POMPEII

Pompeii was an ancient city in southwestern Italy, just outside Naples.  It was a Roman colony by 80 BCE and was a prosperous port and resort.  It and Herculaneum were destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.  Pompeii's incredibly well-preserved ruins were rediscovered 1,670 years later.

What is so striking to me is its size and the glimpses it gives of Roman life 2000 years ago.  It is so much more real than Mystic Seaport and Sturbridge Village.  It is not a re-creation...this is the way people actually lived (and died).  There are baths, shops, temples, public buildings and meeting areas, wealthy villas, and ordinary peoples homes.  Water was piped in by aqueducts to baths, homes and public fountains. You can walk down streets that are lined on both sides by homes and shops. The streets themselves were made with sidewalks and were wide enough to allow carts to pass and rainwater to flow.  It was certainly more advanced than was most of Europe centuries later and far more advanced than our early western towns.  I found it remarkable how contemporary it all felt.