II.7.11 Pompeii. Palaestra or Palestra. Latrine.

Excavated 1814 to 1816, 1933 and 1935 to 1939.

(Originally when excavated, this was numbered as Reg. II, Insula 10).

II.7.11 Pompeii, on left. Palaestra. December 2006. Latrine at side of south portico and entrance II.7.1.

II.7.11 Pompeii. September 2015. Looking west from entrance II.7.1, along south wall.

According to Nappo, the latrine was entered through a small door under the portico.

It also had a door opening to the outside of the palaestra, opposite the arena, and it may be ascertained that, at one time, the latrine was used when games were being held at the amphitheatre.”

See Nappo, S., 1998. Pompeii: Guide to the ancient city. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, p. 36-7.

II.7.11 Pompeii. June 2019. Latrine building to south of II.7.1. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

II.7.11 Pompeii. 1939. Plan and sections of latrine building.

According to NdS, "The internal system repeats the usual system of Pompeii's public and private latrines: six seats in vesuvian stone are arranged along the two sides of the south and west above the narrow deep cavity of the drainage channel. A sewer (F111) connected to the drain of the natatio basin. After crossing the podium, the ambulatory and the back wall of the portico, it flowed (rising from a height of 0.65 to 0.87 m.) into the latrine drainage channel (F11), and from there was to discharge into the drainage sewer (F1) outside the pomerium and the walled enclosure. As the partial excavation of the area outside the Gymnasium has shown, this drain was not yet built at the time of the eruption: it stops immediately after the western wall of the latrine. The volume of water and the slope of the flowing surface ensured a hygiene which is not easy to find in the more modest systems of the Pompeian house. It should also be noted that the system had not yet been put into operation at the time of the eruption, because the water channel had not yet been connected to the drainage channel of the natatio".

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1939, p. 192-3, fig. 17.

II.7.11 Pompeii. Palaestra. June 2012. Latrine building to south of II.7.1.

II.7.11 Pompeii. Palaestra. December 2006. Entrance to latrine building.

According to Nappo, “Water flowed continuously into the [central palaestra] pool, and the overflow ran into a small drain, which flushed out the large latrine in the eastern section of the southern portico.

The latrine, entered through a small door under the portico, had seats of trachytic lava, probably covered with marble, on three sides.

Since it also had a door opening to the outside of the palaestra, opposite the arena, it may be ascertained that, at one time, the latrine was used when games were being held at the amphitheatre.”

See Nappo, S., 1998. Pompeii: Guide to the ancient city. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, p. 36-7.

Behind it on the plan is a long tapered walled enclosure.

II.7.11 Pompeii. May 2010. Looking towards latrine building.

Looking east from area of city walls between Tower III and Tower IV. Photo courtesy of Ivo van der Graaff.

II.7.1/II.7.11 Pompeii. 1939. “La forica della Palestra”.

Looking east along south side of long tapered walled enclosure, towards the amphitheatre.

See Notizie degli Scavi, 1939, p. 191, fig.16.

II.7.11 Pompeii. Palaestra. May 2016.

Looking west along tapered walled enclosure area behind the latrine.

Detail from photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

II.7.11 Pompeii. Palaestra. 2016. Long tapered walled enclosure area behind the latrine. Photo courtesy of Google Earth.

See Nappo, S., 1998. Pompeii: Guide to the ancient city. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, p. 36-7.

II.7.3 Pompeii. Palaestra. Looking towards south-west corner.

The overflow from the pool in the centre ran into a small drain, which flushed out the large latrine.

The roof of the latrine building is visible (left) against the south wall in the south-east corner.

II.7.11 Pompeii. Palaestra.

Plaster cast of victim found near the latrine, perhaps found crouching on the ground with his back against the wall of the east portico.

Now in VII.7.29 Forum granary market.

II.7.11 Pompeii. Palaestra. 1939. Cast of crouching man, found to be tipped forwards, huddled up and bent double on his knees.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, p. 226, fig. 34.

II.7.11 Pompeii. Palaestra. September 2015. On display as an exhibit in the Summer 2015 exhibition in the amphitheatre.

When this body was cast, he was found to be tipped forwards, huddled up and bent double on his knees, when restored he was placed in this position.

