Pompeii: How They Lived and How They Died

Gladiator's helmet: This helmet was : worn at Pompeii's amphitheatre by a heavily armoured gladiator called a murmillo. Missing from the crest is the splendid plume of feathers or horsehair. (Alfredo and Pio Foglia)

August 25, 79AD, 1 – 2am: “Soon, great flames and vast fires shone from many points on Mount Vesuvius, the gleam and light made more vivid by the night time shadows … .”
August 25, 79AD, 6.30 – 7.30am “… my mother implored … me to escape … I refused to save myself without her and grasping her hand, forced her to quicken her pace.”

So wrote Pliny the Younger in his letters to the historian Tacitus, in what is the only surviving eyewitness account of the 79AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

With more than 250 objects, A Day in Pompeii, on show at the Melbourne Museum, tells the story of life and death in the ancient city.

“No other ancient city has been found so complete and intact,” explained Dr Patrick Greene, Chief Executive, Museum Victoria. “The architecture, art and personal belongings recovered from Pompeii providing an unparalleled record of what life was like in the Roman Empire.”

Prior to the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, the Romans had no word for volcano, as the previous eruption had occurred 600 years before 79AD.

By either mere coincidence or divine retribution, the eruption occurred on the day after Vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire.

Was it Vulcan’s rage that the festival invoked or did Vulcan decide to vacuum-seal Pompeii for posterity so that we modern folk could unravel its lessons at this time?

Whether consciously or not, we humans live in the daily tension between life and death, or rather the ever-present perception of death and the aspirations of life. So when we are faced with the clunking finality of a lifetime that can come on a clear August day, just like any day before it, it does make one ponder one’s significance in the grand scheme of things. This can only be a good thing.

At the risk of sounding like an overhyped movie trailer for an undeserving blockbuster, the experience of A Day in Pompeii is positively cathartic.

The body casts on show, made by pouring plaster into hollows left where victims of the eruption were buried, are so filled with the immediacy of living emotion that there is a sign outside that part of the exhibit for those who may find it too confronting.

“While many residents escaped, many thousands lost their lives. I think the body casts will connect visitors on a deeply emotional level to the people who lived and died in Pompeii,” said Dr Greene.

A Day in Pompeii also features a spectacular immersive 3D theatre that allows visitors to experience the dramatic eruption of Vesuvius.

But a large part of the exhibition attests to the way people in Pompeii lived at the time.

If you ever thought that ancient people were somehow deficient in some intellectual faculties or sophistication, be prepared for another shock.

This was a society that had fast food, plumbing, air conditioning, medical tools very much like the ones used today and hair dressing shops, as well as the ubiquitous gladiator fights, slaves and public executions. Suprisingly, even their stoves were similar to the ones we use today.

Food was in abundance and while only the wealthy could afford to feast on game birds and pork, fish and shellfish were a staple diet for most.

Aesthetics

Most striking is the Pompeiians’ refined sense of aesthetics that permeates their architecture, gardens and fashion. Objects of luxury like a bronze candelabra or a gold bracelet are not just exquisitely ornate, but quite simple at the same time.

“Public building and private residences were richly embellished and filled with sculpture, beautiful frescoes and mosaics, marble fountains and extravagant personal possessions. Then, as now, people paid a good deal of attention to their appearance and used make-up, hair dyes and hair pieces,” explained Dr Greene.

There is much to explore about the ancient past and it is a rare opportunity to be immersed in and touched by what is left of it.

This is history reaching out its hand to us. Take it and let it carry you across time’s cool and impartial gaze.

If it’s a bit much for you, just have a latte with a double shot of espresso and walk out into Melbourne’s CBD–an experience that will surely bring you back to 2009.

Or you can look over the rooftops as the train whizzes past Melbourne’s suburbs and ponder how similar the roof tiles are to the ones on Pompeii rooftops, how nothing can really prepare you for the moment of death except, perhaps, hopefully the way you live.

A Day in Pompeii, a Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition, is on show at the Melbourne Museum until October 25, 2009. Visit www.museumvictoria.com.au for more information.