Plans and StreetscapesPompeii and Herculaneum

Pompeii

History Pompeii was controlled by a series of groups – firstly

Greeks, Etruscans, Samnites and then Romans.

Traces of each of these cultures can be found in the

city, the oldest building dating from the sixth century

BCE

After the defeat of the city by Sulla in the first century

BCE, the Roman colony was established in 80 BCE

and the city was dedicated to the Greek goddess,

Venus

66 hectares in area. Only two-thirds of the site of Pompeii

has been excavated.

Walls – 3.2 km of wall built from tufa. Some sections of the

wall at the east of the town had been dismantled, following

the imposition of the peace of Rome

Watch towers – some towers still remain in the wall, on the

north side of Pompeii

Gates – seven gates provide entry points to Pompeii (Porta

Marina, Porta di Stabia, Porta di Nocera, Porta di Sarno,

Porta di Nola, Porta Vesuvio, Porta Ercolano)

POMPEII- PLANS

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Nola Gate

Stabian Gate

Streets The oldest sections of the town were centred around

the forum and the triangular forum. Here the

streetscape is less regular.

From these areas the town spread north and south.

These streets are laid out on a grid pattern.

Streets running east-west are called decumani and

streets running north-south are known as cardini.

The main north-south street is Via Stabiana. The main

east-west street is Via dell'Abbondanza

The streets were paved during Roman times with large

polygon stones. They were often narrow – 2.4 to 4.5

ms wide. The largest was 7 ms wide

Grooves had been worn into some street by the wheels

of carts (indicating an axle width of 1.4 ms).

Stepping stones were placed across streets to allow

people to cross the street without getting wet or muddy

(or worse).

Cats' eyes (small white stones) were inserted in road

surfaces to assist in walking at night.

Gutters in Pompeii were raised to at least 30 cms (and

often much higher) to cope with flowing water and

sewerage

Street features

Polygonal

paving

Wheel groves

High gutters

Stepping stones

The town plan was divided into nine regions by Giuseppe Fiorelli in the 1860s.

Each block (insulae) in each region was numbered and walled.

Each entrance in each insula was numbered. Every building in Pompeii can be identified with a number, e.g. The House of Pansa is VI.6.1, that is, Region 6, Insula 6, Entrance 1.

Houses shops, factories and restaurants were mixed in together, as were rich and poor dwellings

Insulae varied in size from 850 sq ms to 5,500 sq ms and may consist of any number of dwellings –from one to more than a dozen

House, with gardenand

Bath house

Bronzesmith’s forge

and home above

House

Office or taberna

Stairway

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Dwelling or

taberna

House

House

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House

shop

Shop

Shop of the

ironmonger

Water supplies Originally Pompeii drew its water from the Sarno River

and from wells

Early in the first century AD Pompeii constructed an

aqueduct system to bring fresh, clean water from the

hills 40 kilometres away.

This water flowed into a roofed reservoir (castellum

aquae) before dividing into three large lead pipes which

ran under the pavements.

Castellum aquae

Water towers

Lead pipes under the streets

Public fountains

The 35-metre height difference between the castellum and the lowest point in the city meant that the water in the pipes was under pressure, allowing smaller pipes to carry water up to the tanks, then back down the towers to supply public fountains, houses, shops and facilities such as baths.

Six-metre-high towers with lead tanks on top were built at intervals along these three pipelines, to relieve the pressure.

There were numerous public street fountains (Nympharium) with continuous flowing water. Few houses had their own private water supply.