Friday, February 28, 2014

RUSSIA IN UKRAINE??

IF YOU'VE BEEN HEARING THE NEWS YOU WILL KNOW ABOUT THE UNREST AND SERIOUS PROBLEMS IN THE UKRAINE COUNTRY.

WHAT YOU MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN, WHICH I DID NOT, HALF THE COUNTRY SPEAKS RUSSIAN AND THE OTHER HALF UKRAINE.

ANOTHER FACT THAT I DID NOT KNOW [NEVER LOOKED ON A MAP CLOSE ENOUGH] UKRAINE IS THE LARGEST LAND MASS COUNTRY IN EUROPE.

NOW THE RUSSIANS ARE THERE, IN NOT A SMALL WAY.

PRESIDENT OBAMA GIVES A WISHY-WASH STATEMENT THAT RUSSIA NEEDS TO BE CAREFUL OR THERE WILL BE "CONSEQUENCES."

NOW, THIS IS WIND-BLOWING, THE EASTERN HALF OF UKRAINE HAS ALWAYS BEEN CLOSE TO RUSSIA, THEY SPEAK THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE, NOT UKRAINE OR AMERICAN ENGLISH.

YOU HAVE TWO SIDES NOW IN UKRAINE, AND NEITHER SEEMS TO WANT TO GIVE IN TO THE OTHER.

WHAT IS THE SIMPLE ANSWER? VERY SIMPLE...... DIVIDE INTO TWO SEPARATE COUNTRIES; ONE CAN STAY WITH RUSSIA, THE OTHER GO WITH EUROPE AND THE WEST.

NOW THAT SHOULD BE THE LOGICAL DEDUCTION [BUT MOST OF OUR WESTERN LEADERS DO NOT KNOW WHAT LOGIC IS...THEY'RE TOO EDUCATED] FROM THE PRESENT SITUATION WHERE NEITHER SIDE WILL BEND TO THE OTHER. BUT NO I DOUBT THERE IS ANY LEADER IN THE WEST, THAT WILL CALL FOR THE OBVIOUS ANSWER TO THE UKRAINE PROBLEM. OBVIOUSLY OBAMA HAS NOT THOUGHT ABOUT IT.

UKRAINE NEEDS TO NOW BE TWO SEPARATE COUNTRIES. THE FASTER THEY DO IT, THE LESS BLOOD WILL BE SHED, AND THE LESS TENSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

THERE IS NO WAR PROPHESIED IN THE BIBLE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

BUT RUSSIA HAS A LITERAL RIGHT TO SIDE WITH EAST UKRAINE, WHO ARE VERY MUCH RUSSIANS.
..........

Thursday, February 27, 2014

NEW CALORIE AMOUNT ON LABELS FOR USA

AMERICAN ABC NEWS TONIGHT TOLD US THERE WILL BE NEW VERY CLEAR "CALORIE" AMOUNT LABELS, FOR A MUCH BETTER UNDERSTANDING JUST HOW MANY CALORIES ARE IN THINGS.

THEY GAVE EXAMPLES.

MAYBE CHECK IT ALL OUT ON ABC WEBSITE.

BUT IT IS A SOCKER. LIKE A SERVING OF A POP DRINK IS ABOUT 40 PERCENT OF IT, BUT OF COURSE PEOPLE, KIDS, DRINK ALL OF IT. THE CALORIES IN A WHOLE POP DRINK IS VERY HIGH, SHOCKINGLY HIGH,

ANOTHER EXAMPLE WAS SAY A "MUFFIN" - A SERVING WOULD BE 1/2 A MUFFIN, BUT WE EAT IT ALL...... AND THAT IS 400 CALORIES!!

WOW IT'S ABOUT TIME THE TRUE AMOUNT OF CALORIES WAS PLACED ON THINGS WE EAT AND DRINK. NOT IN THE PAST BEING SO, IS ONE REASON WHY WE HAVE WAY WAY TOO MANY OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE/CHILDREN IN OUR WESTERN WORLD.

