Daily Updates
Week Four: Oct. 18
18 October. Joanna reporting: Today, after waking up ready and enthusiastic to start our field research for our projects in Pompeii, we looked out the windows, and our shoulders shrank. The weather was nasty with a gray cold sky raining upon us. Professor Ulrich decided on a change of plans, and we left Pompeii in the morning for Naples and its fabulous archaeological museum. After winding our way around the crowded streets filled with stands displaying Neopolitan pizza, we arrived at the museum and spent the rest of the morning observing some rare collections of Republican period Roman coins, excavated mosaics from Pompeian houses, and colossal sculptures from the Baths of Caracalla. Of particular interest was the famous Alexander the Great mosaic, where amidst swarming tourists, Matt gave an off-the-cuff presentation, since his project was on this famous piece. Everybody was amazed at the incredibly small tessarae and the optical tricks the mosaic plays on its observers. After the museum, we had an afternoon free to work on research at the site of Pompeii. The weather was still cold and gray, but at least it wasn’t raining. We are all crossing our fingers that tomorrow’s weather will behave itself for Capri.
18 October. The Naples Museum: Artemis at Ephesus
18 October. The Naples Museum: A detail
18 October. The Naples Museum: Hercules
18 October. The Naples Museum: the Farnese bull
18 October. The Naples Museum: the Farnese bull
18 October. The Naples Museum: the Farnese bull
18 October. The Naples Museum: a coin hoard
18 October. The Naples Museum: a relief plaque showing Pompeiian industry
18 October. The Naples Museum:wax writing tablets
18 October. The Naples Museum: you can make out some individual letters
18 October. The Naples Museum: wall painting depicting the fullers at work
18 October. The Naples Museum: wall painting depicting bread distribution
18 October. The Naples Museum: a mosaic of a dramatic mask
18 October. The Naples Museum: a detail of the tiny tesserae
18 October. The Naples Museum: the Alexander Mosaic, Darius
18 October. The Naples Museum: the Alexander Mosaic, Alexander the Great
18 October. The Naples Museum: a mosaic that may depict the wheel of fortune and some scales and comment on balance, life and death
18 October. The Naples Museum: another depiction of a skeleton
18 October. The Naples Museum: mosaic with a musician
18 October. The Naples Museum: detail of an 1879 model of Pompeii
18 October. The Naples Museum: the 1879 model: note the wall paintings!
18 October. The Naples Museum: the musuem reflected in a plan
18 October. The Naples Museum
18 October. The Naples Museum: glass bowls
18 October. The Naples Museum: Professor Ulrich lectures on the Hercules statue from the Baths of Caracalla
18 October. The Naples Museum: Professor Ulrich lectures on the Hercules statue from the Baths of Caracalla
18 October. The Naples Museum: a cameo showing Alexander the Great hunting
18 October. The Naples Museum: a portrait bust of Vespasian, and Adam