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Dr Sophie Hay

@pompei79.bsky.social

5.8K followers 180 following 690 posts

Just an archaeologist who works at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 1d

Oh hooray!! Welcome back! In fact we spotted the gleaming mirror-like surface of the sea today from the new restaurant on site.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 3d

There are a variety of reasons: it is expensive and in this case the frescoes & mosaics have already been removed so there’s not much left to protect. Reconstructed roofs require existing walls to be built on which isn’t always good for the archaeological remains.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 3d

No. Sadly not.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 3d

Surprisingly yet pleasingly complex - the tile elements required to reconstruct a Roman roof over the House of the Faun, #Pompeii. Beautiful watercolour, pencil, and ink illustrations by Pasquale Maria Veneri dating to 1843 on display in the National Archaeological Museum
In Naples.

Watercolour showing different tile elements both flat (tegulae) and curved (imbrices) and antifixes and water spouts needed for a Roman roof

Plan of the House of the Faun in watercolour showing the reconstructed rooflines.

Reconstruction of a roofline in plan and section

Full image of the three elements as one watercolour illustration

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 15d

Many!!

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 16d

I don’t know when this was but I’ve never seen it on site since the 1990s. They use gravel for paths.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 16d

They are set into a lime mortar which is wonderfully strong.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 16d

Always white. Simple. But still skilfully laid.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 16d

Oh my word it’s like a thick broth of tesserae soup! Wow! I’ve never seen anything like this in Pompeii or elsewhere. It looks like a foot massaging haven. So interesting! Thanks.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 16d

That magical moment when the pumice is gently cleared away revealing, for the first time in nearly 2000 years, a white mosaic.
#MosaicMonday #Pompeii

Most of the image is of a white mosaic and the top part is small pumice stones

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 19d

And given we know some buildings as they still stand today it helps potentially unravel the accuracy of other buildings on the map that we don’t have a lot of info for.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 19d

It’s certainly pretty darn great for the historical window that it represents and gives us so much information about Rome in that period. But Rome continued to evolve so it’s of limited use. I adore it. The fact that a Roman chiselled the seating in the Colosseum and we see it today amazes me.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 20d

The fragments of the Forma Urbis – the marble map of Rome made towards the end of Emperor Severus’ reign – set into Nolli’s beautiful 18th century map of the city is breathtaking.
Fun to spot existing monuments but wondrous to see the now missing buildings.
www.sovraintendenzaroma.it/content/il-m...

A printed map of the Colosseum with incomplete marble fragments of the monument overlying it

A printed map of the area around the Theatre of Pompey with incomplete marble fragments of the monument overlying it. Nolli’s map forms the floor surface around it.

A printed map of Nolli’s Rome with incomplete marble fragments with a plan of a monument, set into it

A printed map of the Circus Maximus with incomplete fragments of the monument overlying it.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 20d

Thank you! I had a wonderful day!

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 25d

ITALIA!
In onda stasera un nuovo e finale episodio di ‘Pompei le Nuove Verità: La Casa dei Tesori’.

mediasetinfinity.mediaset.it/video/pompei...

È una meravigliosa lettera d'amore a Pompei e ai suoi antichi abitanti, celebrata attraverso le ultime scoperte degli scavi a Regio IX.

Pompei: le nuove verità: Ep. 4 - La casa dei tesori Video | Mediaset Infinity

Gli archeologi completano lo scavo più grande dell'ultima generazione, dove trovano oro e lusso in una delle case più ricche di Pompei.

mediasetinfinity.mediaset.it

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 28d

Bit too much of a risk!

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 29d

It was flagged by Bluesky immediately because of Venus… ridiculous.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 29d

#Pompei by night

A wonderful initiative by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii inviting visitors to visit a few houses by night. It’s an incredibly evocative experience as from the depths of darkness, light glows from rooms as if someone is at home.
Info here: pompeiisites.org/comunicati/i...

Looking down the hedged garden towards the fresco showing Venus reclining in a shell.

Soft light within the hose illuminates a blue frescoed room and a column in a portico around a garden. The garden is shrouded in darkness

Lights illuminate the yellow and red painted colonnaded portico of a Roman house leaving the garden shrouded in darkness

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · Sep 2

🤗

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · Aug 31

‘Below the Clouds’. A beautiful trailer for what looks to be a beguiling film by Gianfranco Rosi about Naples.
The title reminded me how Vesuvius somehow heightens the drama of the cloud formations above it.
Watch the film trailer here: youtu.be/eF_RPx6CXFw

View up the main basalt paved road with shops and buildings on either side in brick and stone. A break in the white clouds reveals the summit of Mount Vesuvius

A pinky orange cloud seemingly erupting from Vesuvius. The porta Nocera of Pompeii lies slightly faded in colour in the dusk light.

Outline of Vesuvius on the horizon across the Bay of Naples with dramatic clouds above it

View of the outline of Vesuvius looming above the houses of ancient Pompeii and above clouds swirl against a blue sky seemingly like an explosion from the cone of the volcano

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · Aug 29

The Large Gymnasium and the Amphitheatre but mainly the trees #Pompeii

A view across the large gymnasium towards the amphitheatre whose arches can just be seen. The foreground is the top of a glass display case reflecting all the trees in the area as if it was a pool of water.

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · Aug 25

💔

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · Aug 25

😂

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · Aug 25

Not sure….

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · Aug 25

Honouring all the young tesserae that didn’t grow up to be a mosaic.

A reused amphora housing thousands of loose white tesserae in the House of the Thiasus, #Pompeii.
#MosaicMonday

A close up of loose white tesserae

A broken terracotta amphorae containing the loose, white tesserae

A broken terracotta amphorae containing the loose, white tesserae