THEN OF COURSE IT MEANS BEING MUCH MORE HEALTH MINDED, AS TO WHAT WE EAT AND HOW MUCH WE EAT.

CERTAINLY THE TRUE CALORIE FACTS SHOULD BE ON EVERYTHING PEOPLE BUY TO CONSUME IN THIER DAILY DIET.

IT IS A MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, AND APPARENTLY YOU CAN THANK MRS. OBAMA FOR PUSHING HARD TO GET THE NEW LABELING.
..........

WARNING....for SOCCER players...especially the young!!

ON AMERICAN ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT:

FOR ALL, ESPECIALLY THE YOUNG, WHO PLAY SOCCER ["FOOTBALL" TO THE REST OF THE WORLD EXCEPT NORTH AMERICA] .... NOW SCIENTIFICALLY PROVED, YOU SHOULD NOT BE "HEADING THE SOCCER BALL" ON ANY REGULAR BASIS, IF UNDER 25.

THEY SAY "NO HEADING" AT ALL UNDER THE AGE OF 14.

WHY? SIMPLE..... YOUR HEAD AND BRIAN IS NOT PHYSICALLY FULLY DEVELOPED UNTIL ABOUT AGE 25.

BLOWS TO THE HEAD, LIKE HEADING THE SOCCER BALL, UNDER 25 YEARS OLD, CAN CAUSE SERIOUS HEAD INJURIES, BRAIN INJURIES.

IN MY DAY, BACK IN THE 1950s...... THERE WAS JUST ABOUT NO EMPHASIS PLACED ON KIDS "HEADING" THE SOCCER BALL. I WAS CAPTAIN OF OUR HIGH-SCHOOL SOCCER TEAM, AND JUST ABOUT NOBODY "HEADED" THE BALL. I WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT WAS SKILLED AT DOING IT, AND THE TEAMS WE PLAYED AGAINST, I DO NOT REMEMBER ANY OF THEIR PLAYERS "HEADING" THE SOCCER BALL. IT JUST SEEMED BACK THEN THERE WAS NO EMPHASIS BY TEAM COACHES ETC. TO BE SKILLED IN TRYING TO "HEAD" THE SOCCER BALL.

AND I ONLY DID IT VERY INFREQUENTLY, MAYBE ONCE IN EVERY THREE GAMES.

THERE ARE, OR SHOULD I SAY, WERE, MANY WAYS TO BRING THAT HIGH FLYING SOCCER BALL UNDER CONTROL. WE WERE JUST NOT TAUGHT TO BE.... "HEADING" SOCCER BALL PLAYERS. MAYBE IT WAS ALSO AN AGE WHEN KIDS JUST DID NOT LIKE THE FEEL OF SMASHING THEIR HEADS AGAINST A SOCCER BALL.

BUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED A LOT IN SOCCER SINCE THEN, MORE AND MORE PLAY IT, MORE AND MORE SERIOUS, PROBABLY TOO SERIOUS A COMPETITIVE SOCCER LEAGUES TODAY. SO AS KIDS SEE MORE PRO PLAYERS "HEADING" THE BALL, THEY NATURALLY WILL DO SO, IF NOT TOLD NOT TO DO SO.

NOW YOU ARE TOLD BY MODERN SCIENCE TO NOT DO SO!!

SO SOCCER PLAYERS, SO PARENTS OF SOCCER KIDS, YOU ARE BEING TOLD, CHILDREN UNDER 14 SHOULD NOT "HEAD" THE SOCCER BALL AT ALL!!

AND THOSE OVER 14 VERY VERY LITTLE..... UNTIL 25 AND OLDER. TAKE IT TO HEART, COULD SAVE YOU SERIOUS BRAIN INJURY, AND YES EVEN DEATH!!
..........

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

POMPEII.....movie ..... true History

JUST SEEN THE RECENT "POMPEII" MOVIE - LARGE, SPECTACULAR, THRILLING, ESPECIALLY THE LAST 1/2 HOUR. BUILT UPON THE "GLADIATOR" LIFE OF ROME. NO PROFANITY, NO "F" WORDS. A GOOD THRILLER FOR AGE 9 YEARS AND UP.

