Sunday 24 August 2008

Coffee shop, Surry Hills, or Pompei?

On 24 August, 79 AD - 1 929 years ago - Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompei and Herculaneum.

The counter of this coffee shop opening straight onto the street reminded me of similar shops in Ancient Roman sites like Pompei (below 1), Herculaneum (below 2) and Ostia Antica.

If catastrophe were visited upon our cities today, I wonder what archaeologists would deduce about us in years time? I sometimes ponder how much difference will there be between us, and our descendents 1 929 years hence - 3 937 AD? Visiting places like Pompei and Herculaneum and reading books about Ancient Rome make me think : "Not all that much!"

What do you think?


16 comments:

  1. That is kinda strange. In a couple of thousand years the coffee shop could be a tourist attraction. I looks very similar to the bottom two.

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  2. I think Pompeii is one of the most interesting spots I've ever visited. And I think your observations and tie-in with the date and your photos are brilliant. This sort of post is one of the best things about the CDPB, to me. Thanks, Sally.

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  3. Oops, I forgot to ask. When you went to Pompeii, did you ride the train down from Rome? We did, with my son's Latin teacher who spoke some Italian. What a great side trip on my first European trip.

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  4. I wonder if the lattes were better in Pompei or Herculaneum? :-)

    This is a really cool post, Sally.

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  5. I see what you mean now that I am here. I never thought about this but I have wondered what archaeologists will think when did up some of the people who have been embalmed and look like they did when they were buried instead of bones.

    I have also wondered about how advanced we really are in all things. There were some ancient fires in libraries that destroyed all the knowledge in the world and as a result of that all things have to be rethought of and reinvented.

    Thanks for stopping. The post you got here is a nice one. I also like bicycle courier post.

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  6. I like your thinking on this and in general your sense of humour running throughout your posts.

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  7. Very interesting!! I did look up the answer to your question before I looked at your blog. :)

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  8. I think there would be a lot of difference, as there are so many skyscrapers around these days, that they would still stick out from the chaos below.

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  9. So 63 acres is all there'll be if we join forces? :) Clever song. Also your progress of man question. I suspect little substantive difference. About Pompeii, though, I think the most amazing thing I saw was among the recovered artifacts ... people caught in crouching positions, preserved for all eternity. Very sobering as well.

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  10. I go looking for exotic Blogs and I find Sydney! I'm 'just up the road' in Newcastle. As a sophisticated Sydneysider you probably wont understand me 'going on about' my home town. But you might enjoy a little piece I wrote about our Olympic medal score!

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  11. A very interesting piece of info. my sister has just been to Pompei but I haven't seen the photos yet.

    I have started my own blog now, Malta Magic, if you'd like to drop by it's at www.marie6-myworld.blogspot.com

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  12. The difference? In my opinion really few maybe 1,929years ago they didn't have Gaggia to make a good coffee ;-)

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  13. Did you visit the brothel in Pompeii? I guess they really did have everything back then!

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  14. Now you have completely confused me!(Never difficult!)

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