New discovery reveals last moments of Pompeii’s middle class
<p dir="ltr">A series of new finds in Pompeii’s archaeological park have shed light on the final moments of middle class Romans before they were buried beneath volcanic ash and debris from Mount Vesuvius.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Plates, glasses, vases, amphorae and terracotta objects left behind in chests and cabinets have been recovered from four rooms in a house that was first excavated in 2018.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Gabriel Zuchtriegal, the director of the popular Italian tourist destination, said the discovery revealed precious details about the ordinary citizens of the city.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“In the Roman Empire there was a significant proportion of the population which fought for their social status and for whom the ‘daily bread’ was anything but taken for granted. It was a social class that was vulnerable during political crises and famines, but also ambitious to climb the social ladder,” Dr Zuchtriegal <a href="http://pompeiisites.org/en/comunicati/the-discovery-of-furnishings-from-the-house-of-the-lararium-in-regio-v-a-snapshot-of-middle-class-pompeii/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“In the House of the Lararium at Pompeii, the owner was able to embellish the courtyard with the lararium and the basin for the cistern with exceptional paintings, yet evidently funds were insufficient to decorate the five rooms of the house, one of which was used for storage. </p>
<p dir="ltr">“In the other rooms, two on the upper floor which could be reached by a mezzanine, we have discovered an array of objects, some of which are made of precious materials such as bronze and glass, while others were for everyday use. The wooden furniture, of which it has been possible to make casts, was extremely simple. </p>
<p dir="ltr">“We do not know who the inhabitants of the house were, but certainly the culture of otium (leisure) which inspired the wonderful decoration of the courtyard represented for them more a future they dreamed of than a lived reality.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the rooms on the lower floor of the house, all of the furnishings were able to be recovered by creating casts of the furniture.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One bedroom even contained the remains of a bed frame and trace fabric from the pillow, similar to three cot-like beds unearthed last year in another Pompeiian home believed to be slaves’ quarters. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Next to the bed, archaeologists found a bipartite wooden chest that was left open when the owners fled. Although heavily damaged by beams that crashed onto it during the eruption, it still held an oil lamp decorated with a relief of the Greek god Zeus being transformed into an eagle.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A small, three-legged table was found next to the trunk, with a ceramic cup containing glass ampules, and two small plates sitting on top.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the storeroom, they found a wooden cupboard with its backboard still intact and the shelves caved in.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Many of the items from the upper floor were found in the rooms below, including everyday items such as ceramic vessels, two bronze jugs, a bronze bowl with a beaded base, and an incense burner in the shape of a cradle.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One of the unique and most interesting finds was a small cast of waxed tablets, made up of seven triptychs (carvings with three panels) that have been tied together by a small cord.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Parco Archeologico di Pompei</em></p>
