one of the beds

Frescoes above the (closed) Stabian Baths

Archaeology/preservation/restoration continues

Atrium in another large house; our house in Dallas had an atrium, although it was 
not quite like this...