2023-08-20 12:36:28
The furniture of a room assigned to the slaves was found in the Roman villa of Civita Giuliana, about 600 meters from the walls of ancient Pompeii. It looks like a photograph, which denounces a situation of precariousness and subordination. However, it is an image of almost 2000 years ago, made with the cast technique, existing only in and around Pompeii. Materials such as furniture and fabrics, as well as the bodies of victims of the eruption of 79 AD, were covered by the pyroclastic cloud, which then became solid ground while the decomposed organic matter left a void in the ground: an imprint which, filled with plaster, has revealed its original form.
The new room, called “room “A”, is different from the one already known as room “C”, rebuilt in November 2021 in which three cots were positioned and which served at the same time as a closet. What has now emerged suggests a precise hierarchy within the servitude. While one of the two beds found in recent weeks is of the same invoice, extremely simple and without a mattress, as those of 2021, the other is of a more comfortable and expensive type, known in the bibliography as a “spalliera bed”. Traces of red decorations on two of the backs are still visible in the cinerite. In addition to the two beds, in the recently excavated room there are two small wardrobes, also partially preserved as casts, a series of amphorae and ceramic vases and various tools, including an iron hoe.
The micro-excavation of vases and amphorae from room “C” has in the meantime revealed the presence of at least three rodents: two mice in an amphora and a rat in a jug, positioned under one of the beds and from which it seems that the animal tried to escape when he died in the pyroclastic flow of the eruption. Details that once again underline the conditions of precariousness and hygienic discomfort in which the last of the society of the time lived. The archaeological exploration of the villa of Civita Giuliana, already the subject of excavations in 1907-’08, began in 2017 on the basis of a collaboration between the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, as the competent body for the protection of the area surrounding the ancient city, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Torre Annunziata, which together with the Carabinieri had discovered a long-standing clandestine excavation activity in the area of the Villa, which was then vanquished and prosecuted both criminally and civilly.
“What has been reconstructed confirms the need to continue scientific research in a place which, thanks to the work of the judiciary and the Carabinieri, was rescued from looting and the illicit trafficking of archaeological assets to tell remarkable moments of daily life in antiquity. That that we are learning about the material conditions and the social organization of the time opens new horizons for historical and archaeological studies. Pompeii represents a unicum that the whole world envies us. Once the Great Pompeii operation has been completed, we are planning new initiatives and new funding to continue in research and protection”, declares the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano.
“We know that the owners used various privileges, including the possibility of forming a family, albeit without any legal protection, to tie some slaves more closely to the villa, also with the aim of having them as allies in supervising the others. What emerges here it is the social structure of the servitude that was supposed to prevent escapes and forms of resistance, also because there are no traces of grates, padlocks and shackles.It seems that the control took place mainly through the internal organization of the servitude, and not through barriers and physical constraints – he explains the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel – We are committed to continuing the research and planning the use of a place which, like no other in the ancient world, tells the story of the everyday life of the last. On the occasion of the reopening of the Boscoreale Antiquarium next autumn , we foresee a room to inform the public about the excavations in progress, the same ones which, under the direction of my predecessor, Massimo Osanna, led to the discovery of the ceremonial chariot recently on display in Rome, at the Baths of Diocletian. In addition to the team involved in the archaeological excavation, I would like to thank the Public Prosecutor’s Office led by Nunzio Fragliasso for the excellent work done”.
For the Director General of Museums, Massimo Osanna: “Research in Civita Giuliana is a virtuous example of the protection and enhancement of our heritage. A firm collaboration between the Ministry of Culture, the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Police Forces have already brought to light an imposing complex and its extraordinary furnishings, including the Bride’s Cart. The new acquisitions confirm the relevance of the project. These activities will lead, I hope soon, to giving back to the Pompeian community and to all the public, an archaeological area of great importance that tells another piece of the biography of people, of different social classes, who lived 2000 years ago”.
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