NOW HERE IS THE ACTUAL FACTS ON

THIS DISASTER.

Pompeii

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the modern Italian city, see Pompei. For the Ancient Roman Leader, see Pompey. For other uses, see Pompeii (disambiguation) and Pompey (disambiguation)

"Pompeya" redirects here. For the neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, see Nueva Pompeya.

Pompeii
View into a narrow street of Pompeii.
Shown within Italy
Location	Pompei, Province of Naples, Campania,Italy
Coordinates	40°45′0″N 14°29′10″ECoordinates: 40°45′0″N 14°29′10″E
Type	Settlement
Area	64 to 67 ha (170 acres)
History
Founded	6th–7th century BC
Abandoned	79 AD
Site notes
Website	www.pompeiisites.org

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Archaeological Areas of Pompeii,Herculaneum, and Torre Annunziata
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv, v
Designated	1997 (21st session)
Reference No.	829
Region	Europe and North America

The city of Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Researchers believe that the town was founded in the seventh or sixth century BC and was captured by the Romans in 80 BC. By the time of its destruction, 160 years later, its population was probably approximately 20,000, with a complex water system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium and a port.

The eruption was cataclysmic for the town. Evidence for the destruction originally came from a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger, who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. The site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748.^[1] The objects that lay beneath the city have been well preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and moisture. These artifacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids between the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed one to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died.

Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years. Today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year.^[2]

[hide]

Name

Pompeii (pronounced [pɔmpɛjjiː]) in Latin is a second declension plural (Pompeiī, -ōrum). According to Theodor Kraus, "The root of the word Pompeii would appear to be the Oscan word for the number five, pompe, which suggests that either the community consisted of five hamlets or, perhaps, it was settled by a family group (gens Pompeia)."^[3]

Geography

The Temple of Jupiter with Vesuvius in the distance

The ruins of Pompeii are located near the modern suburban town of Pompei (nowadays written with one 'i'). It stands on a spur formed by a lava flow to the north of the mouth of the Sarno River (known in ancient times as the Sarnus).

Today it is some distance inland, but in ancient times it would have been nearer to the coast. Pompeii is about 8 km (5.0 mi) away from Mount Vesuvius. It covered a total of 64 to 67 hectares (170 acres) and was home to approximately 11,000 to 11,500 people on the basis of household counts.^[4] It was a major city in the region of Campania.

History

Early history

The archaeological digs at the site extend to the street level of the 79 AD volcanic event; deeper digs in older parts of Pompeii and core samples of nearby drillings have exposed layers of jumbled sediment that suggest that the city had suffered from other seismic events before the eruption. Three sheets of sediment have been found on top of the lava that lies below the city and, mixed in with the sediment, archaeologists have found bits of animal bone, pottery shards and plants. Carbon dating has determined the oldest of these layers to be from the 8th–6th centuries BC (around the time the city was founded). The other two strata are separated either by well-developed soil layers or Roman pavement, and were laid in the 4th century BC and 2nd century BC. It is theorized that the layers of the jumbled sediment were created by large landslides, perhaps triggered by extended rainfall.^[5]

The town was founded around the 6th-7th century BC by the Osci or Oscans, a people of central Italy, on what was an important crossroad between Cumae, Nola and Stabiae. It had already been used as a safe port by Greek and Phoenician sailors. According to Strabo, Pompeii was also captured by the Etruscans, and in fact recent^[timeframe?] excavations have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions and a 6th-century BC necropolis. Pompeii was captured for the first time by the Greek colony of Cumae, allied with Syracuse, between 525 and 474 BC.

In the 5th century BC, the Samnites conquered it (and all the other towns of Campania); the new rulers imposed their architecture and enlarged the town. After the Samnite Wars (4th century BC), Pompeii was forced to accept the status of socium of Rome, maintaining, however, linguistic and administrative autonomy. In the 4th century BC, it was fortified. Pompeii remained faithful to Rome during the Second Punic War.

The present Temple of Apollo was built in the 2nd century BC as the city's most important religious structure.

