The Dog of Pompeii
Historical Fictional Essay, Mosaic
Artwork, and Bulla project
By
Christina Hoff
Table of Contents:
Overview
Research
• The Dog of Pompeii
Writing
• Writing Your Story
The Art Project
• Dog Mosaic
Student Stories and Art, 2008
• The Big Boom!
• To be Mean or not to be Mean - That is the Question...
• Felix, the Gift
• The Dog of Pompeii
• The End is Near!
Standards
• California Content Standards
Overview:
First students are to read the story "The Dog of Pompeii". Students are
then to research what life was like for a 12 year old child in Pompeii 79
AD. They are to write a historical fiction essay about an adventure
they have with their dog. The students will also create two projects, 1.
an art mosaic of their dog 2. a bulla (which is a necklace that all
children were given and worn around their necks until they married).
The students will read their story to the class, show their mosaic and
bulla. This lesson ties in with 6th grade history of ancient Rome and
can be taught when the students are studying ancient Rome in their
social studies classes.
Research:
The Dog of Pompeii
You will write a historical fiction story about a dog and yourself in
Pompeii 79 AD. To begin you will need to research Pompeii in 79 AD.
Writing guidelines:
• You can choose to be in any social class and live either in the city or
the country
• You must get information about ancient Roman life to make your
story accurate historically
Some questions to lead your research:
• What was life like in 79 AD? (Look at lifestyles for this)
• What was it like to be a 12 year old child in the year 79 AD in
Pompeii?
• Were you a member of the rich or poor class?
• What did you eat?
• Where did you live - what kind of house or building? County or city?
• What did your parents do?
• Did you go to school?
• What did your clothes look like?
• And of course what was your Roman name and the name of your
dog?
Use the following sites to help you get started on your
research:
• Ancient Rome - this site have lots of good links to all kinds of
online resources on life in Ancient Rome
• Ancient Romans - from the BBC - this page had lots of good info
about how the ancient Romans lived.
• The Romans - more good info on who the Romans were and what
happened to them
• Odyssey Online - Rome - learn about daily life, and much more on
this site.
• Ancient Roman Names - check out this site to find names for you
and your dog!
• Pompeii - Unraveling and Ancient History - take a virtual tour of
houses in ancient Pompeii.
Writing:
Writing Your Story
Now that you have done your research, you are ready to start your
short story about you and your dog in ancient Pompeii.
Story Guideline:
• Make sure you tell where you live and what class you are from
• Make sure you tell what you eat, clothes you wear, details about
your family
• Make sure you use your Roman name and the name of our dog
• The following worksheet will help think about what it might have
been like to be in Pompeii during that time and give you some
ideas about details to write about: Dog of Pompeii Graphic
Organizer
This story should be:
• 2- 3 pages long, typed in 12 point, Times or Helvetica
• Make sure you have a CREATIVE cover page with your name, the
title of your page and the assignment
• You must have a story (narrative), some kind of adventure (plot)
about you and your dog, mixed in with historical details to make
your story historically accurate
NOTE: make sure you practice reading your story fluently - you will
have to make an oral presentation on the final due date where you
will show your dog mosaic and read your story out loud to the class!
The Art Project:
Dog Mosaic
You will create a paper mosaic of your dog.
- Christina - add materials and steps here....
Student Stories and Art, 2008:
The Big Boom!
The Big Boom!
by Sagar
Once in the city of Pompeii, in ancient Rome, lived a 12 year-old boy
named Tyranus. It was the year 79 A.D. and Tyranus was a member of
the lower class and had a dog named Cico. Tyranus had a mother and
father who had suffered many hardships, both being slaves since they
were young children. The house they lived in was a narrow one room
apartment which Tyanus didn’t come to much. Instead of staying in his
neighborhood all day he loved to explore the streets of Pompeii.
Cico was a white, blue-eyed, minuscule, mannerly dog. Tyrannus and
Cico were two peas in a pod. They cared, looked out, and provided for
each other in many ways. They were the best of friends. One day a
terrible tragedy struck them. This is how it all began.
In the marketplace sat a boy named Tyranus with his dog Cico. He was
eating a ripe red fruit that he had stolen. It was a very cold day in
Pompeii and since he was hardly wearing anything, he was as cold as
ice.
Tyranus shouted out saying, "Cico, I’m so tired of working my butt off
trying to find food. Why can’t I be rich like the kids who have
mansions?"
Right then he realized that he wasn’t talking to anyone because Cico
had vanished. Cico came running to him with a piece of stuffed parrot
he had found lying around. Overjoyed because it was a delicacy only
to the rich, they gobbled it up to the bone. The of course Cico ate the
bone.
