Rooms above Porta Marina

We have just returned from Pompeii with 10,000 new photographs which we will be busy adding to the site over the next few months. The first pictures including The House of the Lovers and the House of the Floral Cubicula were added at the end of April.

We took some photographs (below) of rooms above the Porta Marina. We were at the time in the lower part of the House of Umbricius Scaurus and found these rooms which we can't find in any of our books. Can anyone help us by identifying the rooms and suggesting how we can describe them on pompeiiinpictures.com?

The full set of pictures can be seen at http://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R7/7%2016%2013%20p6.htm.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Jackie and Bob Dunn
email@pompeiiinpictures.com

BBC video: The 'underground world' of Naples

There is a fascinating report by Duncan Kennedy on the BBC News website this morning about underground caves and tunnels in Naples. Watch the video here, it's well worth it.
There's one ancient cave that was used as an air-raid shelter during WW2 and looks like it might have once been a mithraeum (?). Does anyone know anything about this? Any bibliography you could share or contact details of the people working in the caves? I would love to know more about what's happening here.

Obituary - Robert Etienne (1921-2009)

Robert Etienne, author of The daily life in Pompeii died last January. Here follows his obituary, published by Le Monde:

Spécialiste du monde romain antique, l’historien Robert Etienne est mort à Bordeaux, le 4 janvier [2009], à l’âge de 87ans. Né à Mérignac (Gironde) le 18 janvier 1921, ce fils de sous-officier de cavalerie et d’une directrice d’école conserva sa vie durant les usages de son milieu d’origine. Il en assumait avec ostentation – et un certain panache – les codes. Préférant être le premier dans sa ville qu’un second à Paris, Robert Etienne fit l’essentiel de sa carrière à Bordeaux. Il ne fréquenta Paris (le lycée Louis-le-Grand, la faculté des lettres, l’École normale supérieure, enfin, en1942) que le temps d’obtenir un diplôme de l’École pratique des hautes études (1945) et l’agrégation d’histoire (1946). Et s’il fait ses premières armes d’enseignant au lycée de Nîmes (1946) avant d’intégrer l’École française de Rome (1947), il regagne Bordeaux comme assistant à la faculté des lettres dès 1949. Hormis pour les nombreux chantiers archéologiques auxquels il participe, il reste indéfectiblement fidèle à la capitale d’Aquitaine, dont il devient l’une des figures universitaires marquantes.

Pendant près de quarante ans (jusqu’en 1988), Robert Etienne s’attache à l’université Michel-de-Montaigne Bordeaux-III, y exerçant tant sa charge d’enseignant – il occupe de 1961 à 1988 la chaire d’histoire romaine – que des postes administratifs. Son attachement à la ville lui vaut du reste de recevoir son épée d’académicien – il succède le 18 juin 1999 à Roland Martin à l’Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres – au Grand Théâtre de la ville des mains du maire, Alain Juppé. Ses champs de compétence allaient de l’archéologie romaine (des mondes africain, lusitanien, gaulois ou dace) à l’histoire politique des premiers siècles avant et après Jésus-Christ, en passant par la circulation commerciale dans l’empire ou l’expression provinciale du culte impérial, avec l’appui de la numismatique comme de l’épigraphie notamment. Si sa thèse de doctorat, publiée dès sa soutenance, en 1958, consacrée au Culte impérial dans la péninsule Ibérique d’Auguste à Dioclétien, comme ses nombreux rapports de fouilles restent réservés aux spécialistes, le grand public a su faire le large accueil que méritent les œuvres de vulgarisation de Robert Etienne, de sa classique Vie quotidienne à Pompéi (Hachette, 1966, sans cesse rééditée), à sa biographie de Jules César (Fayard, 1997), de son manuel sur Le Siècle d’Auguste (Armand Colin, 1970) à ses contributions aux collections «Archives» (Les Ides de mars, Gallimard, 1973) et «Découvertes» (Pompéi, la cité ensevelie, 1987). Cet érudit courtois et bon vivant consacra, à plus de 80 ans, un savoureux triptyque à la gastronomie antique, où le vin, les salaisons et sauces de poisson, l’huile enfin sont lus comme Trois clés pour l’économie de l’Hispanie romaine [De Boccard, Paris, 2000].

