NIKONCOOLPIX S9300 22mm
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Since Terme Stabiane were the main city baths, and "co-ed" to boot, they did not provide the "supplementary" services like Terme Suburbane. But, those services weren′t far. Once you′ve stepped out of the Terme, the brothel was literally around the corner. This very corner, Via dell’Abbondanza @ Vicolo del Lupanare. Vicolo del Lupanare itself means ′The Brothel Lane" (it′s a modern name, obviously).So that you don′t get confused which corner to turn, there is a handy sign on the road, pointing in the right direction. (Save your indignation until you see the pictures from the Secret Room in the Archeological Museum in Naples!)When you have turned the corner, Terme Stabiane would be right above your shoulder.And, just a few steps ahead, there is the brothel. Our guide Anna is preparing our tour-group for what awaits them inside. (By the way, turned out, the rain was really a blessing. Anna said, on a nice day there could be a 40-min lineup here).Before going in, look up and notice that little thing. Sort of a red light above the door.Before Christianity, people were much more relaxed about these things. There was no shame in posting something like that above the door of a brothel, so there is no confusion. And that sign on the road, which we saw before? Just a handy direction guidance, nothing else.Inside the Lupanare ("Brothel"). Honestly, it′s nothing much. Definitely not a fancy place. That said, brothels in the Roman Empire rarely were. Rich people did not visit these establishments much. They had slaves.This is a standard room, with a stone bunk, which would be covered with a mattress.They tried to make those bunk a bit more comfortable too - a headrest is built into the bunk.And lots of lewd frescoes, to help customers get things going or order specific services.A handy collage of all lascivious frescoes in that brothel.This one was not included in the collage, because I am struggling to understand, if this is a naughty picture, or not.Stepping out of the lupanare and looking back towards the main road - Via dell′Abbondanza (this is where people with the umbrellas are), we see how close this place is to the centre of the city′s activity. Not bashfully tucked away somewhere far, for sure.Back at Via dell′Abbondanza, looking down Via dei Teatri. This street leads to the two city′s theatres, which we will visit later. Right now, we are turning left, back towards Terme Stabiane, ⇨⇨ and after a few steps we reach the main intersection of the city - Via dell’Abbondanza @ Via Stabiana. On the right, notice the stone bollards marking the pedestrian-only zone. We are now just beyond the fanciest part of the city where noisy carts weren′t allowed.Since we are now in the vehicle zone, check out these holes in the curbstones (inside the coloured circles). This is a parking lot. There would be metal rings in these holes, to tie-up the donkey while unloading your cart. The parking break of sorts.(Another view on the intersection, from Via Stabiana.)Around this intersection, the roads are so wide, they require 4 stepping stones. And even then you have to straddle! (Our guide Anna is leading our group to the next site she wants to show us).The next stop is a fast-food joint! A fully-fledged McDonald′s, with a front counter, and a dining area in the back (through that door). The only thing missing is those touch-screen self-order kiosks.The counter has two holes for large pots with hot food (probably, soup or stew), and a large open surface for serving customers. This one was a fancy place, judging by the location (right on the main intersection), and the multi-coloured marble on the countertop (the more colourful the marble, the more expensive it is). So, maybe not a McDonald′s, but a Panera Bread. Customers would take their food to-go, or eat it here, in the dining area. Such food serving places were extremely popular in Roman cities. Most people lived in cramped little apartments, with no running water and cooking facilities, so they would rely on such joints for their food (hello, New York!)And so, another such restaurant is just a few steps away. This one is simpler, judging by the marble on the counter. So, definitely, a McDonald′s.Right across the street from the first, fancy fast-food joint is a bakery - Taberna de Junius Proculus. The stubby stone circles are flour grinders (bakeries usually milled their own flour). Grain was poured into the grinder and donkeys or slaves would push wooden bars walking in a circle. At the back, the thing that looks like a pizza oven is... a pizza oven! Well, of course, the Romans did not call it a pizza (that word was first documented 900 years later), but they were already baking flatbreads with toppings in such ovens, which haven′t changed much since then.Right next door to that fancy Panera Bread is a fancy domus - Casa degli Epidii, the house of a dude named Epidio Rufo. Although the Epidia were a plebian family (meaning, common, not noble people), they were apparently quite rich, judging by these graceful columns in atrium, which is quite exquisite (usually, colonnades would only be in the back courtyard, peristylium). Here, impluvium (the rainwater basin) is between these columns.Further down Via dell’Abbondanza, a plaster cast is standing for the real wooden door, which once hung in the entrance of a store or a warehouse here. To create this replica, the same technique was used as with the plaster casts of people.If you look down this side of the street, you will notice, the spaces behind the doors are filled up with bricks-and-mortar. ⇨⇨ Whereas, the opposite side of Via dell’Abbondanza is completely excavated. ⇨⇨ And this is the reason why. There is a modern house sitting right on top of the Roman houses and stores! It′s called Casina dell′Aquila - "A little house of the Eagle". (I wouldn′t call it little, though...)For many centuries after the Romans, all this area was farmland. People lived on top of Pompeii having no idea what′s beneath them. When excavations started, the government bought all the farms around, except for this guy′s. He just refused to move, so they had to excavate around him, and even reinforce the Roman structures around, filling up the cavities, so the land under his house wouldn′t cave in.Now the guy is gone, but they decided to keep his house for 2 reasons: 1) it has washrooms, which is very handy for tourists, ⇨⇨ and 2) it commands a great view over the excavation site. (That′s probably why the building is called the "House of the Eagle").Looking south-west, towards Teatre Grande (those high bleachers in the background. We will visit it later). In the centre - Casa del Citarista ("House of the Citharist"), one of the largest in Pompeii, taking up the whole block. The name comes from a bronze statue of Apollo playing the cithara (type of the lyre), found in the house.This here is Via dell’Abbondanza, which we just walked along.Looking north-west, towards Vesuvius, which we would totally see looming over on a clearer day.You can definitely see mountains looming here, in the south. These are Monti Lattari, the backbone of the Amalfi Coast across the Gulf of Naples.Right across Via dell’Abbondanza from Casina dell′Aquila is another fancy house, or rather a complex of houses, called Casa de P. Casca Longus.It belonged to a dude called P. Casca Longus. We know that from the inscription inside the house, so we didn′t have to come up with a made-up name for this one.Note the 2-storey colonnade (peristylum). Fancy...Before we move on, let′s take a look at these stones supporting the hill, on top of which Casina dell′Aquila sits. It′s pumice, which can be found in abundance in the area and which was heavily used by the Pompeiians themselves. ⇨⇨ If only they knew that pumice was a volcanic rock, which means - there was probably a volcano somewhere around. Oh, wait...Press ESC to exit