Cico was a good dog and always obeyed Tyranus. Tyranus found him
on the street. At first Cico hesitated to come, but when Tyranus talked
to the dog, he came closer and closer. As Tyransu was heading home
and his parents were already home, he had noticed that Cico wasn’t
following once again.
He laughed saying, "That dog of mine really needs to stop wandering
off everywhere. I was just about to tell him to...Oh! Cico you’re back. I
wanted to tell you that I would like to sneak into the Coliseum, where
the rich people sat!"
Cico knew it wasn’t going to be a very good idea. First of all he didn’t
have the clothes, second they’d catch him and third he’d be killed!
Tyranus had bad news, his mothers hands were broken because of
working so hard picking corps and helping, doing everything in the
house for her master. When he got to his apartment, he began to plan
what he’d do tomorrow and eventually fall asleep.
When he awoke he was so excited about what awaited him. Cico had a
bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. When they got to the Coliseum,
they first went to the poor peoples spot. Then he snuck down to where
the wealthy people sat.
"Aw, I have a great feeling about this Cico, I’ve always wanted to see
the gladiators fight up close."
Cico started to bark very loud. A guy was approaching him. They gut
told him to get out of there, he didn’t want him to get in trouble. It
was too late, they had attracted a mob. Cico started going crazy biting
people and hurting them. Everything became quite when they heard a
loud BOOM! Everything just froze and turned gray.
More than 1,000 years later, they found the remains. They were
fascinated by how the dog was protecting the boy. They were dazzled
how everything froze. They knew Mount Vesuvius was very powerful
but not this powerful. It must have been a Big BOOM!
To be Mean or not to be Mean - That is the Question...
To be Mean or not to be Mean - That is the Question...
by Jaaziel
This is a story about a spoiled boy named Lungu. Lungu has a dog
named Albescu. This boy has two sisters and two brothers whose
names are Priscilla, Diana, Adam and Nero. Lungu’s mother and father
are named Patricia and Titus. This family is really rich.
This story begins with Lungu lying on a comfortable looking bed until
his mother called him.
"Lungu hurry up! Every one of your brothers and sisters are waiting for
you!"
"Why mother?" Lungu asked.
Lungu’s mother exclaimed to him, "I already told you we are going to
Thermopolia!"
Lungu made a disgusted face. He did not like Thermopolia, "I hate that
place. It’s where the ugly poor people go!" But he made his way down
the tile stairs, His mother was waiting for him near the atrium.
"Thanks to you, your siblings left first," Patricia said looking at Lungu
angrily, Albescu came along beside Lungu. When they arrived at
Thermpoplia, Lungu’s siblings already had their lunches.
"Lungu should get in trouble mother," Patricia complained. "My feet
hurt so much!"
"Then sit on the floor." Patricia exclaimed.
"I do not sit on the floor. You think I’m poor or what?" chuckled
Pricilla.
They went home and found that their father was ordering the family
slave, Sala. Titus was yelling at Sala telling him to clean the floor even
shiner.
"Oh! Hello!" stated Titus.
"Hello father, we went to Thermopolia," explained Nero.
"Father, I want a ride in the carriage," Lungu demanded.
"All right, Sala give my honorable son a ride in the carriage," Titus
ordered calmly.
"B-but," Sala stuttered.
"Right now," Titus said not so calmly.
"I j-just washed-shed-d the horses, stuttered Sala.
"NOW!" Titus yelled. Sala was a little over 30 but he had wrinkles on
his face and dark marks on his eyes, but Sala was muscular.
Lungu was watching Sala walk slowly toward the door. "Hurry up! Pigs
move faster than you. You’re pathetic!" he spat. Sala walked faster
but Lungu pushed him, very hard.
When they were ready Sala picked up his leash hit the horses and they
were off. Sala was shaking like mad. He didn’t like to be with Luhgu
alone.
"Ride through the forest old man!" Lungo added. Next to him Albescu
barked.
"As you wish," said Sala shakily. The horses made their way through
green trees full of leaves, a lot were on the floor. The horses galloped
quietly. Sala gasped. He forgot to dry one of the horse’s hooves which
was soaking wet. Sala looked in the carriage at Lungu. Lungu was
petting Albescu. Lungu looked worriedly at the floor. Fall had just
ended and leaves were covering the floor. Suddenly one of the horses
slipped and almost did the splits! It stared to gallop like a drunk man.
Sala yelled, "Easy!" One of he ropes ripped and then another. One of
the horses was set fee and it crashed into the other horses. The third
horse was galloping like mad. They all ran into the deep dark forest.
