Life As A Slave In Pompeii and Rome

Today we're in Pompeii on the occasion of a new exhibition that's being held telling us the lives of the Pompeians that weren't famous. The slave, the artisan, the lower classes. Look at this right here. We've got the wonderful amphitheater of Pompeii and at the Grand Palestra, the large palestra, we have an exhibition. It's part of a press conference. We're going to explore another side of Pompeii and what they mean by this exhibition. When they say another side of Pompeii, they mean not the glamorous, rich Pompeian with the lavish houses and lifestyle. We're talking about the other Pompeians living in that same city. The slave, the prostitute, the artisan. That's what we can explore in this new exhibition in this beautiful setting inside of Pompeii. The exhibition called The Other Pompeii was just recently inaugurated. Here we are with the director of the site, Gabriele Zuttrigo. And this is an exhibition that's going to be going on for the entirety of 2024. And there's plenty of interactive components like this that draw you into the site, that draw you into that history, that give you insights into the lesser known side of Pompeii, the Pompeii of the less fortunate. And of course, this exhibition starts at the beginning, starts with childhood, starts with the raising of infants. And the harsh reality is that the majority of children died before the age of five, whether they be rich or poor. And here we have an assortment of precious tombstones of many deceased infants and small children. What did the poor people eat? Well, they ate a lot of bread. We have a lot of carbonized bread here on display. Now, of course, everyone's eating bread, but the rich were also eating a lot of protein, a lot of fish, a lot of meat. But the staple for the poor was bread, but also things like this, walnuts, pomegranates, figs, fava beans, legumes and grains, even eggs. There's also a section in the museum that covers the living quarters of the least fortunate, the poorest of the Pompeians. And what we have here is a room that consists of a bed, and next to it, a wooden trunk with the lid upraised. And you have a collapsed roof beam that's fallen and left in place, all discovered in the excavations. One of the highlights that you can see here in this exhibition is they have made three-dimensional copies of some of the slaves' quarters. So as you make your way through, it's like visiting the dig site because they made a perfect reproduction of the casts, which are constructed from the imprints left within the chiroplastic flow material. And it looks like magic, but we have a very authentic view, in this case, of what a lot of the slave quarters were actually like at the time of the destruction of Vesuvius. Here's another modest bedroom in the house of the Lorarium. You have one bed here on the right, you have the sole of a shoe, you have another bed, and then next to it, this beautifully preserved impression from a wicker basket. Another thing that you get in this exhibition, tying you closely, making you observe and get immersed in the life of the slave, are the shackles. There are a lot of shackling systems that are different. Here's one right here. So these are found in Pompeii, these were used on a daily basis depending on the role of the slave in a household. They literally could be locked up at night and you're seeing that kind of existence, you're getting close to that reality in this exhibition. Here's another system for shackling slaves, in this case up to 10 at a time, and these were found in private villas as well as a porticus near the of Pompeii. Here are a number of frescoes that depict a servant's life. We have the short tunic indicating that these are slaves and they're actually named in the frescoes. So this is typical in shops, this is typical in the workplace of artisans. Here's a scene of the god Vulcan with his servant, again very typical in someone's shop. In this scene you have a number of slaves, again identified by the short tunics, carrying a large crate, while in the shade in longer tunics are the freedmen conducting their business. We have many scenes of daily life including game boards and we have here the actual game pieces that were typical in the lives of Pompeians of all social classes. Of course everyone had a little bit of a leisure time. Some people were actually skilled in playing musical instruments. We have here a fresco and then a real flute. In commonware you have the depiction of all kinds of entertainment. Here we have musical instruments also depicted on oil lamps and actors masks used as decorations. Gladiators were a common theme in decoration in the houses of Pompeii, but beyond that there's lots of graffiti and some of the most popular graffiti you'll see recorded of Pompeii is people of all social classes recording what they saw in the amphitheater. Bringing ourselves to the baths we have unguents, we have all kinds of perfumes that would be applied to the body, but you also had many stridules here that remind us that slaves would use the stridule to scrape off the oil from the the baths of Pompeii. Thinking about the other of Pompeii, the lower classes of the Pompeians, we have here an assortment of amphorae from all over Italy but also all over the empire. We want to think about who made those amphorae, who shipped those amphorae, and who ultimately is going to carry those amphorae into the homes of the wealthier Pompeians. Here we have an assortment of materials from marble, terracotta, even gloves of glass that would have been used by various artisan classes to fashion works of art for the upper classes. We have many scenes from the form of Pompeii on display here and there's scenes of shopping, people that are in attendance with their slaves, and of course the artisans, those lower classes are represented selling their wares. We even have many implements that come from gardening, come from sites of construction. So we have rakes, we have hoes, we have shovels. Of course what's inescapable for all the classes is death. And here we have the famous couple embracing. This is found in the house of the Cryptoporticus and the exhibition concludes with this discussion of death and remembering the dead and the normal rite of passage of life in the Roman world. We have great reconstructions here, great animations, and we remember oftentimes that people were cremated. And we know that this is for everybody, for all the classes, including the poor, including the slaves. Different associations would pay for those funerary rites. Sometimes the owner of the slave would pay for the funerary rites. Here is one of Novia Amavilis, her burial in the plot that's created by her husband, Marcus Venerius Secundius. And what you have here in this glass jar is the remains of Novia and it turns out the remains of two children under the age of 12 that are buried as well with her. So you have people being remembered of all ages with whatever means that you had. Sometimes the tombs are grand and sometimes they were quite modest. What an exceptional exhibition you have here. It's open the entire 2024 season so make sure you come to the Gran Palestra here in Pompeii and explore this rich history of other Pompeii. Thanks for joining us. Be sure to subscribe for an incredible opportunity for learning so much more about ancient Rome and the Roman Empire. This video was brought to you through a grant from the CAAS Marchantoni Award.