Most people have heard of Pompeii. Many know that it has another famous neighbour, Herculaneum. Then there's the unknown volcano victims in the Campanian region that the absolute majority haven't even heard about, as Stabia and Oplontis.
There are, of course, even more cities that have been destroyed and buried by extreme eruptions. I'm told that they have found such a city in South America.
Then, there is Thera. We do not know what the inhabitants themselves called this city,situated on the island that we now call Santorini.
This city was buried somewhere in the end of the 17th century - beginning of the 16th century BC (The exact date is difficult to tell) when the island literary exploded in a violent (and that is not a understatement) volcanic eruption. Take a look at a modern map and you will surely notice the result.
The city can by all means be compared to Pompeii and frescoes have been found here as well. This one depicts a bull jumper, a Minoan sport where it seems like you were jumping over bulls by catching their horns. The "hovering" is interpreted as that the bull is running.
1 comment:
Talking about lost cities: wasn't the Icelandic city Vestmannaeyar buried under volcanic ash in the 1960s? And there must be a lot of places around the world where complete dwellings of unlucky people have been drowned by avalanches of mud (recent exemples in South America and Indonesia I think). Tragic, but also great stuff for future research,
Am just checking through the photos here, and they are great. Man kan snacka mycket skit om antiken, men den gör sig på bild i alla fall!
Was rather surprised when I learned that it is still difficult to find the almost exact date when Thera exploded. Thought that modern science was able to establish at least the year, but obviously not!
Keep up good job!
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