Pompeii took part in the war that the towns of Campania initiated against Rome, but in 89 BC it was besieged by Sulla. Although the blunts of the Social League, headed by Lucius Cluentius, helped in resisting the Romans, in 80 BC Pompeii was forced to surrender after the conquest of Nola, culminating in many of Sulla's veterans being given land and property, while many of those who went against Rome were ousted from their homes. It became a Roman colony with the name of Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum. The town became an important passage for goods that arrived by sea and had to be sent toward Rome or Southern Italy along the nearby Appian Way.

It was fed with water by a spur from Aqua Augusta (Naples) built c. 20 BC by Agrippa; the main line supplied several other large towns, and finally the naval base at Misenum. The castellum in Pompeii is well preserved, and includes many details of the distribution network and its controls.

First century AD

Illustrated reconstruction, from aCyArk/University of Ferrara research partnership, of how the Temple of Apollo may have looked before Mt. Vesuvius erupted

The same location today.

A Map of Pompeii, featuring the main roads, the Cardo Maximus is in Red and the Decumani Maximi are in green and dark blue. The southwest corner features the main forum and is the oldest part of the town.

The main Forum in Pompeii

The Forum with Vesuvius in the distance

Portrait of the baker Terentius Neo with his wife found on the wall of a Pompeii house.^[6]

Amphitheatre of Pompeii

The excavated city offers a snapshot of Roman life in the 1st century, frozen at the moment it was buried on 24 August AD 79.^[7] The forum, the baths, many houses, and some out-of-town villas like the Villa of the Mysteries remain well preserved.

Details of everyday life are preserved. For example, on the floor of one of the houses (Sirico's), a famous inscription Salve, lucru (Welcome, profit), perhaps humorously intended, indicates a trading company owned by two partners, Sirico and Nummianus (but this could be a nickname, since nummus means coin, money). Other houses provide details concerning professions and categories, such as for the "laundry" workers (Fullones). Wine jars have been found bearing what is apparently the world's earliest known marketing pun (technically a blend), Vesuvinum(combining Vesuvius and the Latin for wine, vinum). Graffiti carved on the walls provides information on street Latin.

In 89 BC, after the final occupation of the city by Roman General Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Pompeii was finally annexed to the Roman Republic. During this period, Pompeii underwent a vast process of infrastructural development, most of which was built during the Augustan period. These include an amphitheatre, a palaestra with a central natatorium or swimming pool, and anaqueduct that provided water for more than 25 street fountains, at least four public baths, and a large number of private houses (domūs) and businesses. The amphitheatre has been cited by modern scholars as a model of sophisticated design, particularly in the area of crowd control.^[8]

The aqueduct branched out through three main pipes from the Castellum Aquae, where the waters were collected before being distributed to the city; in case of extreme drought, the water supply would first fail to reach the public baths (the least vital service), then private houses and businesses, and when there would be no water flow at all, the system would fail to supply the public fountains (the most vital service) in the streets of Pompeii. The pools in Pompeii were used mostly for decoration.

The large number of well-preserved frescoes provide information on everyday life and have been a major advance in art history of the ancient world, with the innovation of the Pompeian Styles(First/Second/Third Style). Some aspects of the culture were distinctly erotic, including frequent use of the phallus as apotropaion or good-luck charm in various types of decoration. A large collection of erotic votive objects and frescoes were found at Pompeii. Many were removed and kept until recently in a secret collection at the University of Naples.

At the time of the eruption, the town may have had some 20,000 inhabitants, and was located in an area in which Romans had their holiday villas. Prof. William Abbott explains, "At the time of the eruption, Pompeii had reached its high point in society as many Romans frequently visited Pompeii on vacations." It is the only ancient town of which the whole topographic structure is known precisely as it was, with no later modifications or additions. Due to the difficult terrain, it was not distributed on a regular plan as most Roman towns were, but its streets are straight and laid out in a grid in the Roman tradition. They are laid with polygonal stones, and have houses and shops on both sides of the street. It followed its decumanus and its cardo, centered on the forum.

