Our Time Capsule
Herculaneum (Better than Pompeii?!)
Why am I not taking you to Pompeii? How could I be so cruel you ask?! The truth is your ticket for today gets you into Pompeii and you’ll probably (I hope!) be motivated to go on your own. Herculaneum is an overlooked gem. It was buried by a series of massive pyroclastic surges, unlike Pompeii which was ‘only’ buried in 4-6 meters of volcanic ash and pumice. By contrast Herculaneum is under 20 meters and much of that material much more dense and solid than at Pompeii. This means second stories and more wooden artifacts survived. The houses feel even more like homes. As a smaller city in the first place we can cover most of the space in a reasonable amount of time without hiking between landmarks.
Readings
Supplemental materials [links to come]
Solo Presentation Topics
(a) Who was Amedeo Maiuri and how has he shaped our experience today?
(b) What foods and beverages were most likely consumed at the street counters? What do we know about street food culture in the ancient world?
Logistics
We’ll meet in the lobby of the hotel to ride the local train to the site together. Before we meet you will need to be fully packed and ready check out. The hotel will hold your bag for the day if you like. It is a great idea to grab some snacks to keep you going throughout the day from local markets.
After we finish at the site, your three day weekend starts! You’ll want to plan ahead your adventures and consider taking advantage of all the bay of Naples and points south have to offer.
THemes
What is the culture of consumption? what are the practicalities of sanitation? How is this type of preservation different from Ostia? What geological forces are at work here and throughout the region?
Blog Prompt
How can you connect what you saw in the museum with what you saw on the site itself? This post should be photo heavy (no less than 6, ideally many more) and most of your words should be image captions. Try creating pairs of images with interesting juxtapositions. You may find the train ride back to Rome the perfect time to knock this out on your phone with the WordPress app. If you are behind you may do a DOUBLE blog post for today. Meaning if you mark it as double and you’ve done double the expectations, it can earn you double credit saving you a blog post later in the trip or making up for one you missed.
Gallery
Rome via Brooklyn 