LARGE PALAESTRA - POMPEII

The Palaestra is situated in the eastern periphery of the city, near the Amphitheatre. It was created during the Augustan period, one of the projects of imperial propaganda which led to the founding of the ‘collegia iuvenum’, organizations of young people whose prime scope have been that of furthering sports but whose secondary scope was that of providing an atmosphere of adhesion to the principles of the new political ideology in which the future citizens would be formed. The palaestra of the ‘Iuventus Pompeiana’ occupies a vast area, 141 x 137 meter, and consists of a central space for gymnastic exercises, surrounded by a tall perimeter wall with ten monumental entrance gateways. Inside, on three sides, runs a portico of 118 columns in brick covered with stucco. Originally there were two rows of plane trees, of which the impression of the roots still exist. At the centre of the courtyard was a large swimming pool from one m. to two m. in depth. A room preceded by two columns off the south-west side, with the base for a statue near the back wall. This was probably the space dedicated to the cult of Augustus, patron of the ‘collegia’. A large latrine was on the southeast side. The Palaestra had been heavily damaged in the earthquake of A.D. 62 and was still being restored when the eruption of A.D. 79 took place.

 

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This house, with its classical layout around an atrium and a peristyle, belonged to the banker of Pompeii, and his entire archives consisting of 154 waxed writing tablets dating between 53 and 62 A.D. were found intact. These consisted of sale contract for land, animal or slaves and receipts for the payment of colonial taxes, as L.C. Jucundus was also the official tax collector.
The bronze portrait – commissioned by the freedman Felix – found in the tablinum of the house gives us a clear image of what his father looked like. In this house, researchers found two marble bas-reliefs (both subsequently stolen). One of them depicts the Temple of Jupiter which whose d ... continue

(Apic. 3, 4, 3) Ingredients:

• 1 gourd (or courgette, small pumpkin or squash)
• peppercorns
• cumin
• coriander seeds
• 3 - 4 mint leaves, shredded
• 1 garlic
• 3 tbsp vinegar
• 50 g dates, finely chopped
• 50 g blanched almonds, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp clear honey
• 60 ml Liquamen (or, in this case, vegetable stock)
• 4 tbsp Defritum (or Wine or Grape Juice reduced by two thirds)
• 20 ml olive oil (or 25g butter)
• Sea salt to taste

Instructions:
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Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of “obscenity” seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man’s life that were encouraged by the benevolence of Venus. The thousands of examples of graffiti found on the town’s walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about love and sex.