A Day in Pompeii

I know this a bit late, but I'll try and update you guys progressively so my posts don't get too long. Trivia night on Thursday was a blast! So much fun!!

Then, last Friday, we took a trip to Pompeii asa group. The history of Pompeii is so much more than just the volcanic eruption of the infamous Mt. Vesuvius. Oh, here it is if you were wondering what it looks like:

Not a really big mountain, but you know the story...

So it turns out that Pompeii wasn't really a prominent city and is mainly renowned for the volcanic eruption and its preserved ruins. Interestingly enough, a few years before the eruption, there was an earthquake that destroyed a good part of the town. So, after that disaster the locals made a temple and dedicated sculptures and such to the gods hoping for safety and no more disasters. Well, in short, lava spewed for 12 feet up, for a total of 18 hours and covered the town in 30 ft of ashes.Yea. Talk about ironic.

The town was very quiet and most of the sites were generally open even though its the off-season. We did a good bit of exploring and it was incredible to see things that you read about in the textbook and to know that we were walking on ground that as covered in 30 feet of ash! Amazingly, most of the Forum, temples, amphitheater and art/frescoes were preserved. Here are some of my favorites:

In the corner of the wool market was an area for public urination, so we took advantage :) 

People were killed instantly due of asphyxiation of poisonous gases.

Almost a perfectly preserved amphitheater.

Incredible (original, I think) mosaic of Alexander the Great and King Darius.

"Beware of Dog" is written below; I didn't know that this phrase was so old.   

Pompeii is on the way to Sorrento and Agerola, which were part of the Amalfi Coast that some of us did as a side weekend excursion, but I will save that post for another day...

On the trip, I took along my Gideon Bible because of the size and ease for travel. I found myself reading Psalms (go figure) for encouragement and pleasure. I know that there are 150 Psalms, and they're all great, but my favorite to remember are Psalm 18 and 42 for different reasons...

Psalm 18:46 - "The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted."