Talk:Pompeii

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[edit] Rave

I must say that this is one of the best compillings of information about Pompeii that I have ever seen. I was unaware of the earthquake that took place before the eruption, thanks to everyone who had a part in this. -Jenny Ambrose, 15, North Carolina.

[edit] Modern Figures in Pompeii

I'm thinking of adding a new section detailing the contributions of various figures in contributing to our knowledge of Pompeii, for instance, detailing the work of Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, John DeFelice, Estelle Lazer, Sara Bisel, Allison Cooley, Penelope Allison, Joseph Deiss etc. Would it be worthwile adding it? Which other historians and archaeologists should I do? Would it perhaps be better to outline modern perspectives of Pompeii as a whole to examine the changing interpretations of the site? --Lord Pheasant 04:06, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pliny Text

Just a note to myself and anybody else wishing to contributed to the article: The Pliny text is important to have in this article, but since the same text is now in the Pliny article, I think it this text should be integrated into the main body of the Pompeii article. Since this is the only reliable historical account of the destruction I think this text should go there. Much of the text should be removed and there should be more of a focus on eruption itself and not on the two Plinys. --maveric149

Done --maveric149, Friday, April 19, 2002

DID YOU KNOW!!! The earliest ever brewery coaster was founded in Pompeii

I regret I wasn't able to explain immediately what I had done, moving Pliny's text to Pliny the Younger, but I had serious connection problems and had to surrender after a number of timeouts, so I did not even complete the page on Pliny and the whole resulted perhaps in a sort of blitz. Fundamentally it is what effectively maveric did. I regret I de facto forced others to do what I intended and had to. Thank you maveric! :-) --Gianfranco, Saturday, April 20, 2002

No reason to apologise. The text as it was needed to be moved to the Pliny article and also simplified for the Pompeii article. We all have been having problems with the speed of the site lately. BTW, you have done a great job with this article --- I did improve some of the grammar for you, but the info is great. --maveric149

[edit] Pompey

There should be some reference to Pompey. -- Error 02:41, 6 Aug 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Earthquake Date

my book of archeology says, the earthquake was 62, this article says 63. which one is right? -- 141.53.194.251 14:27, 3 Sep 2003 (UTC)

  • My book also said it was in 62 so I updated it. If someone finds out that both our text-books were wrong here I also editted 62 and 63. --John Lynch 08:33, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Where to Include Stuff Question

Where would people suggest we include information in the article on life of Pompeii? Such as the fact that baths existed outside of the city walls for people who worked outside the walls to wash themselves in? Or the fact that the Pompeiians weren't expecting a death at all as there is evidence they were rebuilding places, such as the forum better then before and had barred carts from entering the forum because of how good the new floor was? --John Lynch 14:20, 1 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I'm trying to re-organise it around a more chronological framework, which should make this easier, and also to merge out stuff on the eruption itself and Pliny's account (both of which have wider ramifications than just for Pompeii) to Mount Vesuvius Neddyseagoon 16:57, 24 May 2006 (UTC)neddyseagoon

[edit] Walk on ruins

I heard that Pompeii is unusual in that you can freely walk on the ruins and touch the remains. Is that true? Can people touch the frescoes? Something should be said about the visit rules and touristic importance of Pompeii for the Naples(?) area.

No you can't touch the frescoes :( However you can walk about and walk through the city. But within reason touching things was a big no no. You couldn't walk on the frescoes that were on the ground, etc.--John Lynch 11:46, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Breezy style, but accurate information

Our anonymous friend 205.188.116.131 may not have the formal style quite mastered yet, but his information was perfectly accurate and appropriate. The wells did dry up before the eruption (I added further material along those lines, although my date of "65 AD" may be a year or two off, it's from memory); and the Vulcanalia (q.v.) were a real festival in honor of the Roman god of fire, and did indeed take place every year on August 23. (On the other hand the bit about August being in winter is egregious nonsense, and I removed it. The calendar was totally reformed by then, even including the slight error in the reform itself, which was corrected by Augustus: August 23 was almost the same August 23 we know now. Gradually, the Julian calendar went out of sync with the seasons again, but very slowly, and in the 1st century, it was not off by 1 day yet.) — Bill 16:29, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Pick a day

