This ranks under ‘Work in progress’. So I have this big Pompeii database. And I thought let’s try to do something with it. I had a spare hour or so, so I did. I mapped room density per insula in Pompeii – that is the number of rooms per square meter. Red is very dense (more than 0.05), and then it goes from orange to yellow to green to blue which is actually in reality green because it is mostly garden (less than 0.01). Yes, I know this is complicated and difficult, and yes I know there are still weaknesses in this map, and of course, for some it might not contain much new information. You, Pompeianists, you will immediately spot that something’s wrong with insula VII 1. And that is true. It is much too green. Yes, and part of insula VIII 7 lacks a color. But still. It gives me something to think about in terms of Pompeii’s urbanization patterns. It is roughly what I expected, but not completely. Next, I will need to go to the library to check how it compares to earlier maps of this type.
Miko Flohr, 28/03/2012