A blog for all those who work on Pompeii and the other archaeological sites of the Bay of Naples.
La Villa des Mystères (Pompéi)
Date: 30-Sep-2012
Time: 6:00 PM
Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi
History of Art and Archaeology department
is organizing a series of evening discussions about documentary projections commented by academics specialists in History of Art and Archaeology.
The next projection is titled
“La Villa des Mystères (Pompéi)”
presented by Prof. G. Sauron, Roman archeology.
The lecture will be conducted in French
| Fiori Marcello and Salerno Claudio (eds), Fuoco la vita e gli dei (Il). Storie della Casa di C. Giulio Polibio in Pompei. Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider (Studia Archaeologica, 194), 2012 |
Domenico Camardo, Sarah Court and Jane Thompson, Archaeological Fieldwork Reports: Ten years of the Herculaneum Conservation Project. PBSR 80 (October 2012), 360 - 362.
Giornate Europee del Patrimonio
29 e 30 settembre
Ingresso gratuito ai siti archeologici vesuviani
La Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei comunica che, in occasione della Giornate Europee del Patrimonio “ L’Italia tesoro d’Europa “ indette dal Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali nei giorni sabato 29 e domenica 30 settembre, l’ingresso agli scavi di Pompei, Ercolano, Oplontis, Stabia e all’Antiquarium di Boscoreale sarà gratuito.
Presso gli scavi di Pompei sarà possibile, inoltre, usufruire di una visita guidata su prenotazione dedicata a “La cura del corpo” nel suggestivo complesso delle Terme Stabiane. Si tratta dell'edificio termale più antico della città (II sec. a.C.), costruito su un impianto precedente del IV-III secolo a. C.; suddiviso in terme maschili e femminili, presenta la classica ripartizione in apodyterium (spogliatoio), frigidarium (sala con vasca per il bagno freddo), tepidarium (sala tiepida) e calidarium (sala per il bagno caldo).
Le visite previste per le ore 10,30 e le ore 12,00 di sabato e domenica per un massimo 30 persone per turno, e a cura di CoopCulture, sono su prenotazione obbligatoria al seguente numero tel 081.8575327 (ore 9,30 - 15,00 da lunedì 24 a venerdì 28 settembre).
UFFICIO STAMPA
Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei
Via Villa dei Misteri, 2
80045 Pompei NA
Tel. 081.8575327
www.pompeiisites.org
The exhibition curator has written a book to accompany the exhibition and this will be available from March 2013: Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, by Paul Roberts, British Museum Press.Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
28 March – 29 September 2013
Reading Room
Sponsored by Goldman SachsIn collaboration with Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei
In Spring 2013 the British Museum will present a major exhibition on the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, sponsored by Goldman Sachs. This exhibition will be the first ever held on these important cities at the British Museum, and the first such major exhibition in London for almost 40 years. It is the result of close collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Naples and Pompeii, will bring together over 250 fascinating objects, both recent discoveries and celebrated finds from earlier excavations. Many of these objects have never before been seen outside Italy. The exhibition will have a unique focus, looking at the Roman home and the people who lived in these ill-fated cities.
Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum said "This will be a major exhibition for the British Museum in 2013, made possible through collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Naples and Pompeii which has meant extremely generous loans of precious objects from their collections, some that have never travelled before. I am delighted that Goldman Sachs is sponsoring this important exhibition and am extremely grateful to them for their support."
"It is a privilege to be partnering with the British Museum for this incredibly exciting exhibition, which offers a fascinating insight into daily life at the heart of the Roman Empire", said Richard Gnodde, Co Chief executive of Goldman Sachs International. "We recognize the importance of supporting cultural platforms such as this and we are delighted to offer our support to help bring this unique experience to London."
Pompeii and Herculaneum, two cities on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy, were buried by a catastrophic volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in just 24 hours in AD 79. This event ended the life of the cities but at the same time preserved them until rediscovery by archaeologists nearly 1700 years later. The excavation of these cities has given us unparallelled insight into Roman life.
