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The dogs
take home a life and a story from Pompeii
During the Christmas period the project (C)Ave Canem celebrates its first adoption
Following the census, vaccination, sterilization and cure of the thirty-three dogs in the excavations of Pompeii, the project (C)Ave Canem is now, during these first days of Christmas, celebrating its first adoption. Thanks to the volonteers of the project, Eumachia met her new family and they took to each other from the first minute. The San Rufo family quickly sent in the adoption request and questionaire, available on the site, and were surprised by how easy it was to complete and return. In fact, with only a few simple written lines they were able to complete the great joy of taking the sweet Eumachia into their own house. Now, while she tastes the warmth of Christmas in a family, she hopes that just as much love arrives for her four-legged friends here at the excavations. Make Euumachia’s dream come true and get to know Mulvia, Trebius, Vettius, Meleagro and all the others yet to be adopted, and take home ‘a life and a story of Pompeii’.Who in Eumachia?
Eumachia, priestess of Venus, was of the family of the Eumachii, perhaps of Greek origin, producers of wine, amphoras and roof-tiles. In the Augustian age, she had a building constructed on the east side of the civic Forum, between the Temple of Vespasian and Via dell’Abbondanza, and dedicated it to Livia, the mother of the emperor Tiberius. Eumachia was the patron of the corporation of the fullers, that is dyers, washers and cloth makers, for whom, it is believed, the building was a sort of market for the sales of finished cloth. Her family name appears in the epigraph at the side-entrance on Via dell’Abbondanza where a marble slab bears the inscription: “Eumachia, daughter of Lucius, public priestess, in her own name and that of her son Marcus Numistrius Fronto and at her own expense, had the vestibule, the gallery and the portico constructed, and she herself dedicated them to the Augustian Concord and to Mercy”.
Photogallery
Who is Eumachia?
Eumachia is a very beautiful two-year-old setter-like female and is the first of our four-legged friends of Pompeii to be adopted. She captured the attention of the San Rufo family who, soon after having filled in the simple adoption request available on the site, came here to the excavation and after the due presentations by a volonteer of the project (C)Ave Canem met Eumachia. It was love at first sight and the actual adoption took place during the Christmas holiday period. On the day Eumachia woke up early and, as if she had jotted down an important appointment in her agenda, quickly made her way to Porta Stabile, one of the four entrances to the excavations. But how did she know that this was the right entrance? And how did she guess that her family had arrived just there at that time in the morning? It is the surprising mystery of smell and the exceptional intutition of our canine friends. Lively and sensitive as she is, Eumachia gave us a demonstration of these special gifts. Now she is at home being petted by all the family and especially by a sweet little girl with big eyes who has become her best friend.
