POMPEII

Regio VI, Insula 12 — House of the Faun

HAVE

Welcome. The word is laid in mosaic on the doorstep of the city's grandest house, where it has greeted visitors for two thousand one hundred years. It still does.

Pompeii is a Roman town stopped on an afternoon in 79 AD and kept, under ash, until 1748. This site walks its streets: the history, the two days of the eruption, what survives, and how to visit.

The Forum of Pompeii at dusk, with the silhouette of Vesuvius behind it
Object
The Forum at dusk, Vesuvius behind
Date
Forum paved 2nd century BC · photograph, present day
Findspot
Pompeii, Regio VII
Credit
Nirjhar Basak, Pexels

I

History

A prosperous town of perhaps eleven thousand people, in the shadow of a mountain nobody feared.

By the first century AD, Pompeii was a Roman town of perhaps 10,000 to 12,000 people, near the Bay of Naples and the mouth of the Sarno River. Founded by the Oscans in the seventh or sixth century BC and shaped by Greek and Samnite settlers, it became a Roman colony in 80 BC. Its streets followed a roughly regular grid, worn into deep ruts by cart traffic, and were lined with bakeries, laundries, workshops and thermopolia selling prepared food and drink over the counter.

Wealthier residents lived in houses and villas arranged around open courtyards, gardens and atria painted with elaborate frescoes. Poorer inhabitants often lived in smaller rooms above or behind the shops. The walls carried graffiti ranging from election notices and advertisements to insults, love messages and everyday observations. The city had a forum, theatres, an amphitheatre and several public baths.

Mount Vesuvius dominated the landscape, but the volcano had been dormant for centuries, and its long inactivity may have left residents unaware that it was capable of a major eruption. In 62 AD a severe earthquake damaged the town. Repairs were still underway seventeen years later, when the mountain woke.

A paved street in Pompeii with deep cart ruts, lined by columns and house walls
Object
Street with cart ruts and raised pavements
Date
Paving 2nd–1st century BC
Findspot
Pompeii
Credit
Balázs Gábor, Pexels
Stone mills shaped like hourglasses standing in the yard of a bakery
Object
Lava-stone mills and oven of a bakery
Date
1st century AD
Findspot
Pompeii, one of some thirty bakeries
Credit
Simon, Pixabay

  • 79 AD

    Year Vesuvius erupted

  • ~11,000

    Residents at its height

  • 1748

    Systematic excavation begins

  • 44 ha

    Uncovered to date, of about 66

  1. 7th–6th century BC

    Founded near the Sarno river by the Oscans, later shaped by Greek and Samnite settlers.

  2. 80 BC

    Becomes a Roman colony. The forum, baths and amphitheatre take their final shape.

  3. 62 AD

    A severe earthquake rattles the region. Repairs are still underway seventeen years later.

  4. 79 AD

    Vesuvius erupts, traditionally on 24 August. Within two days Pompeii lies under metres of ash and pumice.

  5. 1748

    Systematic excavation begins under Charles of Bourbon, and the city resurfaces.

II

The eruption

Two days, written down by Pliny the Younger from across the bay and recorded in the ground at Pompeii.

Vesuvius rising above a stone gateway and the trees of Pompeii A long street of Pompeii under a low grey sky Atrium of a house looking through to the garden, roof open to the sky Ruined street walls with Vesuvius on the horizon Plaster cast of a crouching figure among stacked amphorae
Object
Vesuvius from the excavations
Credit
yorick77

24 August · early afternoon

The column rises

Ash, gas and pumice climb some thirty kilometres and spread at the top. The wind carries the cloud south-east, over Pompeii. The date is the traditional one; some scholars argue for October.

“Its general appearance can best be expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches.”

Pliny the Younger, Letters 6.16

Hours follow Pliny's two letters and the volcanological reconstruction by Sigurdsson and others. Deposits across the city reach four to six metres.

III

What remains

Three places to start, and a walk through the rest.

Brick and marble columns of a portico on the Forum of Pompeii
Object
The Forum, civic and religious centre
Date
Laid out 2nd century BC
Findspot
Regio VII
Credit
Kiki K, Pexels
The oval arena and grass-covered seating of the amphitheatre at Pompeii
Object
The Amphitheatre, seating about 20,000
Date
About 70 BC, the oldest known in stone
Findspot
Regio II
Credit
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
Aerial view of the Villa of the Mysteries among vineyards, with Vesuvius behind
Object
Villa of the Mysteries, with its frescoed hall
Date
2nd century BC, frescoes about 60 BC
Findspot
Outside the Herculaneum Gate
Credit
ElfQrin, CC BY-SA 4.0

IV

Visiting today

On the Bay of Naples, below Vesuvius, roughly 8 km south-east of Naples.

The ruins of Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius on the horizon
Object
The excavations, looking north to Vesuvius
Findspot
Pompei, Campania, Italy
Credit
Filip Chmielecki, Unsplash

Hours

Open daily except 25 December and 1 January. Closes earlier in winter, later in summer. Check the official site before you go.

Getting there

The Circumvesuviana train from Naples stops at Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri, steps from the entrance.

Tickets

Book ahead in peak season. A combined ticket also covers nearby Herculaneum.

Plan for

At least half a day. The excavated site covers 44 hectares, so wear sturdy shoes and bring water and sun protection.

Buried by disaster.Preserved by it, too.

The ash kept the shape of everything it covered: a loaf of bread, a door, a dog, a person. From 1863 Giuseppe Fiorelli poured plaster into the cavities as excavators reached them. The casts are the people of Pompeii at the last moment of 25 August.

Object
Plaster cast of a victim, Fiorelli method
Date
Death 79 AD · cast after 1863
Findspot
Pompeii
Credit
PlanetPompeii
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