The article (and discussion on this page) say the eruption was August 23rd. The page on Vesuvius, the Today In History pages and Robert Harris's book say the eruption was on the 24th. Anyone know for certain? Zac (--202.154.157.204 12:32, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC))

I would also have to ask, by which calendar system. -- Beland 03:19, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Minor Edit

The inhabitants of Pompeii, as those of the area tozay, had long been used to minor tremors and wisps of gas from Mt. Vesuvius, and in 62 there had been a series of earthquakes serious enough to cause structural damage to houses in town; and in early August of 79, all the town's wells dried up; but the warnings were not sharp enough, and the Roman world was stunned when on August 24 a catastrophic volcanic eruption of the volcano buried the city and obscured the sun on a mild afternoon.

This sentence seemed a bit long and unnecessarily complex, edited into too. Jayhawk88 21:51, 24 August 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Reburying Erotic Frescos

"Some have theorized, without proof, that Fontana initially found some of the famous erotic frescoes and, due to the strict modesty prevalent during his time, reburied them in an attempt at archaeological censorship." ... I'm no uncited theorist, but given the unbridled Catholicism rampant in 1599, if Fontana didn't destroy the frescos outright it seems he may have been trying to protect them. Would it be too much to add "or preservation"? Pjrich 05:08, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes i agree with Pjrich.Jee 04:15, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What does it mean by "lost?"

If we've preserved the writings of Pliny, and he mentions Pompeii and Herculaneum, presumably people who read him must have known that some city by the name of Pompeii existed and was overwhelmed by Vesuvius. Does the term "lost" simply mean that their locations were forgotten, or does Pliny not actually mention the two cities by name in his writings and only mention the eruption?--Rob117 00:32, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Recordings?

I've seen this link passed around now: that the grooves on pottery found in Pompeii are actually recordings. I say it is a spurious claim and would like to see it refutted. I don't think the Romans had pzieoelectric devices.

Truth is that I remember playing recordings with no electric or electronic device whatsoever. Pure mechanics, and using a hand crank with a clockwork style governer and a steel needle with a diaphram and long parabolic horn, they were quite loud! we called them 78's and i still have some, and still have the needles in a cool little tin with the image of the dog listening to the music. prior to the disc it was a tube, a cylinder, and I believe that the ancients had more than we know, and that it would be easy to play those grooves if we wanted to. It was a two way mechanical process. I later became a sound engineer for many years. moza 12:44, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hotel Murecine

I have been to Pompeii many, many times and know its geography well. I have never heard of The Grand Hotel Murecine. Where is it, please?--Anthony.bradbury 14:55, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Ame here, never heard about this. It's not to find at the Eschbach. Kenwilliams 13:45, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

No I have never heard of it either and I live close by. To be totally honest I don't think it exists. It has probably been made up. JBeeldman 17:48, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

It is cited in an article published in a major Italian newspaper, La Repubblica. Link: http://www.repubblica.it/online/cultura_scienze/corpi/pompei/pompei.html GhePeU 11:42, 22 May 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Pompei vs Pompeii

Does anyone know why English speakers spell it Pompeii and Italians spell it Pompei (the ruins as well as the modern town)? --87.18.216.215 00:34, 2 August 2006 (UTC)... your point is

[edit] Ei versus eii

The spelling Pompeii derives from a time when Germanic archaeologists were prominent in archaeological writing. Because the pronunciation of the dipthong 'ei' is pronounced in German (and also phonetically) like the english word 'eye' making the possible pronunciation 'Pomp-eye' the extra 'i' was added to avoid this mispronunciation. 203.27.90.186 03:25, 28 September 2006 (UT)

It should really be spelled Pompei. Wikipedia should set the record straight and remove the ridiculous spelling of Pompeii.

[edit] Pompeii

Ņŝ Ûso for the matter of the volcano, the entire sister city of Herculaneum, will forever be a mystery. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.252.219.187 (talk) 22:56, 13 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Cut Trivia

Cut the following:

In an episode of Highlander: The Series, the character Joe Dawson explains that the eruption may have been caused by two immortals fighting on holy ground (considered taboo).

