Ashes to Ashes

Probably next to my desire to see Venice is my interest in seeing Pompei  This interest and facination goes back to my high school days when I was studying Latin and I learned about the fateful day that 2000 people were trapped by the vocanic ash of Mt Vesuvius.  The amazing event that preserved the town of Pompei by covering it with Ash happened 7 centuries before Christ.  This was a wealthy town with 20,000 people.  Mt Vesuvius erupted and all but 2000 were able to escape.  Those 2000 people it turns out were slaves who were left to protect the town and the family's homes.  They did not die because of being buried but died because of the gases that were caused by the eruption.  The town was buried in Ash and it was not until the 1800's did recovery of the village occured and it was discovered that the ash that covered the village had preserved the buildings and artifacts, along with the slaves and animals who were left to ride out the eruption.  What is amazing about the town is that except for the roofs that were caved in because of the wt of the ash, the house and businesses building structures, murals, decorations, roots of plants, plumbing and names of the residences are all in good condition.  These artifacts fortells the very advanced way of living these people existed.  I had seen some of the artifacts a long time ago at a exhibit in Chicago Art Institute but that exhibit did not prepare me for the large scale site of Pompei.  It took about 3 hours to go though the village.  We had a guide that explained and showed us many samples of work, leisure, plants and decorations that were part of daily life i Pompei.