Exhibition tells life, death of ancient Roman cities
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E-mail Xinhua, March 29, 2013
ROMAN LIFE IN A GLIMPSE
Roman society was different from many modern societies in some ways, and Roberts highlighted slavery and sexual matters as two areas which stand out.
He said, "They had different attitudes; one of the so-called 'erotic' paintings we have found in Pompeii was found in a garden, not in a bedroom. But on the whole with the Romans the similarities outweigh the differences."
The two cities had substantial slave populations, and there were many freemen who had previously been slaves.
Roberts said that organizing the exhibition had revealed to him the omnipresence of slaves and former slaves in Roman society.
"They were in many of the frescoes, and when you look at the list of freemen from Herculaneum, half of them had slave origins. That was a shock, I was not expecting that," said Roberts.
The status of slaves was very different from the brutalized image many might have, he added, with some slaves holding high status in families as tutors and many of them being integral parts of the family. Slaves did many of the tasks we would link with low pay and menial tasks now.
"We have a sculpture of a banker, and the interesting thing is he started his life as a slave," Roberts said. "He earned a lot of money from his master, his master gave him freedom, and then the slave bought slaves and he freed them."
Roberts also highlighted the status of women in Roman society, where they were prominent and held public roles.
"The ancient writers said women were second-class citizens, but actually women dedicated a big building in the center of Pompeii with her own money and uses her own name," he said.
One of his favorite pieces in the exhibition is a fresco painting of a baker and his wife, which was an example that women were playing important roles at that time.
"The baker is well dressed, carrying a scroll," he said. "But his wife was carrying a wax tablet they used to write accounts. So she was really running the business... That underlines how modern Roman society was."
The items were displayed in a "house," with living rooms, bedrooms, kitchen and a garden. There are cooking utensils, garden ornaments, items of bronze and wooden furniture as well as jewelry and decorations.
"Romans had a delight in beautiful things, no matter what their status. Roman society was a consumer society. Rich people had the gorgeous frescoes we have on display here, and the slaves when freed, they wanted these things too," Roberts said.
LAST MOMENTS
If the first several rooms could make people marvel at the luxurious life of the Romans, the last room would bring tears to visitors' eyes.
Items were displayed to show their decision as what to take at the critical moment of their lives. One could find coins, valuable objects, a key to the door and a lamp used for escape.
When the body of a woman, in her 40s, was unearthed, she was wearing golden snake armlets, golden rings, a pair of pearl earrings and a purse containing coins. A dead man lying on his stomach, presumably to be a soldier, carried a long sword, a stabbing dagger and a bag of tools.
The most shocking exhibits were remains of a family, who had been running from the disaster. At their last moments, the father and the mother fell backwards in suffocation. A toddler struggled to support herself against the wall on her mother's lap, while the other child lay beside them, fists clenching and head thrown back.
At the exit of the exhibition, lines from Roman poet Statius were written on the wall, "In a future generation, when crops spring up again, when this wasteland regains its green, will men believe that cities and peoples lie beneath?"
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