The Slow Road
Two Women Wandering the World
Fragments of ancient Roman masonry built into a medieval bell tower
A typical narrow street in the old center of Naples
Contrasts: a renovated 16th century church next to a crumbling apartment building
Roman mosaics in the Naples archeological museum
Famous wall mosaic of Alexander the Great attacking Persian king Darius
Closeup of an Italian-looking Alexander the Great
A Roman mosaic of Plato's Academy
A mosaic-covered column from Pompeii in the Naples archeological museum
Roman statue made from different colors of marble
A Roman household shrine in the archeological museum . . .
. . . and the modern equivalent, a streetside shrine
A more elaborate streetside shrine, including pictures of deceased relatives
A ruined old church incorporated into an apartment building
Shops spill out into the cobbled streets
The small Roman town of Herculaneum (like nearby Pompeii) was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Eighty years of excavations have brought the town to light, including this 2,000-year-old wall mosaic.
Looking down on the excavated town, which was buried under 15 meters of rock
Most of the ruined town still lies under modern Herculaneum (in the background)
Waterfront property in 79 AD, and Mt. Vesuvius in the background
A lararium (small niche to hold images of household gods)
A corner cafe where Romans could buy a hot lunch (pots for holding food were embedded in a marble counter)
Closeup of the corner lunch counter
The interior of a fancy house, with fragments of wall painting on plaster
A 2,000-year-old painting of Hercules and two goddesses
The changing room of a public bath, with shelves to hold bathers' clothes
A Roman wine bar, with original wooden shelves preserved in the lava
The atrium of a fancy house, with a ceramic theater mask in the upper left
Columns were often made of brick, faced in plaster, and then painted
Wall painting of a partridge eating cherries
