2019-07-13_Archaeology_Magazine

28 ARCHAEOLOGY • July/August 2019

both people and the plentiful agricultural products cultivated

in the area’s fertile volcanic soil, and to the busy harbor that

served the city. In the sixth century b.c., a fortified wall that

would define the city for the next 600 years was constructed,

its shape determined by the lava flow on which Pompeii sits.

Toward the end of the fifth century b.c., Samnites

migrated from the mountains of south-central Italy and

took over many of the region’s Greek and Etruscan towns,

including Pompeii, bringing with them new gods, customs,

and building styles. “The Samnites became accustomed to

urban life and, from this point on, the city was a kind of

melting pot of cultures and really thrived,” says Mogetta. The

Samnites remained in control of the city until the late fourth

or early third century b.c., when the Romans conquered

the region. Two centuries later, Pompeii’s residents felt

themselves to be in a strong enough position to demand

full Roman citizenship. This demand was rejected, and, in

89 b.c., the Roman general and dictator L. Cornelius Sulla

took over Pompeii. In 80 b.c., the city was resettled as the

Roman colony of Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum,

and Latin became the official tongue, replacing Oscan, the

language of the Samnites. Pompeii continued to prosper and

was a busy, cosmopolitan city of around 10 , 000 residents at

the time of the eruption. During that catastrophe, thousands

escaped their homes, but thousands of others would perish.

Pompeii lay entombed for 1 , 500 years, until its existence

was hinted at in the late sixteenth century by small discover-

ies of ancient remains made by the Renaissance architect

The Pompeians may not have known it, but the a.d. 62
earthquake had been a warning that the volcano looming
over their city was waking up after 700 years of dormancy.
In a.d. 79 , Mount Vesuvius erupted in one of the largest and
deadliest volcanic events in history. A dense, high-speed rush
of solidified lava called lapilli, volcanic ash, and super-heated
gases rushed down Vesuvius’ slopes and buried Pompeii and
much of the rest of the region southeast of the mountain in
as much as 20 feet of volcanic debris.
There is a tendency to think that Pompeii had always been
just as it was in a.d. 79. However, by the first century a.d.,
it had already undergone as much as 1 , 000 years of change.
“It’s difficult to say who the original Pompeians were,” says
archaeologist Marcello Mogetta of the University of Missouri.
“But if you dig below the a.d. 79 levels—which is a real chal-
lenge because you can’t destroy mosaic floors and knock down
frescoed walls—you start to see that Pompeii is a site with a
very long history.”
As early as the tenth
century b.c., there may
have been a small settle-
ment on the site, occupied
by descendants of Campa-
nia’s Neolithic inhabitants.
In the eighth century, when
colonists from Greece set-
tled the region, and then in
the seventh century with
the arrival of the Etruscans
from the area to the north
between the Arno and Po
Rivers, Pompeii grew larg-
er. Before the a.d. 79 erup-
tion, the site overlooked
the Sarno River and was
nearly a mile closer to the
coastline. But the eruption
drastically altered the land-
scape, cutting off access to
the Sarno, an important
waterway for transporting

Volcanic debris including lapilli, or solidified lava, and thick layers of compressed ash from the a.d. 79

eruption of Mount Vesuvius surrounds the doorway to a partially uncovered entranceway in Regio V.

Bay of Naples Sarno River

Mt. Vesuvius

Cumae Puteoli Naples

Oplontis

Pompeii

Herculaneum

0 5 10 miles

Campania

Rome