Streetscapes and plans of
Pompeii
Roads
Grids 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 formation
The main roads in Pompeii were approximately 8.5 metres wide
The smaller roads varied between 3.5 and 4.5 metres wide
The main roads in Pompeii had the edges worn down from trade carts
passing in and out of Pompeii
Pompeii’’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 abundance
Pompeii’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
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
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
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 lot
smaller than the main roads, the smaller
streets varied between 3.5 and 4.5 metres
in 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
Blocks
In 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
There were approximately 8
gates in Pompeii
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