The ruins at Pompei are enormous and breathtaking. We tromped through the place for about 4 hours … with the specter of Vesuvius in the background, one could not avoid imagining what it was like in 79 AD when Vesuvius exploded and devastated this beautiful Roman city.
By the way, I read through most of Joanne Berry’s sumptuously illustrated The Complete Pompeii while we were in Italy. So far as I can tell, one can spell it “Pompei” or “Pompeii.”

Here is the Roman basilica … essentially a legal and civil building. Huge. The second shot is a wall in the front corner of the building.

A main street (facing north) between some civic buildings and the forum … and the street leads up to the Vesuvius Gate and the mountain.

The constant presence of temples, like this one of Apollo, reminds one today of how religious the ancient Romans were.

Inside Pompei’s market place we found this fresco.

This home got me to thinking of what it was perhaps like for some early Christians to meet in the homes of wealthy Romans in their house church settings. (I know of no evidence for a Christian presence in Pompei, but this kind of home might be like others Christians met in, say, in Rome.)

A street in Pompei and their version of speed bumps:

Imagine your chariot hitting that load!
On your visit to Pompei you may have spent some time at the local taberna.

Favorites for Romans: the theater and fields for the gladiators.

As we left Pompei’s site, this was our last view …

Our look on the valley below Vesuvius…