HSC Ancient History Core Streetscapes of Pompeii and Herculneum

1. Plans and Streetscapes
Pompeii and Herculaneum

2. Pompeii

5. 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

6. POMPEII- PLANS
 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)

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9. Nola Gate
Stabian Gate

10. 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

12. 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

13. Street features

14. Polygonal
paving
Wheel groves
High gutters
Stepping stones

15.  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

16. House, with gardenand
Bath house
Office or taberna
Bronzesmith’s forge
and home above
House
Stairway
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Dwelling or
taberna
House
House
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House
shop
Shop
Shop of the
ironmonger

17. 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.

18. Castellum aquae
Water towers

19. Lead pipes under the streets
Public fountains

20.  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.