Cities of Vesuvius-Pompeii and
Herculaneum
Stages of Occupation
Non Examinable background
Reliability of Sources
• Sources are largely archaeological, but given the history
and changing methods of excavation, remain to some
degree, limited in reliability
• Evidence is fragmentary and subject to different
interpretations
• Most evidence comes from Roman times, and students
should be wary of any definitive statements about the
earlier periods of occupation
• Students must distinguish between occupation and
influence. Evidence on the early history of the towns is
unclear whether Greeks and Etruscans actually occupied
the towns or simply exerted an influence over them, both
culturally and politically.
Why are these cities favorably located ?
The History according to Strabo
• “The Oscans used to occupy both Herculaneum
and Pompeii next to it, past which the river Sarno
flows. Then the Etruscans and Pelasgians, and
after that, the Samnites; these people were also
thrown out of these places.” Geography5.4.8
• Pliny the Elder states that the area had been “ in the hands
of the Oscans, Greeks, Umbrians, Etruscans and
Campanians.”
• Cooley believes that the Alstadt or “ Old Town” is
discernable in the less regular layout of this early
settlement, which had the Temple of Apollo and the
Triangular Forum as its focal point
Paul Zanker- Pompeii, Public and
Private Life
• “At the time of its destruction in AD 79 Pompeii
was already an old city and had been inhabited by
many generations of people from different origins,
each with its own uniquely structured society…If ,
as is usually the case we look only at the
townscape as it happened to be preserved in AD
79, then what meets the eye is just the last of a
series of successive townscapes.”
In the Beginning
• Scholars are uncertain as to when
the settlement was established. The
best estimate proffered dates this
settlement somewhere between 850
and 650 BCE (Leppman, 17). The
oldest buildings identified from the
rubble of Pompeii has been the
Doric Temple (built to Hercules)
and a temple to Apollo in the
Triangle Forum, which date from
the 6th Century (Pompeii,
33). Pompeii was therefore most
likely settled earlier than the 6th
century.
• Despite the scarce information
available regarding the early history
of Pompeii, scholars have been able
to piece together what they believe
to be the early progression of
conquest in Pompeii.
Inscriptional evidence
• The earliest writing from the site is scratched upon
fragments of pottery, notably in a deposit of votive
offerings in the Temple of Apollo. They range in date from
the first quarter of the sixth century to 475BC, and are
written in Etruscan or Oscan
• Oscan uses an alphabet different from the Latins and is
written right to left. Inscriptions and graffiti in the Oscan
language are our main source of evidence for life in
Pompeii, before the Romans. Some inscriptions were still
on display in AD 79; others were found where they had
been reused as building material.
ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE
• During the 6th and 5th centuries , the Etruscans controlled
much of the Campanian region, until they were defeated in
474BC in the naval battle of Cumae against Hieron of
Syracuse. *It is not known whether Etruscans actually
occupied Pompeii or simply exerted an influence over it
• Recent investigation, according to Jean Paul Descoudres
have led to the conclusion that the first city wall goes back
to the very beginning of this Etruscan phase and dates to
the first half of the sixth century .
• Built of so called Pappamonte stone, a soft tufa quarried
locally, it encompassed, the entire area occupied by the
later city, an area of 66 hectares
Greek Architecture
• The Greeks defeated the
Etruscans in both 524 and 474
BCE and probably proceeded to
take control of Pompeii
(19). This theory is supported
by the architecture and art in
Pompeii that was influenced by
the Greeks, such as the
rebuilding of the temple to
Apollo .
• A sanctuary to Dionysus (
Bacchus ) was built in the
second half of the 3rd century,
despite the Roman Senate’s
decree banning the cult. This
may indicate hoe entrenched
Hellenistic culture was at this
time.
The Temple of Isis is one of the oldest
buildings in Pompeii, dating to the 6th
century BC. It was completely rebuilt after
the earthquake of 62 AD.
