the sad death of the pompeiian dog

Penny had a quiet day at home today while her humans visited the Melbourne Museum to learn about A Day in Pompeii.

I hadn't reckoned with the impact this exhibition would have on me, not realising how the tragedy in Pompeii in the year 79 AD would echo the terrible bushfires here in February. The sight of the body casts of the poor dead people was upsetting; the dead body of the dog who had been left chained up to suffocate in the rain of ash and pumice was also awful.

I thought of what chaos it must have been, for the people to forget to take the dog with them. It must have been a terrible time. I guess one consolation is that most people did escape and, if the ownership of pets was high, most of the dogs probably escaped with their humans.