Lupanaro -The Way Through The Underworld

We did not find the map to buy when we were in the excavations in Pompei, so we walked through the streets trusted in my memory. I remembered more or less the most frequented places but was not very sure because I did not visit these excavations from '96.

In one of the sidestreets, we noticed great quantity of persons that were intended to enter one of the houses. When we came nearer we saw, it was lupanaro, one of the places that attract more attention of all who wants to visit Pompei.

We had to wait to enter inside this very little house.



And it's role was clearly explained on the pictures just making the first steps in the house.



The word "Lupanaro" is build from "lupo", wolf. Wolves represented creatures of the darkness, hell, underworld for antique persons. So, visit of this house and "lupe", it's "employees", was a sort of initiation, the capacity of a young man to pass through the underworld and to go out from it.

If you look how were the rooms and conditions there, you will surely agree with this theory (it's not MY interpretation). This is one of the rooms and there were about 10 on 2 levels in this house. By the way, the beds and the pillows are stones.



;0))) They really needed all the pictures to understand how is possible to do something in such a place. Poor "lupe" that had to stay their working life there!





The only light room that was there was this:





Sincerely, I felt very happy when I went out of this house on the street.