Besides the forum, many other services were found: the Macellum (great food market), the Pistrinum (mill), the Thermopolium (sort of bar that served cold and hot beverages), and cauponae(small restaurants). An amphitheatre and two theatres have been found, along with a palaestra or gymnasium. A hotel (of 1,000 square metres) was found a short distance from the town; it is now nicknamed the "Grand Hotel Murecine".

In 2002, another discovery at the mouth of the Sarno River near Sarno revealed that the port also was populated and that people lived in palafittes, within a system of channels that suggested a likeness to Venice to some scientists.

AD 62–79

Main article: Mount Vesuvius#Precursors and foreshocks

The inhabitants of Pompeii had long been used to minor quaking (indeed, the writer Pliny the Younger wrote that earth tremors "were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania"), but on 5 February 62,^[9] there was a severe earthquake which did considerable damage around the bay and particularly to Pompeii. It is believed that the earthquake would have registered between about 5 and 6 on the current Richter scale.^[10]

On that day in Pompeii there were to be two sacrifices, as it was the anniversary of Augustus being named "Father of the Nation" and also a feast day to honour the guardian spirits of the city. Chaos followed the earthquake. Fires, caused by oil lamps that had fallen during the quake, added to the panic. Nearby cities of Herculaneum and Nuceria were also affected.^[10]

Temples, houses, bridges, and roads were destroyed. It is believed that almost all buildings in the city of Pompeii were affected. In the days after the earthquake, anarchy ruled the city, where theft and starvation plagued the survivors. In the time between 62 and the eruption in 79, some rebuilding was done, but some of the damage had still not been repaired at the time of the eruption.^[10]Although it is unknown how many, a considerable number of inhabitants moved to other cities within the Roman Empire while others remained and rebuilt.

An important field of current research concerns structures that were being restored at the time of the eruption (presumably damaged during the earthquake of 62). Some of the older, damaged, paintings could have been covered with newer ones, and modern instruments are being used to catch a glimpse of the long hidden frescoes. The probable reason why these structures were still being repaired around seventeen years after the earthquake was the increasing frequency of smaller quakes that led up to the eruption.

Eruption of Vesuvius

Main article: Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79

By the 1st century AD, Pompeii was one of a number of towns located near the base of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. The area had a substantial population which grew prosperous from the region's renowned agricultural fertility. Many of Pompeii's neighboring communities, most famously Herculaneum, also suffered damage or destruction during the 79 eruption. The eruption occurred on August 24, just one day after Vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire, including that from volcanoes.^[11]

Pompeii and other cities affected by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The black cloud represents the general distribution of ash and cinder. Modern coast lines are shown.

A multidisciplinary volcanological and bio-anthropological study of the eruption products and victims, merged with numerical simulations and experiments, indicate that at Vesuvius and surrounding towns heat was the main cause of death of people, previously believed to have died by ash suffocation. The results of the study, published in 2010, show that exposure to at least 250 °C (482 °F) hot surges at a distance of 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings.^[12]

The people and buildings of Pompeii were covered in up to twelve different layers of tephra, in total 25 meters deep, which rained down for about 6 hours. Pliny the Younger provided a first-hand account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from his position across the Bay of Naples at Misenum, in a version which was written 25 years after the event. His uncle, Pliny the Elder, with whom he had a close relationship, died while attempting to rescue stranded victims. As Admiral of the fleet, Pliny the Elder had ordered the ships of the Imperial Navy stationed at Misenum to cross the bay to assist evacuation attempts. Volcanologists have recognised the importance of Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption by calling similar events "Plinian".

The eruption was documented by contemporary historians and is generally accepted as having started on 24 August 79, relying on one version of the text of Pliny's letter. However the archeological excavations of Pompeii suggest that the city was buried about three months later.^[13] This is supported by another version of the letter^[14] which gives the date of the eruption as November 23.