Sala gulped. He looked back at Lungu who had a surprised look on his
face, then a look of anger.
"What did you do?" Lungu wailed like a hyena, "You dumb old man!"
That’s when Sala got mad.
"Why do you blame me?" Sala asked. Then Lungu realized how much
trouble he was in. He stared to cry.
"Forget you old man!" Lungu gagged, "I am going to find my own
way." With tears in his eyes he ran into the black forest carrying
Albescu. Lungu’s bulla was bouncing on his chest as he ran and ran.
Everywhere he went there was brown and green. Everything was
blurry to him.
Dropping Albescu on the floor he told him, "Lead the way!" Lungu’s
dog barked and started to sniff the floor. He ran toward Lungu’s right.
Lungu followed. When the dog finally stopped they were at a dirt road.
"You did it!" Lungu laughed hugging Albescu around the neck. But then
he heard a growl. He turned around and saw a monstrous eight foot
bear. Lungu gasped and screamed. Albescu ran behind a tree, hiding
from the beast. Then the dog lifted up his legs and did his thing. The
bear held up his arm ready to attack. His arm went down and slashed
Lungu’s bulla. Good thing that was there to protect his chest! But then
there was a slash! And the bear ran away. Lungu looked around to see
who just saved his life and saw Sala with a leash.
Sala called to him, "It’s this way!" He started to walk the opposite
direction Albescu was heading.
In a few hours they saw their home. Patricia was outside with a
worried look on her face. Titus ran outside and stared to yell at Sala
but Lungu stopped hin.
He said. "It was my fault really." Everybody ran outside and hugged
Lungu.
"I thought you were dead!" sobbed Diana.
"Yeah!" Adam said happily. Lungu looked over at Sala who was
mopping the floor. Lungu still didn’t like Sala but he promised himself
he would never insult that mice old man again.
About a dozen centuries later archaeologists were studying the buried
city of Pompeii, or at least what was left of it. Then one of the
archaeologists saw a circular thing covered in rubble.
"Hey Charlie! I think I found another bulla! It has four big slashes on
it!" One of the archaeologists named Bob called to the other who was
named Charlie.
"Really? Pull it out."
"I can’t!" Bob said tugging on it. "It’s still on a person’s neck."
"WELL DIG IT OUT!" exclaimed Charlie. It took an hour to dig the
person out. Actually it was two people. They were hugging. One of
them was about 30 and the other looked 12 or 13.
"Wow! These guys look like they really loved each other."
Felix, the Gift
Felix, the Gift
by Georgiana
The happiest day of my life was my tenth birthday. I had just woken
up when Mama told me that we had gotten a dog. I immediately got
out of bed to see him. He as small and had light brown fur. I knelled
down and petted him. He looked up at me with his big brown eyes as if
to say, "So you’re my owner?" I wondered what to name him...
"I’ll name him Felix, Mama!"
I was so happy that Felix was mine. I remembered thanking Mama a
million times and asking, "How did you know I wanted a dog!?"
Mama had just laughed and said, "When we went to the Forum one
day, I saw a dog. I thought that maybe you wanted a companion, so I
saved some money and got you one."
She was right. I did need a companion. After all, I was an only child.
When Mama wasn’t teaching me, I played with Felix and took care of
him. If I had any leftover bread, I would throw it to him and he would
catch it in his mouth. I showed him the extinct volcano that we called
"Mount Vesuvius".
That was two years ago. He was my best friend, and he still is. But I
remember one day when our friendship got even stronger...
On August 14, it was my twelfth birthday. I had had Felix for exactly
two years now and since we did not know when his birthday was, we
celebrated it with mine. Just as Mama was going to give us our gifts,
Felix started barking and ran toward the door. WE followed him and
when we opened the door, we didn’t see anything. "What’s the matter,
Felix?" I asked, worried that he might be hallucinating or something.
He didn’t bark again. He just seemed to sniff the air and went back
inside.
Mama and I sniffed the air. We could smell something, well, smokey.
Mama walked back inside and said, "Julia, don’t worry about it. It’s
probably just something in the Forum. Selling something smoky I
guess..." But I wasn’t so sure...
Ten days later, it happened.
Mama, Felix and I were eating a lunch of bread and cheese when we
heard it. It sounded like a big - explosion? I took Felix in my arms and
looked outside. It smelled smokey again, except this time it smelled
even worse and it made me nauseous. I could see something like rain
falling but it was black and powdery. I squinted in the dusty air and
cold just barely see Mount Vesuvius with something that looked like a
million stars. except orange, on top of it.