Owing to their different locations Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried in different ways and this has affected the preservation of materials at each site. Herculaneum was a small seaside town whereas Pompeii was the industrial hub of the region. Work continues at both sites and recent excavations at Herculaneum have uncovered beautiful and fascinating artefacts. These include treasures many of which will be displayed to the public for the first time, such as finely sculpted marble reliefs, intricately carved ivory panels and fascinating objects found in one of the main drains of the city.
The exhibition will give visitors a taste of the daily life of the people of Pompeii and Herculaneum, from the bustling street to the family home. The domestic space is the essential context for people’s lives, and allows us to get closer to the Romans themselves. This exhibition will explore the lives of individuals in Roman society, not the classic figures of films and television, such as emperors, gladiators and legionaries, but businessmen, powerful women, freed slaves and children. One stunning example of this material is a beautiful wall painting from Pompeii showing the baker Terentius Neo and his wife, holding writing materials showing they are literate and cultured. Importantly their pose and presentation suggests they are equal partners, in business and in life.
The emphasis on a domestic context also helps transform museum artefacts into everyday possessions. Six pieces of wooden furniture will be lent from Herculaneum in an unprecedented loan by the Archaeological Superintendency of Napels and Pompeii. These items were carbonized by the high temperatures of the ash that engulfed the city and are extremely rare finds that would not have survived at Pompeii – showing the importance of combining evidence from the two cities. The furniture includes a linen chest, an inlaid stool and even a garden bench. Perhaps the most astonishing and moving piece is a baby’s crib that still rocks on its curved runners.
The exhibition will include casts from in and around Pompeii of some of the victims of the eruption. A family of two adults and their two children are huddled together, just as in their last moments under the stairs of their villa. The most famous of the casts on display is of a dog, fixed forever at the moment of its death as the volcano submerged the cities.
La Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei comunica che nella scorsa notte si è registrato il cedimento di una trave di legno moderna della copertura del peristilio di Villa dei Misteri. Il sopralluogo condotto dai funzionari e dai Carabinieri del Comando di Pompei non ha rilevato alcun danno alle strutture archeologiche né alle coperture. Pompei, 08.09.2012
Bloomsbury Summer School Study Day: Pompeii and Herculaneum AD 79 (Vesuvius, Naples, London)
See here for information about how to buy tickets.
A day of lectures with Dr Paul Roberts preparing you for next year’s big exhibition at the British Museum.
Saturday September 8th 2012: 10.00 am - 5.30 pm
Cruciform Lecture Theatre, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
Ticket: £40 (ticket price includes tea/coffee & biscuits in the afternoon and morning breaks, but does not include lunch).
The lecturer: Dr Paul Roberts is Curator of Roman Art and Archaeology at the British Museum, and Curator of next year’s Pompeii and Herculaneum – Life and Death in the Roman Empire exhibition at the British Museum. His research focuses on aspects of the daily life of the ordinary people of the Roman world. He has excavated in Italy, Greece, Libya and Turkey. He co-directs the excavations at Forum Novum, north of Rome.
The lectures:
Ordinary Cities, Extraordinary Events: Public life of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
At Home with the Romans: Domestic Life in Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Life and Death. Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Cities come to London.
Ancient Store Rooms, New Discoveries. Behind the Scenes and the Making of the Exhibition.
What to expect: In AD 79 two cities on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy were buried by a catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Preserved deep under the ash the cities of Vesuvius and Herculaneum provide one of the most remarkable, immediate and moving glimpses of the Roman world. There are stately public buildings, such as theatres and baths, streets filled with shops and bars and houses of all shapes and sizes from luxurious mansions to flats above shops. Sculptures of emperors, gods and benefactors, inscriptions, electoral notices and graffiti filled the streets. In the houses were stunning mosaics and wall paintings showing everything from mythological scenes to still life, and sex, as well as jewellery, objects of silver, glass and even wooden furniture miraculously preserved. Most importantly there were the ordinary people of Pompeii and Herculaneum, their lives, their loves and their deaths on that fateful day in August AD79. Many of the beautiful (and ordinary) household objects from the cities will be brought to London for a major exhibition in 2013. As part of our study day we will also look at the exhibition itself, including new discoveries from Herculaneum, shown in London for the first time, and the world behind the scenes, putting together the exhibition.