People buried in the ash appear to be wearing warmer clothing than the light summer clothes that would be expected in August. The fresh fruit and vegetables in the shops are typical of October, and conversely the summer fruit that would have been typical of August was already being sold in dried, or conserved form. Wine fermenting jars had been sealed over, and this would have happened around the end of October. Coins found in the purse of a woman buried in the ash include one which features a fifteenth imperatorial acclamation among the emperor's titles. These cannot have been minted before the second week of September. So far there is no definitive theory as to why there should be such an apparent discrepancy.^[14]

Rediscovery

"Garden of the Fugitives". Plaster casts of victims still in situ; many casts are in the Archaeological Museum of Naples.

After thick layers of ash covered the two towns, they were abandoned and eventually their names and locations were forgotten. The first time any part of them was unearthed was in 1599, when the digging of an underground channel to divert the river Sarno ran into ancient walls covered with paintings and inscriptions. The architect Domenico Fontana was called in; he unearthed a few more frescoes, then covered them over again, and nothing more came of the discovery. A wall inscription had mentioned a decurio Pompeii ("the town councillor of Pompeii") but its reference to the long-forgotten Roman city was missed.

Fontana's act of covering over the paintings has been seen both as censorship – in view of the frequent sexual content of such paintings – and as a broad-minded act of preservation for later times as he would have known that paintings of the hedonistic kind later found in some Pompeian villas were not considered in good taste in the climate of the counter-reformation.^[15]

Herculaneum was properly rediscovered in 1738 by workmen digging for the foundations of a summer palace for the King of Naples, Charles of Bourbon. Pompeii was rediscovered as the result of intentional excavations in 1748 by the Spanish military engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre.^[16] These towns have since been excavated to reveal many intact buildings and wall paintings. Charles of Bourbon took great interest in the findings even after becoming king of Spain because the display of antiquities reinforced the political and cultural power of Naples.^[17]

Karl Weber directed the first real excavations;^[18] he was followed in 1764 by military engineer Franscisco la Vega. Franscisco la Vega was succeeded by his brother, Pietro, in 1804.^[19] During the French occupation Pietro worked with Christophe Saliceti.^[20]

Giuseppe Fiorelli took charge of the excavations in 1863.^[21] During early excavations of the site, occasional voids in the ash layer had been found that contained human remains. It was Fiorelli who realized these were spaces left by the decomposed bodies and so devised the technique of injecting plaster into them to recreate the forms of Vesuvius's victims. This technique is still in use today, with a clear resin now used instead of plaster because it is more durable, and does not destroy the bones, allowing further analysis.^[22]^[23]^[24]

Many^[who?] have theorized that Fontana found some of the famous erotic frescoes and, due to the strict modesty prevalent during his time, reburied them in an attempt at archaeological censorship. This view is bolstered by reports^{[by whom?]} of later excavators who felt that sites they were working on had already been visited and reburied.^{[citation needed]} Even many recovered household items had a sexual theme. The ubiquity of such imagery and items indicates that the sexual mores of the ancient Roman culture of the time were much more liberal than most present-day cultures, although much of what is described as erotic imagery (e.g., over-sized phalluses) was in fact fertility imagery.

This clash of cultures led to an unknown number of discoveries being hidden away again. A wall fresco which depicted Priapus, the ancient god of sex and fertility, with his extremely enlargedpenis, was covered with plaster, even the older reproduction below was locked away "out of prudishness" and opened only on request and only rediscovered in 1998 due to rainfall.^[25]

In 1819, when King Francis I of Naples visited the Pompeii exhibition at the National Museum with his wife and daughter, he was so embarrassed by the erotic artwork that he decided to have it locked away in a secret cabinet, accessible only to "people of mature age and respected morals". Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly 100 years, it was briefly made accessible again at the end of the 1960s (the time of the sexual revolution) and was finally re-opened for viewing in 2000. Minors are still allowed entry to the once secret cabinet only in the presence of a guardian or with written permission.^[26]

A large number of artifacts from Pompeii are preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.

