It started out as another day in the year 79 CE for the residents of Pompeii, a city in picturesque Southern Italy; the men were probably visiting cafes and bathhouses, while the children attended classes in a shady portico. But unbeknownst to them a behemoth nearby was brewing a volcanic outburst that eventually inundated the city and its residents in a mass of volcanic ash, preserving these terrified human remains exactly as they may have been many thousands of years ago on that fateful day.
The earliest eyewitness account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius comes from the Roman author and naturalist Pliny the Younger. He wrote two letters to the historian Tacitus which are said to be the primary sources for the eruption.
“I returned home and tried to rest, but I was not able to. There was a thick cloud hanging over the area, and the whole sky was covered with blackness. The ash fell like snow and the people were running around, crying and shouting in terror. The air was heavy with smoke and it was hard to breathe. The flames from the volcano spread to the surrounding areas and the tremors from the eruption caused buildings to collapse. The ground itself seemed to be shaking and the sea became agitated.”
My mother and I took refuge in a large villa and we spent the night there, trembling with fear. When daylight returned, the scene was even more dreadful. The landscape was completely transformed. The countryside had been covered with thick layers of pumice and ash. The sea had turned dark and the air was foul. We could see the smoke rising from the burning cities and we knew that many lives had been lost.”
Buried for thousands of years
Thus the city remained buried for thousands of years until Pompeii was rediscovered in 1748. It had been largely forgotten until the mid-18th century when workers began uncovering it during construction projects. This led to a renewed interest in the site and excavation work began in earnest after that.
Fast forward to the present, Pompeii and Herculaneum the neighbouring city are one of the most popular tourist sites in the world with over four million tourists having visited the site in 2023. Hailed as a once-in-a- century discovery, the latest find in Pompeii yields a wealth of information shedding light into ancient Roman life.
Archaeologists have uncovered a sumptuous private bathhouse, potentially the most extensive ever found in the location. This bathhouse includes hot, warm and cold rooms, with captivating artwork, and an extensive plunge pool.
Splendid residence
This spa-like compound is located at the centre of a splendid residence that was discovered over the past two years during an important dig. Dr. Gabriel Zuchtriegel the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii in a report to the BBC has said “These spaces exemplify the ‘Pompeii effect’—it’s almost as if the people left only a minute ago.”
Investigation of two skeletal remains found in the house reveals the atrocity encountered by the inhabitants of Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius exploded. The remains were of a woman, aged 35 to 50, clasping jewellery and coins and that of a younger man in his teenage years or early 20s. The two were found in a small room where they had blockaded themselves to escape a tsunami of scalding volcanic fumes and ash – called pyroclastic flow which had engulfed the city.
To this day one third of Pompeii lies concealed underneath the volcanic remains from the catastrophe, but on a recent dig one of the most expansive in years – infuses new wisdom into ancient Roman life.
A complete section of Pompeii has now come to light, indicating a bakery, a laundry and a big private house. It’s believed these were all the possessions of Aulus Rustius Verus, a significantly wealthy politician.
According to Dr Zuchtriegel the discoveries at the location of the bath house confirms the privileged status of the deceased.
“There are just a few houses that have a private bath complex, so it was something really for the wealthiest of the wealthy.” And this is so huge – it’s probably the biggest bathing complex in a Pompeiian private home.” Private bathing houses were very rare, and only the mighty and the affluent could afford to have one. The majority would visit public bath houses that came with all the components featured here.
Those lucky enough to experience this private bath undressed in changing rooms richly decorated with red walls and beautiful mosaic floors spattered with marble outlaid in geometric patterns sourced from all across the Roman Empire.
Then they would enter the hot rooms or the saunas also known as the caldarium which had a bath and a hollow recess allowing hot air to ventilate under the walls which dispensed the warmth throughout the rooms. The next stage in the bathing ritual would see the bathers move into a brightly-painted room, this is where olive oil would be rubbed into the skin, before being rubbed off by a curved tool dubbed a strigil.
The most extensive and stunning room of all is the frigidarium, which is the cold room. Encircled by red columns and murals of athletes, a visitor could take a dip in the plunge pool, which is large enough to accomodate 20-30 people.
“In the hot summers, you could sit with your feet in the water, chatting with your friends, maybe enjoying a cup of wine,” says Dr Zuchtriegel.
Just after the hot room, is a boiler room where a pipe carried water from the street into the cold plunge pool while the rest was warmed in a lead cauldron for the hot room. The valves that controlled the outpour look contemporary as if designed by modern hands. These discoveries in the private bathhouse complex sheds light on the darker aspects of Roman life, the seedy and slave-infested brothels are not the only depressing feature found in Pompeii. To produce the hot water, slaves had to keep a furnace going where the conditions in the room would have been unbearably hot suggesting the tough and dreary job ahead for the slaves.
It is a powerful exposure of the class divide present in ancient Rome, where the rich and the affluent had sumptuous bath houses to feed off their fancies whilst only a thin wall separated luxury and unimaginable toil.
Striking discovery
Occupying the neighbouring space to this room is a cramped room with barely any embellishment; a striking discovery was made here; where the body of two Pompeiians who had failed to flee from the explosion was uncovered.
The woman’s skeleton was discovered on the bed, twisted in a foetal position, while the man’s body could be seen in the corner of the small room. According to archaeologists in Pompeii, the fumes and soot that formed a pyroclastic flow which is a combination of rock pieces, fumes and ash from the eruption came from the street just beyond this room and forced the wall to tumble and this is what had crushed the man to death. Dr Sophie Hay, an archaeologist in Pompeii said the woman was probably alive when the man was dying and she probably died with the pyroclastic flow entering the room.
The male skeletal remains had signs of deterioration despite his young age suggesting he was a slave but a freedman, most likely someone of a lower status. While the woman, although older, was found with better dental and bone structure than the male. The victims were grasping objects which were especially interesting, the young man was holding onto some keys while the woman held on to silver coins and jewellery.
They uncovered several jugs, pottery and glassware which is indicative that they intended to wait out the disaster with provisions. Such discoveries depict the vulnerabilities of human nature in the face of impending disaster which has been immortalised by nature’s handiwork.
The gold coins still retained its gleam as if they were pristine, while the pearl earrings and necklace pendants the woman held onto had intricately engraved semi-precious stones. These findings intimately connect us to a fragment of time where the ancient and the present day meld when one is able to touch a fragment of the lives of those who perished.
Just last year a massive banqueting room with jet black walls and spectacular artwork of classical scenes were discovered. An intimate room with blue walls which resembled a shrine room where the residents could go and pray also came to light during the excavation.
With tools and building materials found all throughout the residences it is suggestive the rooms were in a state of repair when disaster struck Pompeii. A pile of oyster shells were found strewn on the floor, which were in the process of being grounded up and applied to the walls to give them a polychromatic shimmer.
The excavations are still ongoing and continue to yield new finds for Dr Anna Onesti, director of the excavation said, “It’s a magic moment for the life of Pompeii and this excavation work offers us the possibility to share this with the public.”