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New Pompeii highlights middle-class life in the doomed city

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The Associated Press

Associated Press

Frances D'Emilio

ROME (AP) — Trunk with the lid open. Wooden cupboards, recessed shelves, and three-legged accent table topped with decorative bowls. These latest discoveries by archaeologists enrich our knowledge of the life of Pompeii's middle class before the violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the ancient Roman city in volcanic debris.

Pompeii's archaeological park, one of Italy's top tourist attractions, he announced the latest find on Saturday. Its director, Gabriel Zuktriegel, said excavations of the first "domus," or house room, unearthed in 2018 revealed valuable details about the home environment of civilians in the destroyed city in 79 AD.

Excavations in the last few decades have focused on the gorgeous and elaborately frescoed villas of Pompeii's upper class inhabitants. However, archaeological activity in the vast ruins near modern Naples is increasingly focused not only on the lives of servants and enslaved people, but also on the life of the middle class.

"In the Roman Empire, there was a sizeable portion of the population suffering from social status, and for them 'daily bread' was not the norm," he said Zuchtriegel. "It's a vulnerable class amidst political crises and food shortages, but it's also ambitious to climb the social ladder." supplies are included. This was called the House of Lalario in an area of ​​houses dedicated to domestic spirits called Lares. The house unearthed in 2018 is located in the courtyard.

Zuchtriegel noted that the courtyard also had a very well-decorated cistern, but "obviously, to decorate his five rooms in the house (financial ) resources were not enough.” The walls of one room were unpainted and the dirt floor was apparently used as a warehouse.

In the bedroom, archaeologists found the remains of a bed frame, with traces of pillow fabric. The type of bed is three crib-like beds unearthed last year in a small room in another dwelling that archaeologists believe doubled as storage and sleeping quarters for the families of Pompeii's slave inhabitants.

The bedroom findings released on Saturday also included the remains of a wooden trunk with the lid left open. The volcanic eruption severely damaged the trunk under the weight of the beams and ceiling panels that collapsed, but inside is an oil lamp decorated with a bas-relief depicting the ancient Greek god Zeus transforming into an eagle. was. Nearby was a small three-legged round table, similar to today's fashionable accent tables.

Opening the storeroom reveals a wooden closet with its back intact, but with a sunken shelf. Archaeologists believe the closet had at least four panel doors and contained utensils and dishes for the nearby kitchen. Excavators found hinges from the enclosure.

Other objects found in the house included a large fragment of translucent-rimmed dish in vivid shades of cobalt blue and emerald, and a well-preserved censer, shaped like a cradle. doing.