Note, too, that Arbor Sapientiae are offering a range of Pompeii-related books for sale:Nova Bibliotheca Pompeiana Project
NBP-Project si propone al mondo degli studiosi di antichità vesuviane come uno strumento di ricerca liberamente consultabile che accoglie la bibliografia sull’argomento prodotta dal 1747 al 1998 e curata da più di quaranta anni dal Dott. Laurentino Garcia y Garcia. Il progetto mira alla condivisione dei dati, allo scambio d’informazioni, alla semplificazione delle modalità di ricerca attraverso l’utilizzo delle tecnologie digitali e ad offrire a tutti gli studiosi di “pompeianistica”un nuovo accesso a contenuti altamente affidabili e costantemente aggiornati.
L’editore Arbor Sapientiae è lieto di ospitare NBP - Project all’interno del proprio sito e di curarne tecnicamente la gestione e l’ottimizzazione dell’indicizzazione attraverso la messa on-line dei contenuti:
- oltre 16.000 record bibliografici
- oltre 10.000 autori di tutto il mondo
- indici e apparati altamente specializzati e approfonditi
Il progetto digitale si affianca alla nuova pubblicazione in cartaceo del 1° Supplemento alla Nova Bibliotecha Pompeiana 1999 – 2011.
Così si esprime il curatore del progetto per illustrare brevemente le finalità del suo nuovo lavoro:
«Nel 1998 furono pubblicati, nel XIV volume della collana di monografie della Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei, i due tomi della Nova Bibliotheca Pompeiana (d’ora in poi citati come NBP). In essa si raccoglievano, fino al 1997, i contributi di quasi 250 anni di bibliografia ed iconografia su Pompei, Ercolano, Stabia, Oplontis e gli altri centri antichi della zona vesuviana. A distanza di dodici anni dalla pubblicazione del mio contributo alla bibliografia archeologica e documentaria sulle città sepolte dal Vesuvio nel 79 d.C. eccomi ad offrire agli studiosi una versione digitale della NBP e un primo supplemento cartaceo che accoglie la bibliografia e l’indicizzazione delle pubblicazioni successive. In poco più di dodici anni la quantità di contributi apportati al nostro ambito di ricerca è stata impressionante: il proliferare di nuove ricerche e l’affacciarsi di tanti nuovi ricercatori, ha creato una bibliografia sterminata.
Sono da segnalare tra i temi intensamente sviluppati in anni recenti: il mondo e il ruolo delle donne, gli aspetti dell’erotismo, della sessualità e della prostituzione, le ricerche attorno al porto di Pompei, l’affannosa ricerca sull’origine e lo sviluppo urbano della città, con decine di cantieri di scavi stratigrafici in quasi tutte le zone entro le mura cittadine, ecc. Grande incremento hanno avuto anche le ricerche nel campo della pittura, del mosaico e, soprattutto, degli aspetti economico-sociali della produzione, dell’industria, dell’artigianato e del commercio delle merci.
Se la versione cartacea pubblicata nel 1998 raccoglieva la bibliografia prodotta fino al 1997, in questa nuova versione on-line sono state aggiunte migliaia di correzioni, integrazioni e aggiunte, onde completare tutti i contributi pubblicati fino all'anno 1998. Il primo supplemento comprende la bibliografia apparsa dal 1999 fino agli inizi del 2012.
Sin d'ora lavoriamo per la compilazione di ulteriori supplementi che continueranno ad aggiornare tutto quanto sarà pubblicato sulle nostre città campane». L. G. y G
Scopo di NBP Project è restituire, nel modo più completo e aggiornato possibile, una versione facilmente consultabile della sterminata bibliografia che l’infaticabile lavoro del Dott. Garcia y Garcia raccoglie e indicizza costantemente, avvalendosi delle più tradizionali ed autorevoli regole bibliografiche.
