Pompeii

Pompeii History-

By Madison Nef

Pompeii was a city state in Italy. It had a beautiful, lush green mountain that overflowed with vineyards and forests.  This mountain was really a volcano, but no one realized this in Pompeii. This was Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Vesuvius is the volcano that unexpectedly erupted and buried Pompeii underneath ash. It was a normal day in 79 AD, and everyone was doing their usual routine. For most people, several hours were spent in the baths.  Most people escaped Pompeii when they saw Vesuvius erupting. Still, 2000 people didn’t make it out. It was almost 1700 years before anyone remembered about the mysterious buried city again.

Then, treasure thieves came in and started digging, stealing the most valuable artifacts from the city and leaving the rest in even more of a whirlwind mess then it was before. Then, real archeologists came in and handled the excavations properly.  Restoration began centuries later. Since 79 AD, Vesuvius has blown its top more then 80 times. The last eruption was in 1944. This is the record time that it has stayed silent.

One smart man named Giuseppe Ferrailai saw a body-shaped lump in the earth. He poured plaster into a crevice near the lump. After he was sure it had dried, he chiseled away the earth to discover a beautiful plaster cast. It showed exactly the position that the person died in. These casts are now shown at a lot of museums. They are still being made when dead bodies are found. Many of these casts are shown in perhaps the most famous house in Pompeii- the House of Menander.

The House of Menander is one of the most luxurious and large houses in Pompeii. It was still pretty intact by the time the volcano was over. 2 dead bodies were found there- a slave named Eros and an anonymous little girl. In the basement, 2 treasure chests were found filled with silver and gold and many items of silverware. It seems that 2 is the number for the House of Menander.

Before the volcano erupted, Pompeii people were a lot like us. They had lives, and their town had stores and gyms. Their gyms were more like baths and saunas, with a hot, warm, and cold bath.  You COULD lift weights if you wanted but many people came for a massage, 2 baths, a massage with oils, and another bath.

Pompeii Before and After Mount Vesuvius Timeline

8^th Century BC- Original Oscan settlement comes to Pompeii

79 AD- Mount Vesuvius erupts unexpectedly for the first time, killing one tenth of the population (2000 people)

80 AD- Pompeii is already long forgotten, buried under ash for about a year. Name and location are forgotten, but stories still circulate in small pieces about a buried city.

1500 AD- Thieves and collectors discover city and dig through it, taking the most valuable items and destroying the rest worse than it already was.

1700 AD- Real archeologists come in and properly excavate the city, starting restorations later on and bringing back the old statues to their home. Some of the restored places of Pompeii got flushed away by the multiple volcano eruptions after.

1944- Mount Vesuvius erupts for the last known time. This is the longest it has stayed silent and not erupted.

Pompeii is the perfect example of “everything is not what it seems”.  Pompeii was known for having the occasional earthquake, so when the floor shook for the first time, the people thought nothing of it because they didn’t know they were living next to a volcano. They didn’t have any plan on what to do except run. 1/10 more of the city could have survived if they had a plan. Another good quote: “always have a plan!!!”

Granted, they did not live today. When earthquakes happened- OH, THIS BAD RUMBLE FROM GODS! They didn’t even THINK that “hey, maybe the gods are a little bit MAD at us if they are shaking the ground?” No, they thought the gods were just rumbling the ground and destroying houses for NO REASON AT ALL.  Maybe the gods were mad at them for taking good farm animals that could be used for selling or food and tossing them away and calling it “SACRIFICE TO THE GODS”.  Hey, everyone to their own belief.

Pompeii suffered from many earthquakes and houses always needed renovations. At the time of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, houses were just being repaired from an earthquake and were almost finished. It added that extra amount of insult that said, HEY! How dare you rebuild your houses! Ok, here you go! And in comes the volcano.

That is all I have to say on Pompeii.