Pretty well-known like No.149, and for me, also visited on that same school trip. The smartest among you may have already inferred correctly that Latin teachers were involved. Alas I later failed the ‘O’ level (nil sine labore).

Just in case, and a very big just in case it is too, you don’t know, the nearby active volcano Mt. Vesuvius which stands inland from the bay of Naples, blew its top in a major way in AD 79, possibly on October 24th, burying and destroying the Roman cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae. This involved technical stuff like pyroclastic surges and tephra, basically incineration by hot gas, burial under many metres of ash, stones and mud, massive loss of life and energy output claimed to be the equivalent of a hundred thousand times that of the Hiroshima bomb. Please don’t ask how they worked that out, some people are really good at physics and geology (and making stuff up and equating big things in terms of numbers of London Buses etc).

 The result was a catastrophic human tragedy and an archaeologist’s dream. When people started digging around Pompeii getting on for two thousand years later it revealed the biggest, most detailed and complete time capsule of an ancient Roman city. For the purposes of this site it also gave us a stonkingly well-preserved amphitheatre.

 Dating from 70 BC it’s the oldest stone amphitheatre, pre-dating the Colosseum by about 100 years. It was shut down for 10 years in AD 59 after a particularly nasty riot, involving what young people describe as ‘beef’ between citizens of Pompeii and visiting people from nearby Nuceria. The Museum of Archaeology in Naples is now the home of a painted wall fresco depicting the events of AD59. It was taken from the west wall of the covered garden in the house of Actius Anicetus. It’s fair to assume the Pompeiians came off better in the fight, otherwise why depict it on a wall in your house? Emperor Nero took a dim view and ordered an investigation by the Senate. There were sackings and banishments of those held responsible together with a lengthy ban on Gladiatorial games in Pompeii. Tacitus put it thus:

“Tacitus, Annals 14.17

At around the same time, there arose from a trifling beginning a terrible bloodbath among the inhabitants of the colonies of Nuceria and Pompeii at a gladiatorial show given by Livineius Regulus, whose expulsion from the senate I have recorded previously. Inter-town rivalry led to abuse, then stonethrowing, then the drawing of weapons. The Pompeians in whose town the show was being given came off the better. Therefore many of the Nucerians were carried to Rome having lost limbs, and many were bereaved of parents and children. The emperor instructed the senate to investigate; they passed it to the consuls. When their findings returned to the senators, the Pompeians were barred from holding any such gathering for ten years. Illegal associations in the town were dissolved; Livineius and the others who had instigated the trouble were exiled.”

The house of Actius Anicetus is on the south side of Insula III near the junction between Vicolo Del Menandro and Vicolo Del Citarista. There is more of this story on the blog page for Nocera Superiore.

Like many amphitheatre sites the setting is stunning, the views of Vesuvius, the bay of Naples and the surrounding city of ghosts make it very special. Go and see it for yourself.

It’s Only Rock & Roll - Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

Following rejection of an earlier idea for a pink Floyd film project, and a shaggy dog story involving director Adrian Maben returning to a deserted Pompeii in search of a lost passport, Pink Floyd’s entire touring rig and a mobile recording studio embarked on a three day journey to Italy where it was set up in the amphitheatre of Pompeii at the end of a very long power cable from the local Town Hall. Four days of filming in October 1971 ended up in a theatrical release in 1974. The footage, featuring several tracks from their most recent album Meddle, with additional studio material of the band working on its follow up, The Dark Side of the Moon, captured them playing live at the cusp of their transition from underground psychedelic spaced out jazz fans to ‘biggest band in the world’.

It’s a charming document of a bygone era. The band play ‘properly’ live to an audience of none (give or take a few respectful local kids with fence climbing capabilities) within a world heritage site and nobody bothers them… Band member David Gilmour returned in 2016 for a performance on his solo tour - billed as the first ‘public’ gig since 79AD. He was followed in 2018 by King Crimson, and in 2023 by Travis Scott who shot sections of his Video Album Circus Maximus on site.