I’m officially one month into my study abroad here, and to mark the occasion we had our first big trip of the program: a tour of southern Italy. Over the course of four days, we were able to see 5 different towns and over 2,500 years of history, and I realized something from this: I need to retract a statement I made in a previous blog.
Saying that I couldn’t choose a favorite city in Italy because they were all so different, was a blatant lie. This trip. This trip was my favorite. And it’s honestly going to be really stinking hard to top this. With that in mind, I’m dividing this post into two parts to make it a bit more manageable, for both you and I. So, without further ado…
Day 1 – Paestum
Many of you have probably never heard of this town, and that’s okay. Paestum may be an archaeologist's dream, but it isn’t too well known amidst the other tourist meccas in Italy. To be honest, I completely forgot what it was till I got there myself and remembered my freshman year History of Architecture class. But, boy, did I remember.
Besides the Acropolis in Athens, Paestum has some of the best preserved Greek and Roman temples in the world. And yes, I said temples. Plural. There’s actually three of them, in mint condition, all within the space of about 1.5 football fields. (That was a really rough estimate, as I don’t watch football, or play sports, and my only experience with a football field is high school gym class. But that’s not the point. The point is they’re all really close to each other.)
I think this sight is where it finally started settling in on me: the idea that the structures I am looking at here are thousands of years old. It’s a concept that is so hard to wrap your brain around. It is nigh on impossible to truly comprehend that the buildings I see were around when Jesus walked this earth. I mean, even when Christ was here, some of these structures were already ancient.
The two temples above were built in the early period of the Roman Empire, over two thousand years ago. The third temple, not shown in this picture, was actually a Greek temple to Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Though the Greeks didn’t expand very far west, they did settle a few regions in southern Italy towards the end of their empire. That means, this temple is roughly 2,700-3,000 years old. Three thousand.
At that point the most of the rest of the world, was still in the Bronze Age. And yet, the Greeks were able to build hundreds of temples like this. Notice how small I am next to those columns. How much taller they are than me.
When you think about the construction of the pyramids, it is pretty simple to see how they did it. Create some ramps, and then just use a crap ton of oxen and slaves to push massive blocks up said ramps. But what about these temples? You wonder how they were able to lift such massive blocks into frighteningly precise columns. And then to build roofs and trusses off of these sticks. Even with pulleys and cranes, you have to wonder.
Honestly, I still don’t think it has really hit me yet. It’s hard to view the Colosseum as ancient when there’s a modern hotel right next to it. But this trip started to make it more apparent. It’s easier to see the difference when you’re viewing something in a proper archaeological dig site. Of course, it was the next day that helped to truly cement the idea.
Day 2 – Pompeii
It started like this. Which is ironic if you know me.
If you know me, you understand that I am not a morning person. If you want me to wake up at the ungodly hours of 6-7 am in the morning, you might want to think again. However, after three and a half years of architecture school, if you want me to wake up at 4-5am and go watch the sunrise, I am all ears. Heck 2-3am for a dawn hike up a mountain is even better.
This comes down to two facts. First, when you only get 3-4 hours of sleep in a night, you will wake up refreshed and ready to go. Because you didn’t sleep the necessary time, your body pumps you full of adrenaline, and you feel as if you could run a marathon. That high will last all day, and you only have to deal with the effects the next day when the adrenaline wears off.
Also, if you get up at 3 or 4 am, most everyone else is still asleep. It’s the time of day when it feels as if the world is yours. In the silent, crisp, stillness of the pre-dawn you feel true peace and relaxation. And as reward for getting up early, you have something to look forward to in the dawn.
After the day starts however, people emerge from their houses and the stillness is broken. So no. I hate getting up at 7am, when every other person around me is getting up and there is nothing to look forward to but work and stress. But I will always get up for the dawn.
Luckily, today I did have something to look forward to after the sun rose.
Now. Hear me out. When I think about my bucket list places to visit, there are truthfully a fair amount of names that come up. I have a few countries I desperately want to see, and then I have more specific places and structures I want to visit. Yet among that list of things to see, Pompeii was in the top three, if not number one.
Consider this: Pompeii is the freeze dried aftermath of one of the greatest natural disasters in human history and I have been obsessed with natural disasters since I was little girl. In my family we like to watch movies with dinner. It is a nightly routine to ask everyone what they want to watch and settle on something everyone is interested in. However, on someone’s birthday, they get choose whatever movie they desire. As little girl, you would think I would choose Disney, or something of the like.
No. I was the weird one who always wanted to watch Twister, or Dante’s Peak, or Volcano. I dreamed of seeing a tornado in real life. For a solid two years of my life, I toyed with the idea of becoming a volcanologist.
So I am not exaggerating when I say, that walking among the ruins of Pompeii will always top a beach day or a shopping spree. (Something to keep in mind when I talk about Capri next post.) Here, we weren’t just walking among ruins consisting of rocks on the ground and a few well preserved temples. The entire city was still standing. It was practically shouting the history and life of the people who walked through its streets.
We could plainly see where they bathed, walked, shopped, ate. We could see the tire marks of the chariots and the plaster casts of the bodies. The organization of the city and the written remnants of political elections. One visit taught me more about the ancient Romans than the past three cities combined. Strange how a place of so much death and destruction, contains such a vibrant, living history.
Yet, while Pompeii is enlightening, it is only one side of the coin. Vesuvius.
When it erupted in 79 AD, the explosive force send ash and pumice more than 25km into the stratosphere. That’s 15.5 miles. After that column reached its peak, the wind blew it southwest… directly on top of Pompeii, instantly burying the city under close to 20 ft of ash. (but don’t quote me on that) Any towns closer to the volcano were treated to a different fate.
The explosion itself was essentially a nuclear blast. After the initial mushroom cloud, a second shock-wave spread from the base of the volcano in a ring, loosening any soil that hadn’t been touched by the first blast. As the rain began, it turned to mud and flowed freely down from the mountain, burying everything in its path. This is what happened to Herculaneum, Pompeii’s counterpart that is smaller but better preserved. Since then, Vesuvius has gone off 26 times, creating almost 4 km of new coastline near it and constantly changing the shape of the mountain itself.
It reminds me of the scripture of Job:
“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in this thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him?
But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
Job 26: 7-14
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