Affinché questo sia possibile si chiede la collaborazione di tutti coloro che hanno scritto e scriveranno contributi sulle città sepolte dal Vesuvio, controllando che il loro nome sia stato immesso in NBP-Project e segnalando a garciaygarcial@yahoo.com eventuali errori e/o omissioni che saranno prontamente raccolti e le modifiche verrenno inserite nei costanti aggiornamenti semestrali.
Pompeii's Last 24 Hours Tweeted In Preparation For 'A Day In Pompeii' Exhibit At Denver Museum Of Nature & Science (TWEETS)
Over the weekend, an ancient Roman came to life on Twitter to recount the final hours of the city of Pompeii before Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the Roman city and all of its residents in ash.
In real-time and exactly 1,933 years after the eruption, Pliny the Elder -- a Roman scholar and commender of the Roman fleet at Misenum who took command of the city's evacuation in August, 79 AD and died trying to rescue a friend and his family from the disaster -- was resurrected, if only briefly and digitally, to tell the tale as it happened from 10 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 24 until 6:55 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25 when his final tweet was posted.
Pliny the Elder's first tweet went out on Wednesday before the eruption:
@Elder_Pliny
To which, some of the Elder's nearly 5,000 followers tweeted "Run!" and "Leave now!!" 25 tweets follow, bringing history back to life as the Elder Pliny describes the scene in Pompeii as things turn from bad to worse. Each tweet is accompanied by a link back to an interactive website with photos and more information about Pliny the Elder's whereabouts during those fateful hours in August of 79 AD.Follow this link to the article to see all of the tweets. The exhibition is at Denver until January 13th 2013. Check out the exhibition website here. There is also an accompanying interactive exhibition website that uses Google Maps - you can explore Pompeii, read descriptions of certain buildings and see objects that are in the exhibition. I didn't find it easy to use (that might just be me!) and the objects seemed rather randomly placed. Still, it's a nice idea.
The tweets are based on the final hours of Pliny the Elder's life as told by his nephew and heir, Pliny the Younger, who obtained an account of his Uncle's death from the survivors and told the story in a letter to Tacitus, a senator and historian of the Roman Empire. Read Pliny the Younger's letter to Tacitus here, historians believe that the Younger wrote the letter to Tacitus nearly thirty years after the tragedy occurred.
The novel Twitter campaign was launched by The Denver Museum of Nature & Science in preparation for their upcoming exhibit focused on the ancient Roman city which opens Sept. 14. Called "A Day in Pompeii," the exhibit will display some of the hundreds of artifacts that were unearthed when the city was rediscovered in the early 1700s.
"Dear Colleagues at Blogging Pompeii,
I am a PhD candidate in architectural history and theory at the University of Florida. My research is centered about the architectural constructions that existed in Pompeii (and surrounding areas) for the purpose of viewing the beautiful landscape. I am currently exploring the manner in which people perceived the natural landscape by examining the mythological, cultural and historical aspects of life in Pompeii.
I am now looking for more specific information about the “sacred grove”, the “sacred portal” and the “sacred mound or mountain” and how these particular sacred natural spaces were used and perceived by the ancient Romans. These places were represented in many mythological landscape paintings, were part of the ancient roman culture and had a significant impact on daily life in terms of ritual and ceremony. I have quite a bit of general information already, but I have not, until now, engaged this forum of experts as my research grows more specific.
I would be quite indebted to anyone with any thoughts or source suggestions pertaining to this topic."
Vesuvio, il gigante non dorme più?Read the full article here.
Il più temuto vulcano del mondo comincia a dare i primi segni di risveglio, sciami di terremoti di piccola durata ed energia dal mese di Maggio stanno interessando con maggiore frequenza l’area del cratere e localmente le zone prossimali. Gli eventi sismici sono andati aumentando progressivamente raggiungendo nel mese di Agosto quota 44 eventi. La crisi sismica più significativa in termini di terremoti quella del giorno di Ferragosto con 22 sismi di profondità variabile tra i 5km ed i 200m, tutti per lo più concentrati nell’area del cratere che come ben sappiamo è “tappato” da un duomo lavico dello spessore di svariate centinaia di metri che ostruisce completamente il condotto lavico.
