Many scholars cite the excavation of Pompeii as an influence in the neo-Classical revival of the 18th century. They found that the ashes had acted as a marvelous preservative: Underneath all that dust, Pompeii was almost exactly as it had been almost 2,000 years before. Pompeii remained mostly untouched until 1748, when a group of explorers looking for ancient artifacts arrived in Campania and began to dig. The powdery volcanic ash that buried Pompeii had proved to be an excellent preservative. Most of the city’s buildings were intact, and everyday objects and household goods still littered the streets. Later archaeologists even uncovered jars of preserved fruit and loaves of bread. Some bodies were found with their arms poignantly wrapped around children or other loved ones. An independent-minded town, Pompeii fell under the influence of Rome in the 2nd century B.C., and eventually the Bay of Naples became an attraction for wealthy vacationers from Rome who relished the Campania coastline.Ībout 2,000 Pompeiians died in the city, but the eruption in total killed up to 16,000 people in Pompeii, Herculaneum and other towns and villages in the region.īodies of men, women, children and animals were frozen right where they’d fallen-many of the bodies uncovered later were still clutching valuable household objects they’d hoped to carry safely out of the city. Located on the west coast of Italy along the shores of the Bay of Naples-south of the modern-day city of Naples- ancient Greek settlers made Pompeii part of the Hellenistic sphere in the 8th century B.C. WATCH: Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire on HISTORY Vault Where Is Pompeii? The buildings, artifacts and skeletons left behind in the entombed city have taught us a great deal about everyday life in the ancient world. When a group of explorers rediscovered the site in 1748, they were surprised to find that beneath a thick layer of dust and debris, Pompeii was mostly intact. The dust “poured across the land” like a flood, one witness wrote, and shrouded the city in “a darkness…like the black of closed and unlighted rooms.” Two thousand people died, and the city was abandoned for almost as many years. Its most famous eruption took place in the year 79 A.D., when it buried the city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash. Pompeii, a flourishing resort city south of ancient Rome, was nestled along the coast of Italy in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano.
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