Doric Columns
Samnite Pompeii
• Since the mid 5th century Samnite tribes from the mountain
areas had been moving towards the coast both east and
south. Capua was taken in 424 BC AND Cumae four years
later. By the end of the century they controlled most of the
Campanian region
• They spoke Oscan until 80 BC when Latin became the
official language
• Pompeii’s Samnite period is usually divided into two
periods. The first period fro 400-180BC is often referred to
as the “Limestone period” after the building material most
commonly used
• From the early 2nd century , a harder and slightly darker
tufa stone was quarried in Nuceria, hence the name “ tufa
period”.
Samnite Inscriptions
• The Oscan inscriptions from the Samnite period
reveal that the town had a Samnite form of
government. There was a chief called the Meddix,
who dispensed justice in the community and
would have been a leader in time of war.
• Another official , called the Kvaisstur, supervised
public works. The town council was called the
Kombennion
Layout of a City
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It was during the Limestone period that Pompeii acquired the town plan which
it was to retain.
The two main longitudinal streets, Via dell’Abbondanza and the Nolan Street,
run parallel to the wall and are only roughly perpindicular to the main NW/SE
axis, ie Stabian Street ( all streets have been named in modern times)
Smaller streets and lanes in between the main arteries border rectangular
residential blocks ( insulae)
Towards the end of the 4th century the city wall was replaced by a new one
built of Sarno limestone, which virtually obliterated any earlier remains.
Disagreement exists between historians as to who instigated the rebuilding of
the wall. Some suggest that it was after the Roman defeat.
At the conclusion of the Samnite Wars in 311 BC, Pompeii like all other towns
in Campania became an ally of Rome. As such it was required to contribute
military services, and although it retained some decree of administrative
autonomy, it became increasingly dependent on Rome, politically and
culturally
Exterior wall of Pompeii
What Lies Beneath?
“The site looks like an example of below-street
plumbing in mid-repair, yet it provides a tiny
glimpse of a fact obscured by Pompeii's betterknown association with the imperial era: A nonRoman civilization thrived here for three centuries,
with its own temples, houses, taverns, baths and
saucy sexual practices.
Last month, a team of archaeologists from Italy's
Basilicata University uncovered the remains of a
structure built by the Samnites, a mountain warrior
people who conquered, inhabited, built up and
ruled Pompeii before Roman chariots wheeled into
town.
The diggers were looking for something else -remains of Pompeii's harbor. Instead, they found a
pre-Roman temple wall, clay offerings to the
Samnite goddess of love, and a basin and terracotta
pipes indicating the site of a ritual bath.”
Pompeii; an ally of Rome
• The Romans fought against the Samnites in a number of
campaigns and by 311BC had broken their power.
Pompeii, like Herculaneum now became an ally ( socius)
of Rome.
• As an ally they adopted a Roman style of administration
and used Latin as the language of government and
administration.
• The relationship between Rome and her allies became
strained as it was thought that Rome differentiated between
her “ Latin” allies and other Italian allies. Italians could not
vote in elections at Rome and felt that they were badly
treated by magistrates. Termed by historians as the Social
War, in the years between 91-89BC hostilities raged in
areas close to Pompeii and Herculaneum, with Rome’s
army led by Cornelius Sulla.
Pompeii; the Roman colonia
80BC—AD 79
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After Sulla’s victory in the Civil war against Marius, he began to settle his veteran
soldiers on confisgated lands . Pompeii was renamed Colonia Cornelia Veneria
Pompeianorum
During the Republic and early Imperial period the city grew and prospered, although
population estimates vary between 20,00 based on the seating capacity of the
amphitheatre to Wallace Hadrill’s based on housing , between 8-12,000
As wealth poured into Pompeii houses were extended and embellished. The change in
status was marked by the transformation of the Temple of Jupiter into the Temple of the
Capitoline Triad ( Jupiter, Juno and Minerva )
As in Rome, under Augustus which was transferred from a city of brick to marble,
architecture in Pompeii also became a form of propaganda to promote the cult of the
Emporer. Dedications and private patronage of buildings was a form of self promotion
to the politically ambitious
Augustus commissioned a fresh water aquaduct to bring water to the fleet headquarters
at Misenum with extensions to Pompeii and Herculaneum, which changed the face of
the towns by providing running water to public fountains and private homes.
In the Julio Claudian period many of the Imperial family and wealthy Roman senators
had their extensive villas in nearby areas.
