Nothing from Pompeii speaks to me more profoundly
than the heart-rending casts recovered from its buried ruins.
A Young Woman Protecting Her Face
Her Dress Tangled around Her Upper Body
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
January 9, 2013
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
Most of Pompeii's 20,000 residents escaped during the first phase
of the volcano's eruption when it ejected a column of gas and magma
66,000 feet (20 kilometers) into the atmosphere
and rained ash and pumice on Pompeii for eighteen hours.
Two Men, Friends, Brothers, or Lovers
(Once Thought to Be Women ~ telegraph.co.uk )
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
January 9, 2013
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
About 2000 inhabitants who sought shelter in Pompeii
or who were unable to flee perished during the second phase of the eruption
when avalanching clouds of superheated gases and ash
raced down from the volcano and engulfed the city.
Many died instantly from extreme heat.
A Shackled Slave or Prisoner
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
January 9, 2013
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
The animal casts recovered are as gut-wrenching as the human.
A Domestic Pig
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
January 9, 2013
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
because I've been fascinated with the city and the volcano since I was a little girl.
They didn't prepare me for the reality of seeing the actual casts for the first time:
so big, so expressive, so alive in death.
A Man Shields a Woman's Face
To Comfort or Protect Her
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
January 9, 2013
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
a few years before I visited Pompeii.
I kept returning to the museum's exhibit to see the casts,
haunted by their humanity or sentience, their terror and suffering.
A Man Crouches Against a Wall
Covering His Mouth with the Edge of His Hooded Cloak
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
January 9, 2013
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
I didn't think about Giuseppe Fiorelli, the director of excavations
in Pompeii from 1860-75,
and his realization that cavities in the hardened ash
could be the molds of corpses or other organic materials.
I didn't think about his famous process of filling the cavities with plaster of Paris,
then extracting the hardened cast by carefully removing the surrounding ash.
Sometimes all you can absorb is hearing the dead speak.
in Pompeii from 1860-75,
and his realization that cavities in the hardened ash
could be the molds of corpses or other organic materials.
I didn't think about his famous process of filling the cavities with plaster of Paris,
then extracting the hardened cast by carefully removing the surrounding ash.
Sometimes all you can absorb is hearing the dead speak.
A Chained Dog
Caught by Its Bronze-Studded Collar
Denver Museum of Nature and Science
January 9, 2013
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
Till next time ~
Fundy Blue
A Very Overloaded Me
after eight hours running around
Pompei Scavi, Italy
after eight hours running around
Pompei Scavi, Italy
May 20, 2019
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
For Map Lovers Like Me:
Location of Italy
Attribution: User:David Liuzzo
Location of Pompeii
Location of Modern and Ancient Pompeii
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