Lifestyle
The amphitheatre was the most popular form of entertainment in Pompeii. Pompeii’s amphitheatre was built sometime after 80 BC, making it the oldest known example of its kind in the Roman world. The contests Pompeians enjoyed were ultra-violent even by today’s standards, ranging from gladiator versus gladiator combat to fights that pitted men against various dangerous animals.
Pompeii was a hub of trade and travel, and its wealthier residents were knowledgeable about all the latest fashion and beauty trends from Rome and beyond. The standard garment for women throughout the Roman Empire was the stola, a long pleated dress that was draped around the body and pinned together with brooches.
The kitchens in Pompeii were small, poorly lit rooms, usually tucked away at the back of the house. In most of the kitchens excavated at Pompeii, the only permanent feature left is a masonry hearth with a tiled top and arched recesses at the bottom for storing fuel. Cooking was done on this open hearth, with pots set on iron tripods over burning charcoal or wood. Some houses also boasted a small oven at the corner of the bench, with a vent near the stove for the smoke to escape. The only other furnishings in the Pompeian kitchen were a basin to hold water for cooking and washing up, and sometimes supports for tables to prepare the food.
ResidencesIn Pompeii, all the living rooms of the house faced inward. Instead of having a front garden or gate, the front door opened directly onto the pavement, and the rooms to either side of the door were usually either utility rooms or a shopfront. From the front door, a passage led back to the largest room in the house, the atrium, which was lit by a rectangular aperture in the middle of its high, wooden roof. Rainwater fell through this open skylight into a rectangular basin in the floor beneath, and ran into a storage cistern under the floor — an arrangement similar to our modern water tanks. Private rooms, which often contained couches, were situated to either side of the atrium, and at the far end lay the three most important rooms: the dining rooms, and the central tablinum, a formal reception room used by the master of the house for business and greeting guests.
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BuisinessIts fertile and well-drained volcanic soil and mild climate made Pompeii an agricultural hub, and her port and geographic position gave her easy access to markets near and far. The savvy Pompeians took advantage of these natural assets to make their town, and themselves, into a trading power in the Mediterranean.
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Religious BeliefsThe Pompeians worshipped many gods, primarily Graeco-Roman deities such as Jupiter, Juno, Minerva and Apollo. The oldest temple in Pompeii, which dates to the sixth century BC, may have been a temple of Minerva. A temple of Apollo stands next to the Forum and a temple of Jupiter at its north end, both built in the second century BC. In about 80 BC, a temple of Venus was built on high ground in the southwest corner of the city overlooking the sea, from which mythology tells us the goddess was born.
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Burial Customs
The roads leading out of Pompeii are lined with tombs, because burial within the city walls was not permitted. The best-known tombs line the road to Herculaneum. Before the Roman colony was established, Pompeians buried their dead in simple stone or brick caskets, but after 80 BC cremation became the norm and wealthier Pompeians started to build more monumental tombs, sometimes including an upper storey that featured statues of the deceased between columns. One particularly elaborate tomb built for a woman named Naevoleia Tyche boasts relief sculptures showing the good works performed by her husband. Some of the tombs rest within walled enclosures, and one unusual type of burial is marked by a tombstone with a plain circular top resembling a human head.
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