Streetscapes and plans of Pompeii

RoadsGrids and layouts

Alley ways

Roads• Pompeii had numerous main roads and a large number of small streets

The roads in Pompeii were aligned in blocks in a grid formationThe main roads in Pompeii were approximately 8.5 metres wideThe smaller roads varied between 3.5 and 4.5 metres wideThe main roads in Pompeii had the edges worn down from trade carts passing in and out of PompeiiPompeii’’s roads intersected to from blocks which formed the grid, each block was approximately 35 by 90 metres

Pompeii main road

Pictured on the right is one of Pompeii’s main roads, as you can see there are stepping stones in the middle of the road in order for people to cross when water flows down the street

Pompeii’s roads were made from volcanic rock also known as pumice stone

The street would have been around 8.5 metres wide allowing numerous traffic at once

The street of abundancePompeii’s main street was named “the street of abundance”, by Fiorelli, he named it this due to a statue found in that street depicting a woman carrying a basket full of fruit which symbolised abundance

The street of abundance ran past the forum all the way down to the amipheatre, and had many houses and shops on either side of it.

The street had high gutters to avoid flooding in times of rain

Like other streets the street of abundance had stepping stones for the civilians, they were made low enough to sill allow carts to pass through

Street layout

As you can see in this picture Pompeii’s streets and buildings were set out in blocks like a grid

A fair amount of Pompeii is yet to be uncovered

The numbers seen on the map represent the regions of Pompeii, the regions act along with the street as to the location of houses and buildings like an area reference

Minor streets• Pompeii had numerous streets that connected to the main roads and that

led to areas like toilets the theatre and baths, which also had alleys coming off them

As you can see the minor streets are a lotsmaller than the main roads, the smaller streets varied between 3.5 and 4.5 metresin width

Street grids• In pompeii the streets were aligned in a pattern similar to a grid, the

houses were in blocks and the blocks in regions

There were around 9 regions in Pompeii and approx 22 blocks

Each block was approx 35 by 90 metres in size and consisted of houses and stores

Regions

As seen in this photo which illustrates a street sign in Pompeii of the region of the street

The regions in Pompeii served as a way of finding way around the town, the region was followed by another two numbers which would lead to a house or store

There were approximately 9 regions in Pompeii

BlocksIn Pompeii there were approximately 22 blocks which consisted of shops toilets houses and other buildings

The blocks were formed by the intercepting roads alleys and streets in Pompeii

In telling where a building was located a reference was given of the region, followed by the block, followed by the house or building number

Alleyways and other things• Pompeii had numerous small roads as well as alleys to access areas and

things that the main roads weren’t connected to such as toilets

Pompeii had numerous gates that led outside the city walls

Alleys

Pompeii had numerous alleys which allowed access to things like servants quarters toilets and sex related buildings that weren’t in the main street where all the trading commenced

The alleys were quite small as there was little or no need for carts to gain access to them

Gates

Pictured below is a photograph of the Marina Gate. This was named this as to it led to the sea. Along with this there was also the Capuan gate, the Vesuvian gate, the Nola gate, the Nucerian gate, the Stabian gate, the Sarno gate and the Herculaneum gate

The gates in Pompeii were named in accordance to where they led, e.g the Herculaneum gate led to Herculaneum and the Vesuvian led to Mt Vesuvius

There were approximately 8 gates in Pompeii