Under Pompeii’s Ashes:
Contesting Roman Identities Contesting Roman identities and beyond: week 2 MWF 10:00-10:50 Eva Mol This week • Today: Living in Pompeii/dying in Pompeii • Wednesday: Excavating Pompeii: history of the excavation and the Classical ideal • Friday: RISD visit Colonia veneria cornelia pompeianorum
• 80 BC: Pompeii becomes a Roman colony • 2000 veterans • Period of significant transformation • Temple of Venus, Odeion (small theatre), Amphitheatre • Aqua Augusta (30-26 BC) running water
•flats •appartments • atrium houses • cenacula – upper units • tabernae – shops • pergulae – mezzanines
Herculaneum
household
• Extended family: ‘houseful’ bars
Traffic flow POMPEII: HET LEVEN IN EEN ROMEINSE STAD Urbanisatie
INLEIDING · GESCHIEDENIS EN CONTEXT · FORMATIEPROCESSEN · RECONSTRUCTIE · HUIZEN
The estate of Julia Felix
62 AD
Living on a volcano Seneca Naturales quaestiones 27.-1-2
‘But some particular events are reported to have occurred in this Campanian earthquake, and they require explanation. They say that a flock of hundreds of sheep was killed in the Pompeii area. There is no reason for you to think this happened to those sheep because of fear: we have said that a plague commonly occurs after major earthquakes, and this is not surprising.
For many causes of death are lurking deep below: the air itself can be unhealthy for those who breath it, either through a defect in the earth, or because the air is stagnating inertly in perpetual darkness, or because of contamination by the corrupting effects of subterranean fires.’ The Eruption of the Vesuvius
“Of course these details are not important enough for history, and you will read them without any idea of recording them; if they seem scarcely worth putting in a letter, you have only yourself to blame for asking them.” Pliny the Younger
Small earthquakes started taking place on 20 August 79
“..were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania“ Pliny the Younger
Time chart of the eruption
24 August Late morning eruption begins with phreatomagmatic explosion: thin layer of ash. Formation of eruptive column resembling umbrella pine Early afternoon ‘Plinian phase’. Phonolitic magma (white pumice) begins to fall, borne to the south of Vesuvius by prevailing winds. 5-6 pm At Pompeii, buildings begin to collapse under the weight of accumulated pumice; some people try to flee, others take refuge inside houses 8 pm Magma composition changes to tephritic phonolite (grey pumice)
25 August Early hours Eruptive column reaches highest point (c. 33 km/21 miles), maximum discharge of magma: 1.5 x 108 kg/s 1-2.15 am pyroclastic phase. Column collapses. Surges 1-2 overwhelm Herculaneum, reach Oplontis and Boscoreale 2.15-6.30 am Grey pumice fall; lull at Pompeii. Column rises again to c. 30 km 6.30-8 am Column collapses. Surges 3-6 swoop down over Pompeii within a couple of hours. Surge 3 extends to north wall; surges 4-6 cover the whole town. Surge 6 reaches as far as Stabiae. From 8 am Final phase of pumice fall; caldera collapse and phreotomagmatic activity.
After the disaster
1044 victims recovered
Capitalizing on a disaster? Active Volcano
Under Pompeii’s Ashes:
Contesting Roman Identities
Encyclopedia Brittanica 1911
“survival of fair hair and complexion and light eyes among the upper classes in Thebes and some other localities shows that the blond type of mankind which is characteristic of north- western Europe had already penetrated into Greek lands before classical times.”
Were ancient Romans white?
• “not a few Westerners have attempted to racialize antiquity, making ancient history into white race history.”
Identity Evropa is a neo-Nazi and white supremacist organization established in March 2016
Athanasius Kircher: Mundus Subterraneus
Excavators and their historical context
• Borboni/Bourbons - Kingdom of Napels • Giuseppe Fiorelli - Risorgimento 1860 • Vittorio Spinazzola - Early 20th c • Amadeo Maiuri - Fascism
Bourbon Kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicilies (1734-1860)
M. Nonius Balbus Villa dei papiri Discovery Isis temple Pompeii 1764
Borboni (Bourbons)
18th – 19th century
• Antiquarianism • Excavations Herculaneum (from 1709) and Pompeii (from 1748) • Neoclassicism • Pompeii-mania • International scholarly field – independent ‘men of letters’ What is ‘Classical’?
The word used to describe something perceived as being of the highest quality or ideal beauty, classical usually refers to the culture and objects of Greece in the period from approximately 480 BC to 323 BC. But it can also mean the entire Graeco-Roman period. The term classical also refers to a style of sculptured figures of naturalistic proportions, clear articulations and quietude Classicism and the classical ideal
Classicism created a standard of civilization against which contemporary society could be judged, a standard that was prevalent in the early modern period. What began as an elitist literary hobby was applied to all facets of life—from education and politics to music, visual art, and architecture.
The classical ideal was something to strive for, and in striving for it adherents developed new methods to attain the ideal. Winckelmann, Italy and neoclassicism
• Renewed interest in Classical antiquity in the 18th century trhough the discovery and excavation of herculaneum and Pompeii • Aiming for ‘purity’ of the Classical world in painting, sculpture and architecture Johann Joachim • Important influence Winckelmann Herculaneum and Pompeii were Greek cities 1717-1768
Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums - 1764
Old style: pre-Classical period (before 480 BC) Large style: Early and High Classical period(480-400) Beautiful style: Late Classical to Hellenistic period (400-323) Imitatian style: Hellenistic and Roman period edle Einfalt und stille Grösse Neo-Classicism
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Via Appia and Via Ardeatina, 1756
Augustin Pajou, 1780
Pierre-Alexandre Vignon- façade La Madeleine, Paris, 1806-42
‘The ugly truth’ painted marble Ultraviolet light and spectroscopy
August Mau 1899
“The people with whom we should most eagerly desire to come into contact, the cultivated men and women of the ancient city, were not accustomed to scratch their names upon stucco or to confide their reflections and experiences to the surface of a wall.”
Breton “every visitor simply wants to meditate upon the things they have just seen in the company of the contemporaries of Pliny and Titus” Tourism in the 1880’s
Around 1900
• 19th century nationalism; Italian risorgimento • Unification Italy (1860); Roma capitale (1870) • Modern Italy - science • Political use of archaeology D’Azeglio: “L'Italia è fatta. Restano da fare gli italiani” We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians Pionering modern archaeology Fiorelli -Pompeii
• Giuseppe Fiorelli (1823– 1896) • Apointed director of the excavations in 1863 • Proffesionalization of archaeology
POMPEII: HET LEVEN IN EEN ROMEINSE STAD Descrizione di Pompei
After Fiorelli
• Spinazzola and Maiuri: excavating house after house without questioning why
“You can offer to the world enchanting prospects and unpeeled towns that are unequalled on the surface of the Earth.” Benito Mussolini