Tourism

Pompeii has been a popular tourist destination for over 250 years;^[27] it was on the Grand Tour. By 2008, it was attracting almost 2.6 million visitors per year, making it one of the most popular tourist sites in Italy.^[28] It is part of a larger Vesuvius National Park and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. To combat problems associated with tourism, the governing body for Pompeii, the Soprintendenza Archaeological di Pompei have begun issuing new tickets that allow for tourists to also visit cities such as Herculaneum and Stabiae as well as the Villa Poppaea, to encourage visitors to see these sites and reduce pressure on Pompeii.

A paved street. The blocks in the road allowed pedestrians to cross the street without having to step onto the road itself which doubled up as Pompeii's drainage and sewage disposal system. The spaces between the blocks allowed horse-drawn carts to pass along the road.

The House of the Faun.

Pompeii is also a driving force behind the economy of the nearby town of Pompei. Many residents are employed in the tourism and hospitality business, serving as taxi or bus drivers, waiters or hotel operators. The ruins can be easily reached on foot from the Circumvesuviana train stop called Pompei Scavi, directly at the ancient site. There are also car parks nearby.

Excavations in the site have generally ceased due to the moratorium imposed by the superintendent of the site, Professor Pietro Giovanni Guzzo. Additionally, the site is generally less accessible to tourists, with less than a third of all buildings open in the 1960s being available for public viewing today. Nevertheless, the sections of the ancient city open to the public are extensive, and tourists can spend several days exploring the whole site.

In popular culture

Main article: Pompeii in popular culture

Book I of the Cambridge Latin Course teaches Latin while telling the story of a Pompeii resident, Lucius Caecilius Iucundus, from the reign of Nero to that of Vespasian. The book ends when Mount Vesuvius erupts, and Caecilius and his household are killed. The books have a cult following and students have been known to attempt to track down Caecilius's house during visits to Pompeii.^[29]

Pompeii was the setting for the British comedy television series Up Pompeii! and the movie of the series. Pompeii also featured in the second episode of the fourth season of revived BBC drama series Doctor Who, named "The Fires of Pompeii",^[30] which featured Caecilius as a character.

In 1971, the rock band Pink Floyd recorded the live concert film Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, performing six songs in the ancient Roman amphitheatre in the city. The audience consisted only of the film's production crew and some local children.

Pompeii is a song by the British band Bastille, released 24 February 2013. The lyrics refer to the city and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Conservation

Fencing in the temple of Venus prevents vandalism of the site, as well as theft.

Main article: Conservation issues of Pompeii and Herculaneum

The objects buried beneath Pompeii were well-preserved for almost two thousand years. The lack of air and moisture allowed for the objects to remain underground with little to no deterioration, which meant that, once excavated, the site had a wealth of sources and evidence for analysis, giving detail into the lives of the Pompeiians. However, once exposed, Pompeii has been subject to both natural and man-made forces which have rapidly increased their rate of deterioration.

Weathering, erosion, light exposure, water damage, poor methods of excavation and reconstruction, introduced plants and animals, tourism, vandalism and theft have all damaged the site in some way. Two-thirds of the city has been excavated, but the remnants of the city are rapidly deteriorating.^[31]

The concern for conservation has continually troubled archaeologists. The ancient city was included in the 1996 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund, and again in 1998 and in2000. In 1996 the organization claimed that Pompeii "desperately need[ed] repair" and called for the drafting of a general plan of restoration and interpretation.^[32] The organization supported conservation at Pompeii with funding from American Express and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.^[33]

Today, funding is mostly directed into conservation of the site; however, due to the expanse of Pompeii and the scale of the problems, this is inadequate in halting the slow decay of the materials. An estimated US$335 million is needed for all necessary work on Pompeii.^{[citation needed]} A recent study has recommended an improved strategy for interpretation and presentation of the site as a cost-effective method of improving its conservation and preservation in the short term.^[34]

House of the Gladiators collapse

The 2,000-year-old Schola Armatorum (House of the Gladiators) collapsed on 6 November 2010. The structure was not open to visitors, but the outside was visible to tourists. There was no immediate determination as to what caused the building to collapse, although reports suggested water infiltration following heavy rains might have been responsible. There has been fierce controversy after the collapse, with accusations of neglect.^[35]^[36]