Dr. Jessica Venner

So in the southeastern corner nearest the amphitheater.

And this was once an area that was very agricultural anyway.

And then over time it was built up between, you know, like 300 and 180 BC.

We see it really developed.

And then you've got the colonization of Pompeii and towards the end of the Republic.

That's when it becomes Roman.

So by the time of the eruption, it had been Roman less than 200 years, which is crazy to think, isn't it?

And then they start putting vineyards and orchards and vegetable plots and perfume gardens where residential buildings have been.

And the part of the reason for this was because there was the destruction, of course.

So they're having to take down properties because they're damaged.

But there were laws in place that were stopping this happening across the empire because the Senate were really concerned that the towns of the Roman empire were becoming a bit drab and a bit shabby.

So they were like, can everyone just stop demolishing things and profiting off it, please?

But there were loopholes in that rule.

And so in Pompeii, they were making the most of that.

They were destroying properties.

so that they could create these large gardens.

And some of them were huge, like 1,500 square feet.

So it's quite impressive.

Yeah.

Yeah, there is.