Then I understood. Mount Vesuvius wasn’t extinct like I thought it
was. It was active and it was erupting.
I turned around to let Mama know, but she was already beside me.
"Julia, you have to go to the sea gate and take Felix with you. You
know where they sea gate is, don’t you?"
I nodded furiously. Mama continued, "If we go to the sea gate, then
we might be able to escape at sea by boat. Now go!"
I started to go, but Mama wasn’t following, "Come on!" I yelled.
"I’ll be right behind you!" she yelled back, "I just need to grab some
things..."
I waved and started to run with Felix. When we got to the sea gate,
there was still no sign of Mama. So I took a deep breath and started to
run back to the town, with Felix at my heels.
I didn’t know where I was going. How could I know when the
buildings were being destroyed and people were screaming, running
and panicking all at the same time? I kept running, yelling for Mam the
whole time.
We passed lots of houses, when I realized that Felix wasn’t with me.
I looked back and saw that he was barking in front of a house. I ran
back to him and said, ’Hurry up, Felix! We have to find Mama!" Then I
got it. Mama was in the house. So I started to pound on the door and
shouted, "Mama?! Are you in there?" The door opened and Mama was
there.
"What are you doing here? We were at the sea gate!" I grabbed
Mama’s hand, and looked for the direction of the sea gate, but couldn’t
find it. Felix barked and seemed to be telling us to follow him. He sped
away with me right behind him and Mama following, wordlessly.
As we ran, Mama explained that she was going to the sea gate, but
couldn’t find it because the buildings were being demolished and she
couldn’t recognize anything. Plus, the sky was darker than it had ever
been before, so she couldn’t see much.
Felix was leading the way all the while. As if she could read my mind,
Mama told me, "Julia, that dog has an amazing sense of smell. If we
didn’t have him, you might have never found me."
Felix led the way to safety and kept looking back to make sure that
we were still there.
That day, we ended up saving ourselves by escaping by boat. But I
will never forget Felix’s bravery and leadership that day.
You know, I always thought that a name was something that parents
gave you; and that they never thought much about it. But I always
knew that Felix meant lucky, or successful. Was it his bravery that
saved us, or his name? I think both.
THE END
The Dog of Pompeii
The Dog of Pompeii
by Kayla
Augustus woke up in his families shabby apartment to find
Alexander, his dog, whining. Augustus wondered why Alexander would
be so anxious. he figured he was hungry.
"Come on Alex, let’s get some food." said Augustus.
Alexander looked out the window, as if to say, "It’s not safe."
But he got up form his mangy blanket and followed his master.
The streets smelled terrible, but to Augustus and Alexander it was
normal. Being careful not to get in the way of the garbage, they
walked into town. Many wealthy people stared but Augustus and
Alexander only ignored them. Finally after begging many street
vendors, they were given an apple from an annoyed salesman. With
Augustus’s only knife he split the apple in two. One half was for
himself and the other was for Alexander.
"What do you suppose all the fuss is about, you know the whole Mt.
Vesuvius thing?" asked Augustus.
Alexander only looked at Augustus worriedly with his sad eyes.
"Well the air is a bit dirtier than usual." said Augustus.
Then Luke came running out of the church. Luke was Augustus’ only
friend.
"What was that all about?" asked Augustus curiously.
"Well, all I wanted was to hear from the priest if Mt Vesuvius was
really going to erupt. when he pushed me out of the church calling me
a street rat!", said Luke furiously.
"I’ve been wondering that myself because that smoke looks mighty
threatening to me." exclaimed Augustus.
"It would appear so." said Luke nervously.
"Alex and I should be getting home before everyone else knows that I
’ve been gone." said Augustus sadly.
"Huh," said Luke, "You call that home eh?"
"Where have you been Augustus?!" yelled mother.
"Uh, well Ma’am, I was just getting food for us in town." said Augustus
shyly.
"Ya, well where it it? Your father and I are hungry!" said mother losing
the edge to her voice.
"I couldn’t find any food." said Augustus quietly.
Mother only shook her head and left to go serve her wealthy boss.
Augustus felt severely guilty about lying, but he know if he told the
truth about the apple, mother wold have done a lot more than shake
her head.
Alexander nudged Augustus with his cold nose in a comforting way.
Augustus patted his dog’s had and then got up. He grabbed his blanket
and said, "You know what Alex? Luke was right. Let’s get out of
Pompeii." Alexander got up eagerly and followed Augustus.
Augustus was so out of it he ran directly in the path of the garbage.
Sure enough, a huge pile of garbage was dumped on him. Disgusted,
he brushed it off. He spotted Luke and ran up to him.
