South of ancient Rome, on the Italian coast, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano, sat Pompeii, a thriving tourist destination. The city of Pompeii was buried under a thick layer of volcanic ash during its most well-known eruption, which occurred in the year 79 A.D. A witness claimed that the dust "poured across the land" like a river and enveloped the city in "a darkness...like the black of closed and unlit rooms," resulting in the deaths of 2,000 people and the city's near-complete abandonment. Pompeii was essentially intact when it was found by explorers in 1748, who were startled to find it hidden beneath a thick coating of dust and trash. We have learned a great deal about daily life in the ancient world from the structures, artifacts, and skeletons that were left behind in the entombed metropolis.
Pompeii: Where Is It?
Pompeii was incorporated into the Hellenistic realm in the eighth century B.C. by ancient Greek settlers who lived along the Bay of Naples coastlines on the west coast of Italy, south of the present-day city of Naples. In the second century B.C., Pompeii, a town known for its independence, came under the control of Rome. As a result, the Bay of Naples soon attracted affluent Roman tourists who loved the Campania coastline.
The town of Pompeii, which is roughly five miles from Mount Vesuvius, was a thriving vacation destination for the most illustrious Roman residents by the turn of the first century A.D. The paved walkways were lined with lavish homes and magnificent villas, many of which were adorned with priceless artwork and brilliant fountains.
The region was a hub for olive, grape, and other crops, and wine from Pompeii was savored in some of Rome's most opulent homes. The city's riches was largely derived from its fertile volcanic soil.
Small manufacturing and artisan shops, pubs, cafes, brothels, and bathhouses were bustling with tourists, locals, and slaves. The 20,000-seat arena was packed with people who also hung out in the outside markets and squares.
Scholars calculate that Pompeii had roughly 12,000 residents on the eve of the tragic eruption in 79 A.D., and about as many lived nearby.
Alp Vesuvius
Of course, Mount Vesuvius did not appear out of nowhere. Vesuvius has been erupting for thousands of years and is a part of the Campanian volcanic arc that runs down the Italian peninsula where the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collide.
For instance, a particularly intense eruption that is now referred as as the "Avellino eruption" in the year 1995 B.C. sent millions of tons of extremely hot lava, ash, and debris nearly 22 miles into the air. Nearly all of the villages, homes, and farms within 15 miles of the mountain were destroyed by that Bronze Age tragedy.
The locals had long since mastered the art of coexisting with their explosive neighbor. People continued to throng to the shores of the Bay of Naples, and Pompeii grew more crowded every year, even after a powerful earthquake rocked the Campania region in 63 A.D., an earthquake that, scientists now realize, delivered a warning rumble of the calamity to come.
Eruption in Pompeii
The territory around Pompeii was shaken by a succession of tiny earthquakes in either August or October of 79 A.D., sixteen years after that iconic earthquake. According to the author and eyewitness Pliny the Younger, the locals ignored the tremors since they "were not particularly worrying because they occur regular in Campania."
Then, on that terrible day, shortly after noon, Mount Vesuvius exploded once more. The explosion propelled a plume of volcanic gases, ash, and rock so far into the sky that it could be seen for hundreds of kilometers around.
Pliny the Younger, who observed the eruption from across the Bay of Naples, compared this "cloud of unusual split off into branches at a certain height on a kind of trunk (Today, geologists refer to this type of volcanic explosion as a "Plinean eruption.)
The light pieces of pumice and other pebbles followed by the fine-grained ash drifted to earth as this tower of debris cooled. Although it was terrifying—Pliny said, "I believed I was perishing with the world, and the world with me"—it was nevertheless not fatal because the majority of Pompeiians had plenty of time to escape, which many did.
Pompeii and Herculaneum
Conditions rapidly deteriorated for those who remained in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and neighboring cities. As the amount of ash in the air increased, it became more and more difficult to breathe. Even though the city was now coated in many feet of ash, several residents continued to live in the collapsed buildings with overloaded roofs.
A "pyroclastic flow"—a 100-mile-per-hour burst of superheated gas and crushed rock—then flowed down the mountainside the following morning, vaporizing everything and everyone in its path.
Pompeii was covered in millions of tons of volcanic ash by the time the Vesuvius eruption finally came to a stop on the second day of the eruption.
Some drifted back to town, looking for relatives or lost possessions, but there was little anything left. For many years, Pompeii, the nearby town of Herculaneum, and a number of nearby villas were deserted.
Pompeii Body Count
Up to 16,000 people may have been murdered by the eruption in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other nearby towns and villages, but only about 2,000 Pompeiians actually perished in the city itself.
Men, women, children, and animals all had their bodies frozen where they had fallen, and many of the subsequently discovered remains still held onto priceless household items that the deceased had planned to take safely outside of the city. Some of the victims had their arms touchingly wrapped around children or other loved ones when they were discovered.
Later archaeologists even discovered bread loaves and jars of preserved fruit. The majority of the city's structures were still standing, and household items and everyday items were still all over the streets. It had been discovered that the fine volcanic ash that buried Pompeii was a superb preservative.
Pompeii Display
Pompeii was mostly unexplored until 1748, when a group of explorers traveling to Campania in search of antiquities started digging. Under all that dust, they discovered that Pompeii was nearly identical to how it had been about 2,000 years earlier. They discovered that the ashes had served as an amazing preservative.
Numerous academics point to the Pompeii excavation as having influenced the 18th-century neo-Classical resurgence. The most affluent and fashionable families in Europe displayed artwork and replicas of artifacts found in the ruins, and sketches of Pompeii's structures influenced the era's architectural fashions.
For instance, affluent British families frequently constructed "Etruscan rooms" that resembled those in villas from Pompeii. Many of the frescoes, paintings, and other objects that have survived are currently on display in the Pompeii Antiquarium, which is situated among the city's ruins.
Pompeii has been the subject of excavation for almost three centuries, and the entire site has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The mysterious ruins of the city, as well as the artifacts and bodies interred on that terrible day more than 2,000 years ago, continue to captivate scholars and visitors today just as they did in the 18th century.
After seeing the Pompeii ruins in the 1780s, the German philosopher and poet Goethe said, "Many calamities have befallen the world, but few have brought posterity so much delight."