Pompeii

It's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when. I think that's something a lot of LMI keep in mind, and something that's been said for ages. 79 AD was not the first time Pompeii had issues, they were not even done working to repair all the damage done from an earthquake. I wont go into a huge history lesson here, there are plenty of places who have the information gathered in a better format than I would do.

Here are a few shots and some description of what's going on in each.

 The main entrance road. Everything you see is original unless it's wood (usually over a doorway). They knew how the city was laid out since it's based on a typical Roman city. That's how they knew how to stack the columns that were knocked over, etc.

 After the earthquake they repaired columns with the new brick type construction. They used marble, black lava stone, large blocks, smaller large blocks, red brick and a sort of honey-comb type of building style. When you are there, and in some pictures, you can see all the style of construction material that was used making it easy to see what is older and what was redone after the earthquake (before the eruption).

 I don't like people in my pictures but after 10 minutes it was a steady stream of people so I took it. This is the bathhouse, the main meeting spot for men. It included an intricate system of heating that made the floor so hot they had to wear wood sandals or else burn their feet. It's great color and detail on the walls after all these years.

 Typical shop counter, containers in the background, and a nice view of some different construction materials that were used.

 From your front door, if people could see a fountain, a garden, pillars, fresco's, etc. then you were considered filthy rich. Even the sidewalks were private so you could decorate them. The bedrooms are on the sides, just large enough to sleep in.

 Bakers oven, where they actually found bread preserved with the bakers stamp on the side. Marketing 101, branding.

 Wine shop counter with 7 containers of what I am assuming would be different types of wine or drink.

 This person didn't have a garden but let people know he was rich by creating this fantastic house. It used to be open so you could walk up to the railing but since people can't stop stealing stuff (yes, pathetic) they gated the doorway.

 In the brothel you didn't need to know the language, you could just point to what you wanted. The erotic art of Pompeii is all over the place, they have preserved a lot of it in the museum. If you needed money you could sell your wife to the brothel, rent her to people who needed sons (if your wife was producing sons), etc. Not just the women worked the brothels, it was acceptable for men to be with other men, but there were very strict guidelines about all of this stuff. It was pretty crazy to hear it.

 If you didn't know your way to the brothel you could simply go in the direction of the penis. This was also considered a sign of good luck and fortune so they have penis sculptures on walls of houses, penis oil lamps, etc. Fighting, drinking, sex... the life of a Roman man.

Part of the main square with a nice marble base for whatever statue happened to be here to whatever god was in this section of the square. I'm sure this piece is in the museum (in Naples) along with almost all of the treasures, statues, etc. from Pompeii. When Emperor Constantine was in power (the first Christian Emperor), that started the downfall of worshiping various gods.