This seems a very trivial bit of info, not to mention that it's a line of dialogue. It would be one thing if the entire episode took place in Pompeii, but not a single line. It would be like including a note about the film Mystery Men because the Ben Stiller character says "I'm going to go Pompeii on your ass!" RoyBatty42 19:59, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Request link to Cyark's online Pompeii data archive

Hello.Cyark is a nonprofit hi-definition heritage network employing 3D laser scanning at UNESCO sites worldwide for educational purposes, and has partnerships with prominent University and national institutions worldwide including UC Berkeley in California, University of Ferrara in Italy, ITABC, American Museum of Natural History, etc. (please see here for a complete list). We would like to have a link to our extensive online database on the Pompeii Wikipedia page, if possible. Would a senior editor consider placing this up? Thanks.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Cyark (talk • contribs) 22:59, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

It looks like the link got deleted while someone was reverting vandalism. Since it appears to meet the standards of WP:EL, I will re-add the link. --Seattle Skier (See talk tierS) 21:03, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Popular culture section

The popular culture section for this page is really getting way overblown, with numerous obscure and non-notable references. Does anyone else agree that the article would be improved if all, or nearly all, of the text in that section was obliterated? (Using pyroclastic flows to do it might be fitting.) Mlouns 01:26, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I think you're probably right. There isn't much actual content in there is there. Ditch it, I say. Eve 11:44, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
If I hear no further objections, I plan to take out pretty much the whole section in the next day or so. Mlouns 18:17, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vesubius eruption?

I've heard some people saying that the volcanoe was not the Vesubious, that this is one of the most extended wrong information. I've been told by some friends of mine (that do not know among themselves) that there was (there is?) a nearby volcanoe and it was that other one (I've been told the name, but right now I don not recall it), I have even been told that the Vesubious was not active by that time.
Is there any truth in this? Is it just another urban legend?

[edit] Transportation

Under the Heading "Pompeii Today", the article states:

"The ruins are only accessible to tourists through the train line to the modern town, or else a private train line, the Circumvesuviana, that runs directly to the ancient site."

This is untrue. One can also catch a SITA bus from the SITA bus station in the port area in Naples. The bus stops on the main road through modern Pompei around the corner from the Information Centre. The entrance of the ruins is a 200 metre walk up hill from the Information Centre.

Take care with this route. There is no indication from the road of the ancient ruins close by. Note that the bus stop is the first one after leaving the freeway.

The bus stop to Naples is on the opposite side of the road.

The above route to Pompeii taken on June 20, 2007.

BinthareBinthare 10:00, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Replacing inaccurate CG image with more accurate version

Current image
Current image
This is a very rough outline, NOT what the final image will look like.
This is a very rough outline, NOT what the final image will look like.

I should explain that the image was obviously created with dramatic license for TV viewers. Artistically it's a great image but reading the caption of its depiction, I'm obviously not the only one bugged by some pretty obvious inaccuracies. For me the most irritating is how close Vesuvius seems to be in relation to Pompeii as well as its overall appearance. While I've never been there, on Google Maps it looks to be quite further away making a depiction of it looming over the town inaccurate. I've also seen pictures of art from Pompeii showing the mountain as being taller(more pointed) and green. However I agree with all the points made in our caption, so the city itself should look like it's in the process of slowly repairing damage from previous earthquakes.

To be clear, with a lot of work, I think I can create an image which looks just as good but takes into account historical knowledge ignored by the screenshot meeting this criteria:

  • 1 Quality equal to or exceeding Image:Pompeii the last day 1.jpg
  • 2 Larger depiction of Pompeii including damage both being repaired and in some cases waiting for repair
  • 3 Placement of Vesuvius in a more accurate location, with farms/villas between it and Pompeii.
  • 4 Attention to areas I may have missed from other editors.

Anynobody 23:59, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Pliny the Elder/Younger

I have reverted the latest edit relating to comments about the veracity of Pliny's account of Vesuvius's eruption. Who are the historians who question his account? We are not told at all. On the contrary, volcanologists have used his account and verified details which non-scientific historians have apparently queried. Please refer to the Pliny articles for confirmation. Peterlewis (talk) 10:21, 16 April 2008 (UTC)