Philippe-Jean Catinchi, Le Monde, 8 janvier 2009, p. 20.

More on his academic background here.

Maggio dei Monumenti

This is the 15th year when "May of the Monuments" is being organised to encourage more access to Naples's heritage. For more information on the events see the Comune's website.

Guided tours
Tours are being run by various associations, and you should check with the website to see which visits are possible in various languages (I've seen Italian, English, French, Spanish and German - but not for all tours)
Itinerary 1: lower Decumanus
Itinerary 2: Decumanus Maximus
Itinerary 3: from Castel dell'Ovo to Piazza San Domenico Maggiore
Itinerary 4: from the Archaeological Museum to the Roman theatre
Itinerary 5: from Porta Nolana to Mercato

Schools adopt a monument
Tours are being arranged at a much wider range of monuments (not just Naples city) by schools that have adopted a monument.

Special openings
Visits will be possible at the following sites, libraries, archives, churches:
Teatro Antico di Neapolis
Scavo Archeologico Metropolitana Piazza Municipio (do not miss this!)
Scavi Archeologici Carminiello ai Mannesi
Complesso museale dell’Arciconfraternita dei Pellegrini
Palazzo Sangro di Sansevero
Galleria Accademia Belli Arti - Gipsoteca e alcuni laboratori
Istituto Italiano per gli studi storici
Chiesa S. Maria della Mercede e Sant’Alfonso M. de’ Liguori
Chiesa di Santa Maria di Gerusalemme o le Trentatrè
Chiesa di Santa Maria Donnalbina
Archivio Storico ENEL
Chiesa Sant'Agostino degli Scalzi
Palazzo della Prefettura
Chiesa di Sant'Antoniello a Port'Alba
Cappella Pignatelli
Istituto Italiano per gli studi storici
Archivio di Stato
Palazzo Marigliano Soprintendenza Archivistica per la Campania
Palazzo Ricca (Archivio Storico del Banco di Napoli)
Biblioteca dedicata alla Beata Caterina Volpicelli

Events
Throughout May there will also be a series of associated events, including conferences, theatre, music, religious events, film, and even a scrabble tournament!!
Of particular interest are:

Fino al 16 maggio • Incontri di Archeologia
Ciclo di Conferenze relative ai musei e alle aree archeologiche
Varie sedi
A cura del Servizio Educativo della Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei
Info e prenotazioni: 081.4422273 – 081.4422270 (lun.-ven. ore 9/13.30)
Partecipazione gratuita
(I couldn't find any further details, but I'll let you know when I do)

11 maggio • ore 11
Tavola Rotonda - Musei e patrimonio. Quale passato per quale futuro – Assemblea nazionale ICOM Italia
Museo di Capodimonte
A cura di ICOM (International Council of Museums)
Info: 081.4695693 www.icom-italia.org info@icom-italia.org

Percorsi di luce negli scavi di Pompei e di Ercolano

New flyers are being distributed for evening visits to Pompeii and Herculaneum with a "performance of sounds, lights and emotions".

Le antiche Pompei ed Ercolano sono scenario di un racconto suggestivo e affascinante. Suoni, giochi di luci, parole e immagini tra scavi monumentali: la nostra storia un sogno ad occhi aperti.

These should be taking place on weekends from May to October 2009. The only problem is that the website offered leads you to a similar initiative at the Royal Palace of Caserta, with no mention of the Vesuvian sites.
For those who are interested in booking a place the reservation line is (+39) 081 0093205 or info@percorsidiluce.it

These events have been going on at Pompeii for some years now, but were only launched at Herculaneum last summer. Let's hope that this time there is a marked improvement on last year's dreadful and over-priced performances...

Review: Buried Pleasure

An excellent review article by Glen Bowerstock in The New Republic.