Spectator violence in the
Amphitheatre-AD59
• Tacitus tells ;” …there arose from a trifling beginning a
terrible bloodbath among the inhabitants of the colonies
of Nuceria and Pompeii at a gladiatorial
show…Intertown rivalry led to abuse, then stone
throwing, then the drawings of weapons. The Pompeians,
in whose town the show was being given came off the
better. Therefore many of the Nucerians were carried to
Rome, having lost limbs, and many were bereaved of
parents and children. The Emporer instructed the Senate
to investigate; they passed it to the Consuls. When their
findings returned to the Senators, the Pompeians were
barred from holding any gatherings for ten years.”
Annuls 14.17
An alternate Interpretation
• Brennan and Lazer speculate that, rather than
small town rivalries the brawl , which followed
Nero’s recent settlement of his veterans at nearby
Nuceria, may have been about boundary or
allotments of agricultural properties.
Painting of the brawl in the peristyle of the House of
Actius Anicetus
Romanization by addition and
Modification
Findings of the Pompeii Forum Project
•
“It is recognized that the Pompeii of 79 A.D. is a Roman refitting of an
established, mature city built by others. The Romans incorporated Pompeii
into their regime in 89 B.C. and gave it the status of a colony in 80 B.C. It is
generally agreed that in large part the city they conquered resembled the one
interred by the ash of Vesuvius. Its population was probably about the same,
8,000 to 12,000, (3) and the ground enclosed by the walls was the same 167
acres the Romans occupied. Perhaps ever since the seventh or sixth century,
but certainly since the fourth, the city had been enclosed by walls following
the same course as the present ones. Some think it filled with residents slowly
and steadily since its foundation, but excavations in 1996 by an Italian team
headed by Paolo Carafa support a different hypothesis--that it leapt to that
level during the second century B. C. after having sustained a largely
agricultural community within the walls. Either way, within the walls the
placement of the streets, the character of the forum and the surrounding 117
blocks filled with atrium houses, lower class residential and commercial
structures, and vineyards and gardens, and the location of several of the major
public buildings and precincts existing in 80 B. C. were about as they were
when the ashes covered it all 159 years later.”
Early settlement of Pompeii
Using the overhead
transparency shade in
the different stages of
occupation in
Pompeii
Herculaneum
Early History
• Ancient tradition connected Herculaneum with the name of the Greek
hero Heracles (a.k.a. Hercules), an indication that the city was of
Greek origin. In actuality, it seems that some primitive forefathers of
the Samnite tribes of the Italian mainland founded the first civilization
on the site of Herculaneum at the end of the 6th century BCE. Soon
after, the town came under Greek control and was used as a trading
post because of its proximity to the Bay of Naples. It is the Greeks
who named the city Herculaneum. Evidence of Greek influence lies in
the geometric grid of the town plan, adopted from the principles of
Hippodamos a Greek architect of the 5th century from Miletus in Asia
Minor
• In the 4th century BCE Herculaneum again came under the domination
of the Samnites.Evidence exists in the Samnite style houses and
inscriptians in Oscan The city remained under Samnite control until it
became a Roman municipium in 89 BC, when, having participated in
the Social War ("war of the allies" against Rome), it was defeated by
Titus Didius, a legate of Sulla
Herculaneum; seaside resort for the
wealthy
• By the first century AD, Herculaneum had become a
holiday resort for rich Roman traders and high status
Romans.
• Early in its history the waterfront was fortified by a
massive wall to protect it from invaders and pounding
waves. The wall was later dismantles when it was no
longer required for defence, and the luxurious Suburban
baths and the Sacred Area were built on the waterfront
• Nonius Balbus, one time governor of Crete and Libya,
owned a luxurious house in Herculaneum and portraits of
his whole family were found in the Basilica.
• Calpurnius Piso, father in law of Caesar is thought to have
owned the Villa of Papyri on the northern outskirts of town
Are there any visible differences between the two cities?
Why must we be careful in drawing any conclusions about
Herculaneum?
Villa of Papyri
Carl Weber’s Plan and J P Getty’s reconstruction in
Malibu
Oscans
Romans
Stages
Of
Occupation
Greeks
Etruscans
Samnites
Review Bradley chapter 1 to supplement notes