The Etruscans and Pompeii Prostitutes

Ciao blog friends :)

Tuesday morning we departed for Ostia Antica!

It's an archaeological site that was once located at the mouth of the Tiber River... making it the harbor city of ancient Rome. Due to silting and a drop in the sea level the site is now located 2 miles away from the river! The town still has many remains [some dating back to 4th century BC], such as the theater, public baths, and even the fast food restaurant!

The entrance to the city!

View from above all the public baths!

All of us sitting in the theater!

The fast food restaurant! Above the counter is the picture of 3 different foods... people would come through and point to what they wanted because they didn't always speak the same language!

After Ostia Antica, we went to the Etruscan necropolis site of Cerveteri... there are over 1,000 tombs there dating back from the 9th century BC to the 3rd century BC!

The oldest remains- which held the ashes of the dead from 9th century BC!

Inside one of the tombs. They would lay the dead bodies on the benches on the sides!

The benches where the decayed bodies used to be!

Going into another Etruscan tomb

"mound" tomb

Thursday we left bright and early for Pompeii!!! ...which is located about 4 hours away, near Naples. The city of Pompeii was completely destroyed and buried in ash during a volcanic eruption that lasted 2 days in 79 AD! There were about 20,000 inhabitants at the time of the eruption. It was buried for over 1,500 years until it was accidently rediscovered in 1599... now it has been excavated and is a display of Roman life from the 1st century. The scary part is... the volcano, Mt. Vesuvius, is due to erupt again!!

The volcano, Mt. Vesuvius!

The main street in the town. I don't know if you can tell...
but the white pieces in the road were used as reflectors at night!

Aren't we cute? :)

In the Forum with Rae!

The gym! (the holes in the walls were used as lockers!!)

Public bath next to the Gym!

Remains of bodies that were excavated.
Most were found covering their mouths (trying not to suffocate).

A dog that suffocated because it was left tied to a chain

Beautiful painting on walls in a home

This is a mosaic at the entrance of a home- says "Beware of Dog" in Latin.
Now we put these signs on our fences... some things never change!

Not sure we are allowed to be standing on these haha

Beautiful!

Italy has the bluest skies I have ever seen!

Ok now for those of you who were wondering about the title of this post...
Hopefully no one younger than me read this blog! haha

Pompeii was also a port town, so there were a lot of men who would come off of ships and want... a friendly girl? Soooo.... they engraved phallic symbols into the streets that would point to these "friendly girls" aka brothels!!! Pompeii had 25 brothels in total! Crazy!!!!

A symbol on the street... Am I the only one that finds this unbelievable? haha

This was the outside of a one room brothel.
You can tell because there is another phallic symbol up above the entrance!

The bed inside. Our tour guide said they were made from stone
because they were used so much and wouldn't make any noise!!

Inside another brothel (5 rooms) all side by side, no doors.

There were drawings above the rooms and the men would point to explain what they wanted,
because once again, they might not haves spoken the same language!!

...so basically Pompeii had many prostitutes! Definitely not what I was expecting to see/learn about upon our arrival! ha! Okay back on a more serious note...

On our way home from Pompeii we took a quick stop at the Abbey of Montecassino. St. Benedict founded the monastery in 529 AD and today it is still the home of 10 monks.

The Abbey 

Chapel dedicated to St. Benedict

One of the most amazing view I have ever seen.

Rae-Britt-Me! I love this pic!

You can't tell... but the monks are sitting at the front singing and praying. Very cool.

Mural in the church

There were white doves everywhere :)

Just incase you haven't caught on... we have classes Monday and Wednesday, go on field trips Tuesday and Thursday, and have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off! Best schedule ever? I think so.

This weekend almost everyone here [besides 4 of us] either went to Prague or Greece! They left early yesterday morning and will be back Sunday afternoon! I did not go because.... my mom, Emily, and Mrs. Dalziel [mom's bff] will be here tomorrow morning!!! I am so excited!!!

It has been very quiet around the palace and I miss my roomies but we tried to stay busy too! Yesterday, the four of us decided to go shopping in Rome! We took the bus for the first time... I am always learning something new!

Cappucino at Carpe Diem

Kacey and I with our hotdogs!

Love these street performers! 

I think we were having a moment :)

My special visitors will be boarding their plane in just a few hours! Please pray for safe travels for them!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend :)

xoxo
Britt