Pompeii was Great

I sat on the curb of a highway which was built over 2,000 years ago by an advanced civilization which was totally destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.  Pompeii came under the domination of Rome in the 4th century BC, and was conquered and became a Roman colony in 80 BC. By the time of its destruction, 160 years later, its population was estimated at 11,000 people, and the city had a complex water system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium, and a port.  The eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under hundreds of tons of hot ash.

This highway exists today, and we replace our's every ten to fifteen years.  I'll give you that it would be a bumpy ride today.

The complexity of their city, and the unbelievable art that they produced was truly amazing.

Size matters 

The shear size of the statuary in Pompeii will blow you mind.  The quality and size together indicate a very advanced society in which art was an important ingredient of their culture.

Many years later, artists toiled over the ability to portray a horse with its body standing on the tiniest of legs given the size of the horse.  I can remember reading about this in a museum once, and it was considered a huge breakthrough.

The male form was more prevalent in the statuary which survived the devastation, and it was on a huge scale.

Columns were the key structural element for all buildings, and partial columns served as decorations in a fresco manner in many locations.  Given the number, there must have been a column, factory setting where they could "mass produce" them in some manner.

Ciao for now.