Pompei(i), Italy

Pompei ≠ Pompeii, and let me take you to both places, eh?

Greetings and salutations from Aix-en-Provence where I’m attending a military history conference—and since there’s a limit to what I’m able to absorb, I’ll take you along to … Pompei, Italy.

I suppose you expected some Roman ruins, but before we go there, let’s not omit the modern city of Pompei, “also known in English as Pompeii after the name of the ancient city, is a city and municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the region of Campania in Italy. It has a population of 23,612^[2]”, as Wikipedia has it. Note that the above postcard was mailed in 1973 and shows the Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei, “a Catholic cathedral, Marian pontifical shrine, and Pontifical minor basilica commissioned and co-founded by Bartolo Longo and his wife the Countess Mariana di Fusco, located in Pompei, Italy. It is the see of the Territorial Prelature of Pompei.”

But I suspect you’re here for the Roman ruins of Pompeii, which was “a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and many surrounding villas, it was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.”

And since I found a few nice old postcards of that place, we’ll go there together now.

Above, an unmailed postcard showing the forum, basilica, the temple of Jupiter, and the Pantheon, with Mount Vesuvius in the background. I’m going to link to the Wikipedia entries of the sites shown (those that are available), there are also a few more recent pictures found there.

Below, the House of the Vettii:

Below, a close-up with the Dancing Faun, mailed after the Second World War but impossible to date:

Below, a panoramic view of the theatre area:

Below, a nice view from the Temple of Apollo (and Venus):

I’ll wrap this up by posting two postcards showing the Arc of Nero, seen above on a postcard mailed between 1945 and 1955, which I know because the reverse bears a stamp reading “Austrian Censorship Office”; seen below on a picture postcard mailed in 1969, which shows the same object, albeit from the other side of the arc:

And with that, our brief sojourn may have come to an end—but stay tuned, I’ll have “more” to show you from Pompeii before too long.

As always, I’ll keep you posted.