Pompeii
History
• The city of Pompeii is a
partially buried Roman towncity near Naples. Along with
Herculaneum, Pompeii was
partially destroyed and buried
under 13 to 20 ft of ash and
pumice in the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, and
it was lost for nearly 1700 years
before its accidental
rediscovery in 1749. Since
then, its excavation has
provided an extraordinarily
detailed insight into the life of
a city at the height of the
Roman Empire.
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History
The town was founded around the
7th–6th century BC by the Oscans, a
people of central Italy, on what was an
important crossroad and had already
been used as a safe port by Greek and
Phoenician sailors.
In the 5th century BC, the Samnites
conquered it; the new rulers imposed
their architecture and enlarged the
town.
Pompeii took part in the war that the
towns of Campania initiated against
Rome, but in 89 BC it was besieged by
Sulla. In 80 BC Pompeii was forced to
surrender. It became a Roman colony
with the name of Colonia Cornelia
Veneria Pompeianorum. The town
became an important passage for
goods that arrived by sea and had to
be sent toward Rome or Southern
Italy along the nearby Appian Way.
Ancient Pompeii
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius
• By the 1st century AD, Pompeii
was one of a number of towns
located around the base of the
volcano, Mount Vesuvius
• Heat was the main cause of
death of people, previously
believed to have died by ash
suffocation.
• The people and buildings of
Pompeii were covered in up to
twelve different layers of
volcanic debris, in total 75 feet
deep, which rained down for
about 6 hours.
Pompeii Today
Recommendations
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Buy a guidebook. Get the official guide from
the site bookshop next to the ticket office.
Visit also the National Museum in Naples
where most of the best preserved mosaics
and found items from Pompeii are kept.
Have a look at random villas, as sometimes
even small side rooms have amazing
frescoes (wall paintings).
Don't miss the "Garden of the Fugitives" at
the south-east side where plaster casts of
several victims (sadly, including children) are
on display where they originally fell.
Walk outside the City Gates to the Villa of
the Mysteries, one of the greatest houses to
come down to us from the ancient world.
Even on a very hot day, it is worth the walk.
Ask one of the Archaeologists working on
one of the many sites "Hasn't it all been
dug?" (there is still 1/3 of the site
unexcavated... and there is always more
under the floor!)