Two cities, not one

Many people who've heard of Pompeii don't realize there were actually two cities that were destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius: Pompeii and Herculaneum. Both were completely covered by volcanic ash when Vesuvius belched volcanic ash and hot mud on Aug. 24^th in the year 79 AD.

Both cities were forgotten until they were found again in the 1700s. Over time the cities became completely buried. Excavation – which is the process archaeologists use to dig up buried artifacts – has been underway for several hundred years. At Pompeii, there are still many, many areas yet to be uncovered.

What was Pompeii like before the explosion?

Pompeii was a city of 20,000 residents. In many ways it was very progressive: Pompeii had indoor running water, a thriving marketplace, an ampitheater for entertainment and a structured government. The homes of the wealthiest citizens reveal beautiful works of art, particularly frescoes (pictures painted on the walls using a specific technique) and a reverence for the local gods and goddesses.

Pompeii also contained public baths, cobblestone streets, sidewalks and many private shops where its residents could purchase almost anything they wanted. Since Pompeii was a port city, located on the blue waters of the Bay of Naples, the people who lived there could take advantage of the many ships that made port in Pompeii. They brought goods from many other, exotic locations, to trade and sell in Pompeii and other Roman cities.

The people themselves were typical of the Roman empire at that time. There were several classes in Roman society, starting with the very wealthy and ending with slaves. The slaves were usually people who had been captured and enslaved following a war. They served the wealthier Romans and were the lowest class of people in Roman society.

The people of Pompeii wore togas, but like all Romans, only in formal public places, as they were considered sacred garments.

What happened when the Volcano exploded?

Volcanoes are not all alike. Vesuvius is what is known as a composite volcano. Composite volcanoes have two different types of eruptions: the kind you see in the movies where the volcano spits molten lava and the kind where the volcano spews ash and rock. The eruption that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum was of the latter kind.

Many times before an explosion, a volcano will "rumble" a bit – that is, make noises without actually exploding. Prior to the actual eruption, witnesses reported seeing a very large "cloud" over the top of the mountain. This cloud was made from volcanic ash and cinders.

The ash from a burned object is usually very light. It looks harmless. But volcanic ash chokes and suffocates every living thing, which is what happened when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Volcanic ash is thick and heavy and falls in massive amounts, along with hot cinders and rocks. This first stage of eruption is called the "plinian stage" of a volcanic eruption.

If you would like to see what the plinian eruption stage looks like, click on the link below:

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/pompeii/pmpErup.html

Pompeii was buried under 8 to 10 feet of ash and debris. Pliny the Younger, a Roman soldier, witnessed much of the eruption and helped to evacuate a small number of residents. The plinian stage is named for him.

Pliny wrote about what he saw. To read his account, check out this link:

http://www.ibiscom.com/pompeii.htm

Other disasters also struck Pompeii

Pompeii had its share of natural disasters. In 62 AD, just 17 years earlier, the city was destroyed by an earthquake, then rebuilt. In the year 202 AD, Vesuvius erupted for a solid week. In the stretch of time from 306 to 522 AD, the volcano erupted at least four times, and maybe as many as five. Vesuvius also erupted in 1631, then again several times in the period from 1913 to 1944. Italians refer to the mountain as "Vesuvio."

Here is a time line depicting the disasters that befell Pompeii and the discovery and excavation projects. Click on each year to read what happened.

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/pompeii/pmpTmLy.html

Excavation of Pompeii

Since its discovery in the 1700s, Pompeii has been in a state of excavation. Many teams of archaeologists have worked on the site, with the result that Pompeii has yielded many artifacts from ancient times. In addition to wonderful frescoes and other objects of art, the town has given us a true picture of life during the Roman era.

Many of the artifacts found in Pompeii are in museums, notably the one in Naples. Sadly, about 2,000 bodies were discovered, their outlines preserved forever by the hardened ash, mud and debris.

At the bottom of the home page of this website, you can see plaster casts of some of the bodies found at Pompeii.

http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/curriculum/soc_studies/rome/Po mpHistory.html

Some Fun Web Sites

Want to more about volcanoes and how they work? Try this website:

http://howstuffworks.lycoszone.com/volcano.htm

Here's another great resource for information on volcanoes:

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/

Want to read more about Mt. Vesuvius, plus see some really neat pictures of how it looks today?

~http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~boris/VESUVIO.html

Here are some thumbnail photographs of what Pompeii looks like today. If you click on each photograph, you can see a larger version. This page takes some time to download on a slower computer.

http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/italy_except_rome_and_sicily/pom peii/thumbnails_contents.html