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- Pompeii was a lavish city home to wealthy residents and luxurious buildings, villas, decor + artwork. An excavation at Regio V uncovered Vicolo dei Balconi, an area of Pompeii that boasted impressive houses (some with balconies included).
- August 24th may not be Pompeii's actual eruption date. Before recent findings, August 24th 79 AD was thought to be the exact date Pompeii’s eruption occurred.
- The soil in Pompeii was black. The eruption at Mt. Vesuvius that decimated Pompeii on that fateful day certainly wasn’t its first, nor would it be its last (more on that later).
- Pompeii was a cosmopolitan city where the Greek language was potentially used alongside Latin. A skeletal analysis at a burial site in Pompeii found a 60ish-year-old man who was thought to have spoken Greek in theatre performances.
- Overview
- History
The city of Pompeii is famous because it was destroyed in 79 CE when a nearby volcano, Mount Vesuvius, erupted, covering it in at least 19 feet (6 metres) of ash and other volcanic debris. The city’s quick burial preserved it for centuries before its ruins were discovered in the late 16th century. The subsequent excavation of Pompeii and the surrounding areas in the mid-18th century marked the start of the modern science of archaeology. The archaeological sites at and around Pompeii are important because they provide a unique source of information about many aspects of social, economic, religious, and political life of the ancient world.
Why was Pompeii destroyed?
Pompeii was destroyed because of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on August 24, 79 CE. Just after midday on August 24, fragments of ash and other volcanic debris began pouring down on Pompeii, quickly covering the city to a depth of more than 9 feet (3 metres). Pyroclastic material—a fluidized mixture of hot rock fragments, hot gases, and entrapped air moving at high speed in thick dark clouds that hug the ground—reached the city on the morning of August 25 and soon asphyxiated those who had not already been killed. Additional pyroclastic flows and rains of ash followed, adding at least another 9 feet of debris.
pyroclastic flow
Learn more about pyroclastic flow.
Where was Pompeii located?
It seems certain that Pompeii, Herculaneum, and nearby towns were first settled by Oscan-speaking descendants of the Neolithic inhabitants of Campania. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Oscan village of Pompeii, strategically located near the mouth of the Sarnus River, soon came under the influence of the cultured Greeks who had settled across the bay in the 8th century bce. Greek influence was challenged, however, when the Etruscans came into Campania in the 7th century. The Etruscans’ influence remained strong until their sea power was destroyed by King Hieron I of Syracuse in a naval battle off Cumae in 474 bce. A second period of Greek hegemony followed. Then, toward the end of the 5th century, the warlike Samnites, an Italic tribe, conquered Campania, and Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae became Samnite towns.
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Pompeii is first mentioned in history in 310 bce, when, during the Second Samnite War, a Roman fleet landed at the Sarnus port of Pompeii and from there made an unsuccessful attack on the neighbouring city of Nuceria. At the end of the Samnite wars, Campania became a part of the Roman confederation, and the cities became “allies” of Rome. But they were not completely subjugated and Romanized until the time of the Social War. Pompeii joined the Italians in their revolt against Rome in this war and was besieged by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 89 bce. After the war, Pompeii, along with the rest of Italy south of the Po River, received Roman citizenship. However, as a punishment for Pompeii’s part in the war, a colony of Roman veterans was established there under Publius Sulla, the nephew of the Roman general. Latin replaced Oscan as the official language, and the city soon became Romanized in institutions, architecture, and culture.
A riot in the amphitheatre at Pompeii between the Pompeians and the Nucerians, in 59 ce, is reported by the Roman historian Tacitus. An earthquake in 62 ce did great damage in both Pompeii and Herculaneum. The cities had not yet recovered from this catastrophe when final destruction overcame them 17 years later.
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- Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski
Aug 24, 2019 · 2. Pompeii was once a vibrant port city overlooking the sea. Today it lies several miles inland from the coast. The city covers approximately 170 acres, 1/3 of which still remains untouched by excavation. 3. Pompeii was a thriving city and prosperous trade center with an estimated population of around 12,000 residents.
- Pompeii lies at the base of Mount Vesuvius. This is the volcano that erupted and destroyed the entire city, freezing it in time beneath layers of ash and pumice.
- Nobody knows the exact date of the eruption. Pliny the Younger, a Roman writer who provided an eye-witness account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, noted the date as August 24th.
- Pompeii is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1997, Pompeii was given the status of World Heritage Site. It is an incredibly important place in that it provides such a complete example of Roman life, architecture, community and history.
- Bodies were cast by researchers. Plenty of bodies were discovered underneath all of the ash and pumice left behind by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Many of these had left holes within the ash layers after disintegrating, as noticed by Italian architect Giuseppe Fiorelli in 1863.
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Oct 14, 2020 · Ancient Pompeii is one of Italy’s most haunting sights. Streets of skeletal ruins stretch into the distance while Mt Vesuvius broods darkly on the horizon, a stark reminder of the day it erupted in 79 CE, decimating the local population and burying the city in a thick layer of volcanic debris. Here we look at Pompeii’s history, its ...
Apr 13, 2023 · The loss of life was severe – some 2,000 deaths in Pompeii alone. Yet although sudden and tragic, the disaster that befell Pompeii and its citizens was crucial to why the city fascinates so many people today; the preservation of its ruins are unmatched throughout the world and provide an invaluable snapshot of everyday life in Roman Pompeii.
Aug 21, 2023 · Pompeii resembled a giant building site. It is commonly known that in AD 63 a massive earthquake caused major damage in the town. Scholars now agree, however, that this was merely one in a series of earthquakes that shook Pompeii and the surrounding area in the years before AD 79, when Vesuvius erupted.
