Dr. Jessica Venner

They've changed the structure of buildings.

Most importantly, a lot of buildings that were residential were being converted into commercial properties.

or gardens, which is something I've spent a lot of time studying.

Yeah, we must.

And so there was this sort of resilient response to this point of crisis.

And they were having other crises going on as well.

There was a recently recorded famine in

during this period of time, this last 20 years, for example.

Pompey had a fight with New Syria, this local town, in a riot and people were killed.

Then they were punished for it by the Emperor and the Senate.

So they're having a bit of a rough time of it.

Not that they really paid attention to that, by the way, but they're having a bit of a rough time.

And so they seem to look at these problems a bit like we did during COVID, where you start to find creative ways to get around challenges.

And you can see that across the town.

So, yes, they're in a point of repair.

I mean, the Stabian Baths, one of the biggest bathhouses in the town, was still being repaired at the time.

Whereas the Temple of Isis was repaired immediately by, I think he was seven years old.

This young boy who repaired the Temple of Isis.

All by himself.

But he funded it.