See Stefani, G. (2010). The Casts, exhibition at Boscoreale Antiquarium, 2010. (p.10)

II.7.11 Pompeii. Palaestra. Third group of skeletons, found in the latrine. Terzo gruppo di scheletri, nell'interno della Latrina.

Secondo NdS; Un gruppo più numeroso di 18 vittime si è rinvenuto nel solo ambiente della Palestra che poteva onrire ai fuggiaschi qualche ricovero durante la tremenda pioggia dei lapilli e delle ceneri, e cioè nella grande latrina del portico meridionale, protetta da una tettoia e con un solo vano d’ingresso sul portico di cui si potevano sbarrare i battenti (fig. 33). Le 18 persone (adulti, giovani e adolescenti) che qui si rifugiarono e si asserragliarono, dovettero essere sorprese dallo scoppio dell’eruzione nelle immediate vicinanze e forse nella stessa area della palestra: ma i pochissimi oggetti che si rinvennero (un punteruolo in osso, due unguentari di vetro, un anellino d'oro, una lucerna di terracotta, una sola moneta di bronzo), nulla ci dicono della natura e condizione di queste vittime; forse appartenevano alle maestranze adibite ai lavori della palestra (1), o forse erano gruppi di persone qui confluite dalle più vicine insulae, senza aver avuto il tempo di raccogliere gli oggetti più preziosi e più cari. Delle 18 vittime, due staccate dalle altre, erano nella metà orientale dell’ambiente, e presso una di esse si riconobbe nella cenere l’impronta di un paniere di vimini e, presso l’altra, l'impronta di un pezzo di tavola forse a protezione del capo durante la fuga); le rimanenti 16 vittime apparvero strette, addossate e in parte ammucchiate una sull'altra, nell’altra metà dell’ambiente. Chiusi e asserragliati all’interno della latrina (altri fuggiaschi isolati giunti in ritardo, quando la porta era già barricata, erano rimasti sotto la copertura del portico), la sorte dei disgraziati non era stata meno tragica: il tetto della latrina, con il suo piovente verso il pomerio, aveva resistito alla pioggia delle pomici, ma il banco dei lapilli aveva chiuso ogni via d'uscita dalla porta e dalle finestre, c con la caduta delle ceneri che penetravano, portate dai turbini ili vento, per ogni dove, rialzando lentamente il pavimento della latrina, era sopraggiunta, anche per essi, la morte per asfissia.

(1) Il solo oggetto che può riferirsi a un utensile di lavoro, è un vaso oliare di terracotta grezza, rinvenuto tra gli scheletri, con tracce di calce; ma esso poteva già trovarsi depositato nell’interno della latrina.

According to NdS, A group of more than 18 victims was found in the only room of the Palestra that could offer the fugitives some shelter during the terrible rain of lapilli and ashes, namely the large latrine on the southern portico, protected by a roof and with only one entrance on the portico whose doors could be barred (fig. 33). The 18 people (adults, youths and adolescents) who took refuge and barricaded themselves in here must have been surprised by the force of the eruption in the immediate vicinity and perhaps in the same area as the gymnasium: but the very few objects that were found (a bone awl, two glass unguentaria, a gold ring, a terracotta oil lamp, a single bronze coin) tell us nothing about the nature and condition of these victims; perhaps they belonged to the workers employed in the work in the gymnasium (1), or perhaps they were groups of people who came here from the nearest insulae, without having had time to collect their most precious and dearest objects. Of the 18 victims, two were detached from the others in the eastern half of the room, and at one of them the imprint of a wicker basket was recognised in the ashes, and at the other, the imprint of a piece of board, perhaps to protect the head during the escape); the remaining 16 victims appeared cramped, huddled together and partly piled on top of each other, in the other half of the room. Locked and barricaded inside the latrine (other isolated fugitives who had arrived late, when the door was already barricaded, had remained under the roof of the portico), the fate of the unfortunates was no less tragic: The roof of the latrine, with its rain slope towards the pomerium, had resisted the rain of pumice, but the bank of lapilli had closed every way out of the door and windows, and with the fall of the ashes that penetrated, carried by the whirlwind wind, everywhere, slowly raising the floor of the latrine, death by asphyxiation had arrived for them too.

(1) The only object that can be referred to as a working tool is a rough terracotta oil vase, found among the skeletons, with traces of lime; but it could have already been deposited inside the latrine.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1939, p. 223, fig. 33.