"Luke I’m leaving Pompeii, you want to come?" asked Augustus
hopefully.
"Not right now, there had been more talk about Mt. Vesuvius. Naples
is evacuating its people." said Luke excitedly.
"Should Pompeii evacuate?" asked Augustus curiously.
"No, people think Naples is making too big of a deal, but I disagree."
said Luke.
"Well, let’s go!" shouted Augustus.
"We can’t. You know deep down inside you love your family. You have
to warn them." said Luke nervously.
"O.K., your right, but let’s meet in Venice tomorrow. Agreed?"
declared Augustus.
"Agreed.", replied Luke.
Augustus had to get home quickly and so did his parents.
Alexander sat next to the door. Augustus knew his dog wanted to
leave. He also knew he was right. Augustus couldn’t take it anymore.
He needed Alexander safe, if anything else in the world.
Augustus ran down the street, his dog following. Finally, he spotted a
wealthy couple getting into a carriage.
"Excuse Sir and Ma’am, could you take my dog with you please?"
asked Augustus sadly.
"Well, we leave in two hours, but sure." said the women, "Meet us
back here at the carriage then."
Augustus walked away happily.
"He’ll be o.k." he thought joyfully.
Two hours later, Augustus dragged Alexander to the carriage.
Alexander was smart and knew what was happening. When they got
there the woman said, "We’ll take him to Luke in Venice. He’ll wait for
you there."
"O.K., thanks you very much." said Augustus, relieved that they were
still o.k. with the plan. He kissed Alexander on the head and said, "I
love you Alexander, know that in case something happens to me."
He watched the carriage disappear.
The next morning, Augustus looked frantically for his mother and
father. He ran into town.
He started to scream, "Mom and Dad, where are..."
Then a huge gust of ash covered him. He couldn’t breather or move.
He only felt burning.
"Sorry Mom and Dad, I failed you." He thought, "Well at least
Alexander is happy and safe."
The End is Near!
Costel, created by Angelo in ancient Roman mosaic style
The End is Near
by Angelo
I, Victor, stared into the still, black, and starry sky with a strange
feeling… that something was coming. I am 11 and live in a middleclass city family which included a dog, Costel. My family has only
enough money to sustain ourselves with our needs, such as plain
clothes, and very few “wants”. I had enough knowledge of the world
from my kind parents, but I had no idea of what the people of Pompeii
were in for. Costel had been whimpering and acting jumpy the past
few days, which gave me some of the feeling in the first place. He
even roams far from home and come back, which is nothing like
him. There had also been more of the tiny tremors that we are used
to feeling than usual. My parents kept telling me to not worry about
it, and that whatever was happening was going to go away quietly, but
I wasn’t so sure.
Life continued normally for everybody and everything, as if nothing
was to happen. I tried not to think of what might be happening,
especially when Vesuvius started slowly releasing smoke. The same
schedule was used for most of us: eat breakfast, do our jobs (some
with slaves), ate lunch, relaxed at the forum, take a bath, do more
work, eat dinner, and sleep. Obviously, the rich had less work and
more relaxation time, and the poor had the opposite. For me, though,
the productivity of my work was cut down by a large amount, and the
short relaxation times were not enjoyed as much. The food, usually
bread and cheese, didn’t seem as good either. For Costel, it was the
same (without the work). He was probably the only one comforting
me. My parents were unhappy with me because of this work
reduction.
One day, I was slowly doing the work as usual when the loudest bang
I had ever heard rang into my ears. Costel barked as loud as he
could, pointing towards Vesuvius. I
looked that way, and there was a great billowing pine-tree-shaped
cloud of ash spewing from the volcano, and it was spreading very
quickly. Everybody I could see (including me) panicked. Costel
didn’t. The brave dog helped release me from my trance, and I ran for
my life. Costel, with his new memory of the pathways from roaming
around, ran ahead of me. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, the rest of my
family was lost as they ran somewhere else. I followed Costel and had
no idea where we were going until I had followed him far enough. He
was leading me to the nearby amphitheatre, where, unfortunately, I
had only been to several times. We might be able to take cover there,
but the ash cloud was almost here. We hid behind the walls, and
luckily, we were only injured from the scorching heat. Costel and I
thought it was over, but there was more. The temperature rose, and
the air became thick and dusty. Unable to move, my companion and I
fell over, as the ashes chocked us to death.
We may have died, but our spirits still live on together. Once in a
while, Costel and I would return to Pompeii, revisiting what is now a
desolate, forgotten, and dead wasteland. Costel and I miss our
separated family, and possibly even more, our destroyed home. We
sobbed, wishing none of this had ever happened.