When the Italian city of Pompeii was covered by three metres of volcanic
ash nearly 2000 years ago when Mount Vesuvius erupted, a snapshot of Roman life was captured in its moment of death.
Today we are still discovering new snippets of information about what happened and finding belongings of the
people who lived there. Five years ago, in a mess of ash and mud buried deep in the town, a set of
silverware was discovered and has now been separated, cleaned and restored. All 20 pieces will go on display in Naples in the
museum in 2006. Weighing more than 4 kilograms in total, each one has been polished to the beautiful lustre it would have had in Roman Pompeii.
It is difficult to know what the person whose
Silver set it was went through at the time of the massive explosion. About 2000 people are known to have died at Pompeii but most of the people who lived there must have escaped somehow. The silverware would have been a prized possession and the owner is thought to have delayed his escape to
hide it in a safe place, hoping to return later. Unfortunately, just after putting it under a staircase at a bathhouse just on the edge of the city, the dust and ash and toxic gases killed him and his treasure lay undisturbed for hundreds of years. It was only found because of a routine archeological survey of an area due to be used for building a motorway; the silver items were found near to a man’s remains.
Archeologists are now using chemical techniques to try to salvage what is left of the wicker
basket that the man placed his silver in to hide them. When that’s done, the basket may well be displayed in the same museum and will form a fascinating glimpse of a dining splendour long forgotten.
More summaries about the Rare Pompeii dinner set unveilled