Pompeii

(front view of Pompeii)

(back view of Pompeii)


In the fall of 2004, my younger son and I visited a family friend in Kentucky. We took a side trip to Hancocks of Paducah (my first visit) where my son, an undergraduate anthropology student, chose these fabrics from the sale table. His Christmas gift quilt has moved with him from the dorm to a campus apartment and later to his after-college apartment.

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"If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?"
Kahlil Gibran

Pompeii was first occupied in the 8th century BC. The Etruscans soon dominated the region and Pompeii was no exception. The Etruscan occupation lasted throughout the 5th and 6th centuries BC. After the Etruscans came the Saminites. The Saminites turned Pompeii into a pure Greek town. Their reign ended when the Romans took control of Pompeii around 200 BC. The Romans retained control over Pompeii until the end... a fateful day in 79 AD when Mt Vesuvius unleashed its fury on the 20,000 inhabitants of this thriving Roman city.

The inhabitants of Pompeii, as those of the area today, had long been used to minor tremors and wisps of gas from Mt. Vesuvius, and in 65 AD there had been a series of earthquakes serious enough to cause structural damage to houses in town; and in early August of 79 AD, all the town's wells dried up; but the warnings were not sharp enough, and the Roman world was stunned when on August 23 a catastrophic volcanic eruption of the volcano buried the city and obscured the sun on a mild afternoon. Coincidentally, the date was that of the Vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire.

Although this tragic event ended the lives of 20,000 Pompeian residents, the ash that buried the town served as a sort of mummification for the entire city. The eruption of 79 AD which buried the town in ash actually captured a moment in time. Under the ash everything remained as it was at the time of the eruption. Artwork was preserved. Buildings were preserved. Several important clues were left behind. These clues give us a little glimpse into the past. These clues are the silver lining that can be seen when you visit the ruins at Pompeii.

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”
Aristotle

[This quilt, like Dandelions &Rainbows, was created using the Sevens and Nines pattern from a book titled Quick Colorful Quilts. As a new quilter, I was reassured by using a successful pattern a second time, but with very different colors and a very different end look.]

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