Image of the volcano erupting in ancient Pompeii

Illustration by Mike Heath

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NCSS: Culture • Time, Continuity, and Change • People, Places, and Environments • Individuals, Groups, and Institutions • Science, Technology, and Society • Global Connections

WORLD HISTORY

The Lost City of Pompeii

Nearly 2,000 years ago, a massive eruption buried an ancient Roman city. Scientists are still digging up clues about its fascinating history. 

Question: Why is Pompeii unique in helping us understand ancient history?

It came with little warning. The ground shook violently. Then a thunderous explosion of molten rock and ash shot into the sky—unleashing a cloud of destruction so enormous that it blotted out the sun.

It was August 24, 79 A.D., and Mount Vesuvius, on Italy’s western coast, was erupting. For the people who had long lived in its shadow, the eruption was unlike anything they had ever seen. In fact, they didn’t even have a word for volcano in Latin, their language.

Within hours, one of the most popular vacation spots in the ancient world would be lost—and 2,000 people would be dead.

A Thriving City

At about noon on August 24, the people of Pompeii were going about their day as usual. Pompeii was a bustling port city and seaside resort with a population of about 12,000. On the stone streets, vendors sold melon and roasted mice stuffed with nuts and chopped pork. Marble workers chiseled stone statues of famous emperors and warriors. People painted announcements in bright-red letters for upcoming elections and theater performances. Factories churned out fabrics for clothes and leather goods.

World map highlighting Mt. Vesuvius during the Roman Empire 79 A.D.

Jim McMahon/Mapman® 

Pompeii was a jewel in the heart of the Roman Empire, a civilization that at the time stretched across most of Europe, North Africa, and part of western Asia. Traders from across the empire came to Pompeii to buy and sell their goods. 

And like most Roman cities, Pompeii boasted advanced infrastructure—such as its water supply system. Aqueducts carried fresh water through underground tunnels to stone fountains, bathhouses, and homes.

Mountain of Doom

About 5 miles from Pompeii rose the majestic Mount Vesuvius, towering over this lively metropolis. But no one knew what Vesuvius truly was—that beneath its gentle green slopes was a lake of magma, or molten rock. After all, it hadn’t erupted in more than 1,500 years. 

Now, however, the magma was rising up inside Vesuvius. Intense pressure was building. And then—BOOM! As the volcano erupted, thousands in Pompeii fled in panic. Others took shelter within the city. But falling pumice—volcanic rock—was raining down with such deadly force, roofs collapsed over their heads. 

The nightmare went on for hours. Shortly before midnight, Vesuvius exploded again, triggering a surge of ash and hot gas that moved at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour. No one could escape it. 

The surge swallowed Pompeii. By the next night, the ash had cooled and hardened like concrete, sealing the city like a tomb.

Pompeii had vanished. 

Slideshow title page. Text, "Telling the Story of Pompeii"
These objects from the ruins provide a window into ancient Roman life.

Lost and Found

The once-thriving city was lost to history for more than 1,500 years. So how do we know so much about Pompeii today? 

In 1748, the ruins of Pompeii were unearthed, sparking excavation projects that have continued there ever since. It turns out the very ash and pumice that destroyed Pompeii also preserved it nearly perfectly. Vesuvius froze the city in time.

For more than 250 years, archaeologists have been slowly digging out the ancient city from as much as 20 feet of volcanic ash and rock. And with each discovery, they learn more about what life was like in the Roman Empire. Indeed, the ruins of Pompeii have provided the most detailed picture of an ancient Roman city ever found.

Houses, shops, and temples have emerged from the layers, revealing thousands of frescoes, or paintings, on their plaster walls. Surprisingly, archaeologists found intact loaves of bread and eggs still in their shells. They also uncovered an amphitheater—a stadium that could seat 20,000 spectators.

Then there are Pompeii’s dead. After the eruption, ash hardened around their bodies. As they decayed, hollow shells of their figures were left behind. Scientists filled the shells with plaster, creating casts that bear haunting witness to the final moments of so many of the city’s inhabitants.

Modern day photo of what remains of Pompeii

Buena Vista Images/Getty Images

More than 3.5 million people visit the ruins of Pompeii each year. Mount Vesuvius looms in the distance.

Protecting Pompeii

Today the ruins of Pompeii are extremely fragile. Over the years, this site has been hit by multiple earthquakes, bombs during World War II (1939-1945), and countless floods. In recent years, heavy rainfall has put Pompeii’s delicate buildings at risk of crumbling. 

The good news is that an ambitious $145 million project is underway to preserve the ruins and continue excavations. (At least one-third of Pompeii is still buried.) It’s called the Great Pompeii Project, and since it began in 2012, much progress has been made. 

Archaeologists recently shared their discoveries of a fresco featuring what looks to be a pizza. They also uncovered a bakery-prison where donkeys and enslaved men were made to live and work milling flour for bread.

“In the past, people were mostly fascinated by the rich,” says Steven Ellis, one of the archaeologists at Pompeii. But he says these days researchers are focusing on the lives of Pompeii’s ordinary residents—and they have many questions. 

How diverse was Pompeii? What was life like for the city’s enslaved people? For children? For persons with disabilities?

“You walk over it, and you know that underneath your feet, there’s still so much that future generations will be able to discover,” says Ellis.

What secrets has Pompeii yet to reveal? 

YOUR TURN

Analyze a Primary Source

“A Black and Dreadful Cloud”

This letter was written by a teenager known as Pliny the Younger, who watched Mount Vesuvius erupt from across the Bay of Naples. It is the only surviving eyewitness account.

We stood still, in the midst of a dangerous and dreadful scene. The sea seemed to roll back upon itself. . . . On the other side, a black and dreadful cloud, broken with rapid, zigzag flashes, revealed masses of flame. . . . Night came upon us, not such as we have when there is no moon, but that of a room when it is shut up, and all the lights put out. . . . I might boast that not a sigh or expression of fear escaped me,1 had not my support been grounded in that miserable though mighty consolation2 that all mankind was involved in the same calamity3, and that I was perishing with the world itself.4

1. How is Pliny feeling about the eruption? Do you think you’d feel the same?

2 & 3. Consolation is a source of comfort. A calamity is a disaster. What gives Pliny a sense of comfort? 

4. What did Pliny think was happening to the world during the eruption?

Question: What details in the text help create an image of the eruption in your mind?

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