古代ローマ・ポンペイの壮大な温泉遺跡、公開

【ポンペイＡＦＰ＝時事】未完成のまま火山灰に埋もれた、古代ローマの都市ポンペイの壮大な温泉遺跡が25日、観光客に初めて一般公開された。（写真はイタリアの世界遺産ポンペイで発掘された古代ローマの温泉遺跡を訪れる観光客）
　西暦７９年にベズビオ火山の噴火による火砕流に埋もれた大理石の柱やブロックは、放置された当時の状態で並んでいる。
　ポンペイの発掘調査を率いるマッシモ・オザンナ氏はＡＦＰに対し、ポンペイの温泉施設はローマにある皇帝ネロの温泉をまねたものだと述べ、大理石の湯船が置かれ、より広く明るくなる計画だったと説明した。
　この温泉遺跡「セントラル・バス」がある一帯は、ポンペイ遺跡を保護するために２０１２年に始まった「グレート・ポンペイ・プロジェクト」を通じて復元された。このプロジェクトは、２０００年前の建物「剣闘士の家」が崩壊し、歴史遺産の管理をめぐり世界中で非難の声が巻き起こったことをきっかけに立ち上げられた。
　■噴火から逃げた子ども
　忍耐強い発掘作業中、考古学者らは、火山の噴火時に必死で建物の内部に逃げ込んだとみられる子どもの白骨遺体も発見した。
　人類学者、地質学者、火山学者から成る専門家チームを率いて子どもの白骨遺体を調査したアルベルタ・マルテッローネ氏（４３）は、子どもの年齢は推定８～１０歳だと述べ、「避難場所を探し求めて、結局死んでしまったのだろう」「感情を揺さぶられる発掘作業だった」と振り返った。
　またマルテッローネ氏は、建物がひしめき合っていたポンペイで、これほどゆったりとした部屋がある大きな建物が見つかるのは珍しく、壮大な雰囲気を醸し出しているこの温泉施設の発掘作業は、通常の建築的観点からも感動的だったと述べた。
　ポンペイ初期の公衆温泉施設はこれよりも小さく、暗く、混雑することが多かったが、新たに建設されていたこの温泉は完成していれば、奴隷を除く余裕のある市民が誰でも楽しめる、より豪華な施設だったとみられる。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/11/27-09:08）

Magnificent thermal baths designed to be the jewel of Pompeii but destroyed by a volcanic eruption before they could be completed opened to visitors for the first time on Monday after a painstaking excavation.
Marble pillars and blocks lie where they were abandoned when the city was submerged by a pyroclastic flow from Mount Vesuvius in the 79 AD disaster.
But excavators also found a victim of the disaster, the skeleton of a child who had sought shelter there in vain.
The architects were inspired by Emperor Nero's thermal baths in Rome. The rooms here were to be bigger and lighter, with marble pools, the archaeological site's director Massimo Osanna told AFP.
The Central Baths lie in an area restored under the Great Pompeii Project, launched in 2012 to save the historical site after the collapse of the 2000-year-old House of the Gladiators, which sparked outrage worldwide.
It was an emotionally charged dig, said Alberta Martellone, 43, the archaeologist who led a team of an anthropologist, geologist and vulcanologist in studying the skeleton of the child, who died aged between eight and 10.
He or she was looking for shelter, and found death instead, she said.
- 'Life interrupted' -
The excavation was also moving from an architectural point of view, because it is unusual to find a building so large, with such ample rooms, in this densely built up city. It transmits a sense of grandiosity, she said.
The construction site with its small skeleton is a sign of life interrupted, on more than one level, she said.
The city's original public bathhouses were smaller, darker and often overcrowded; the new complex would have provided a more luxurious setting for all those who could afford it -- most citizens, but not slaves.
Recent digs at Pompeii have offered up several impressive finds, including an inscription uncovered last year that proves the city near Naples was destroyed after October 17, 79 AD, and not on August 24 as thought.
Archeologists in October discovered a vivid fresco depicting an armour-clad gladiator standing victorious as his wounded opponent gushing blood, painted in a tavern believed to have housed the fighters as well as prostitutes.
Along with the baths, visitors could from Monday visit a small domus sporting a racy fresco depicting the Roman god Jupiter, disguised as a swan, impregnating the Greek mythological figure of Queen Leda.
Across the cobbled Via del Vesuvio, the striking House of the Golden Cupids reopened after work on its mosaic floors.
- 'Biggest challenge' -
While treasure hunters regularly pillaged Pompeii down the centuries looking for precious jewels or artifacts, whole areas have yet to be explored by modern-day archaeologists.
Each discovery helps historians understand not only what life was like in the ancient city, but also what happened in the dramatic final hours, as the skies turned to fire and ash, Osanna said.
The Grand Pompeii Project, which was part funded by the EU, winds up at the end of this year, but the Italian government has earmarked 32 million euros for the digs to continue.
Violent weather events caused by climate change are our biggest challenge, said Osanna, whose new book Pompeii -- Time Regained describes the race to preserve the vulnerable UNESCO world heritage site.
We have 50 people -- restorers, archaeologists, architects, engineers -- on site permanently, who carry out inspections and intervene where necessary, and that number will rise to 70 next year, he added.
The ruined city in southern Italy is the second most visited tourist site in the country, after the Colosseum in Rome, with just under four million visitors in 2019.