Pompeii exhibit captures life and death of residents
By BURLON PARSONS bparsons@journal-spectator.com

Death cast of a Pompeii resident who was frozen in time when Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D.

The first thing the visitor sees is a plaster cast of a dozen or more scattered skeletons. They are frozen in the postures A gold armband in the exhibit is inscribed saying that it was presented to the owner, a slave girl, as a gift. She wore it in death. in which they died.

The mass of remains were cast in the Roman city of Pompeii. The town sitting at the base of Mount Vesuvius was covered by pumice and clouds of poisonous gas when the volcano erupted on Aug. 24, 79 A.D.

The exhibit, Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption, reveals the ancient world through painting, sculpture and crafts found in the silent dead city. The works of art give viewers insight and appreciation into the worlds of the artists who made them and the owners who cherished them. The exhibit will be on display at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston through June 22 in the Caroline Wiess Law Building.

Tickets for the exhibits are $17 for adults and $13 for seniors, students with IDs and children 6 to 18-years-old. On Thursday tickets are $10 and $8, respectively. Tickets are purchased in 30-minute time slots from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Pompeii residents realized too late that by remaining in the city their fate was sealed. Many never had the chance to flee.A

sister city, Herculaneum, suffered the same fate from the eruption. Another city was later built over the pumice and lava which covered Herculaneum. Artifacts are there, too, but being uncovered a few at at time.

The city of Pompeii remained untouched until the 1500s when a canal was being dug in the area and workers uncovered painted walls and slabs of marble.

In 1763 an inscription was found that identified the town as the Pompeii written about by Pliny the Younger. The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius preserved an unprecedented number of works of art and objects from daily life, as well as remains of about 2,000 residents who had not fled in time.

Pliny's description of the eruption says, "A fearful black cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of flame, and parted to reveal great tongues of fire. You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men … Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness."

Death cast of a dog which still wears its collar as its owner did not have time to unchain it during the volcanic eruption which killed it.

Pompeii proved to be a wealthy city, as reflected by the thousands of artifacts found there. Citizens wore exquisite jewelry fashioned from gold and precious stones. One victim was found wearing an arm bracelet weighing over a pound of pure gold

The walls of the homes of the wealthy were painted with classical themes and the owners walked on mosaics made from tiny pieces of stone and glass.

Statues of gods and goddesses adorned gardens and courtyards and residents dined on decorated fine silver. For Romans, bathing was a social occasion. The large public baths featured saunas, hot tubs, cold water plunges, and a gymnasium. Massages and perfumed body wraps were popular.

Death cast of an infant caught in the volcanic eruption of 79 A.D.

The theater and gladiatorial contests were popular forms of public entertainment. Gladiators were seen as men of courage and often held in high regard. Pieces of the gladiatorial armor found at Pompeii's gladiator school are also included in the exhibit.

The exhibition consists of 500 objects, most excavated in the last decade, from three famous and wealthy sites.

They include marble statues, wall frescoes, gold jewelry, silver dinner service and household items, bronze household items, coins, and body casts and skeletons of inhabitants who were unable to escape.

Many of the artifacts have been found in the company of the bodies of the people who carried them.

For history buffs and those who love anthropology, Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption is well worth the trip into Houston to see the exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Gladiator helmets and pieces of armor bare out the fact that Pompeii was a wealthy city which had its own gladiatorial training school and arena.