What does the surviving evidence from Pompeii suggest about the ways Essay

What does the surviving evidence from Pompeii suggest about the ways in which Pompeians spent their time - Essay Example Vesuvius to have been recorded. In 1748, it is when staid excavations start and since then, it has been a tourist trap. Besides, all learning institutions are teaching of this city, with each and every other individual having the desire to make a visit. The historian might be better positioned in eloquently waxing how Pompeii is a city â€Å"frozen in time† as well as how the eruption turned out to be a blessing in disguise to the generation of the present time. On the contrary, the Romans had a totally different view of the destruction of Pompeii and the neighboring cities. In their viewpoint, this eruption was among the worst ever natural disaster to have ever occurred in the history of the world. It is believed that things would have been worse (Cooper 1). Despite the fact that modern day newspaper stories report that twenty thousand people passed on during this eruption, the exact figure of the people who lived there is hardly known. The 20,000 figure is seemingly the most common figure availed, but other sources have the same figure 10,000 lower. Either way, the agreeable guess figure is that over 35000 people died and in Pompeii alone, between 1600 and 2000 were trapped in the eruption. What remains is the surviving evidence to tell us how the situation was like (Cooper 1). The surviving evidence presents us with one of the very best glimpses of what the everyday life was like in a Roman city. Being a resort town as well as a center of commerce, the surviving evidence depicts how the rich in the society had come to this town so as to free themselves from the hassles of living in Rome, and ships put into the Bay of Naples from all corners of the globe. In addition, the surviving evidence presents both the aura and the prosperity of e njoyment that seems to have been in prevalence (Maiuri and Battaglia 652). These two (the prosperity and the aura of enjoyment) have hardly been shared in any other of the workaday towns. From this evidence, we are lured to believe that hardly was there peace and harmony in Pompeii. By the virtue of there being an excess of the rich in the society it is probable that there was a big-me/little-you division with the ordinary town folks. Tis same scenario was in Rome and from the judgment of how things are as regards to what was left, the inhabitants of Pompeii undeniably knew very well how to enjoy themselves (Gore 556). It is worth noting that historians may not be totally certain of the number of days in each of the Roman Months. The thought of these historians is that the roman months just resemble ours, though there is enough uncertainty for any given date to be off by a couple of days. The surviving evidence also testifies that the Pompeians rose up early in the morning, as is th e case with the present Romans. Besides, it can be told from the very first glance that they were respectable middle class persons. If this was not the case, there would have been an evidence of a slave waking then up and probably helping them dress. This may actually sound somewhat strange since the Pompeian’s’ clothes, from the surviving evidence, were unpretentious in the extreme (Harris 56). For each and every Roman national, irrespective of whether poor, middle class or rich, tunic was the main piece of clothing. Having been made of wool, the tunic was simply a two-square piece cloth sewn together, with holes having been left for the arms and the head. From the surviving evidence, the tunic- having been as wide as it was broad hung loosely on all but the heftiest frame. Moreover, the cut had been made in such a way that the excess clothe did form sleeves of a sort, with its appearance resembling a long shirt dropping somewhere between the calf and the