Ancient city of Pompeii was formed back in the 6th century BC. If it were not for the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which burned the entire city to the ground, covering it with a huge layer of volcanic ash, Pompeii would still exist not far from Naples. Now these are ruins that UNESCO has listed World Heritage.
The name Pompeii arose after the unification of five independent cities (pumpe - five). This is a more plausible version. There is a legend according to which Hercules defeated the giant Geryon in a tough battle, and after that he solemnly walked around the city, celebrating the victory. From the ancient Greek language pumpe is a solemn, triumphal procession.
In those days, people believed in God, and believed that the gods controlled earthly cataclysms. Despite the fact that on February 5, 62 AD. e. happened major earthquake, which could possibly have been the impetus for a volcanic eruption, people still continued to live in the city, worshiping the gods, and believing that no misfortune would happen to them. Still, the volcano erupted. It happened August 24, 79 AD Not only the city of Pompeii suffered, but also nearby cities - Herculaneum, Stabiae. The eruption was so strong that the ash even reached neighboring countries - Egypt and Syria. About 20 thousand people lived in the city. Some managed to escape even before the disaster began, but many died. The exact number of victims is unknown, but the remains of bodies were found far outside the city.
The city remained under a layer of ash for many centuries until in 1592 by Dominico Fontana(a famous architect of that time) did not stumble upon the city wall while laying a canal from the Sarno River. No one betrayed this wall of great importance, and only about 100 years later in the ruins of Pompeii they found a tablet with the inscription “Pompeii” carved on it. Even after this incident, no one could have imagined that this was an ancient city that had disappeared from the face of the earth. They concluded that this was the old villa of Pompey the Great.
And so in 1748 the extraction began ancient city. Led the excavations Alcubierre, who was sure that this was the city of Stabiae. Directly in Pompeii itself, only three excavations were carried out in different places. Alcubierre was a barbarian, and he sent all finds that, in his opinion, were of interest to the Naples Museum, and simply destroyed others. Many scientists protested, and the excavations stopped.
In 1760, new excavations began, led by F. Vega. They continued until 1804. Vega and his subordinates spent 44 years retrieving works of art. All finds were restored again and removed very carefully. At this time, tourists had already begun to come here, so many monuments were not immediately transferred to museums, but were left on display for visitors to the city of Pompeii, which had already become a museum.
In 1863, excavations continued. This time they were led Giuseppe Fiorelli. It was he who discovered a huge number of voids under layers of ash. These are nothing more than the bodies of the city's inhabitants. By filling these voids with plaster, scientists completely reproduced the casts human bodies, right down to facial expressions.
Pompeii is an ancient Roman city near Naples, in the Campania region, buried under a layer of volcanic ash as a result of the eruption of Vesuvius on August 24, 79.
Now - a museum under open air. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Recent excavations have shown that in the 1st millennium BC. e. there was a settlement near modern city Nola. A new settlement - Pompeii - was founded by the Osci in the 6th century BC. e. The name of the city most likely goes back to the Oscan pumpe - five, and is known from the very foundation of the city, which indicates the formation of Pompeii as a result of the merger of five settlements. The division into 5 electoral districts remained in Roman times. According to another version, the name comes from the Greek pompe (triumphal procession): according to the legend about the founding of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum by the hero Hercules, he, having defeated the giant Geryon, solemnly marched through the city.
The early history of the city is little known. Surviving sources speak of clashes between the Greeks and Etruscans. For some time, Pompeii belonged to Cumae, from the end of the 6th century BC. e. were under the influence of the Etruscans and were part of a union of cities led by Capua. Moreover, in 525 BC. e. A Doric temple was built in honor of the Greek gods. After the defeat of the Etruscans in Kita, Syracuse in 474 BC. e. The Greeks regained dominance in the region. In the 20s of the 5th century BC. e. together with other cities of Campania, they were conquered by the Samnites. During the Second Samnite War, the Samnites were defeated by the Roman Republic, and Pompeii around 310 BC. e. became allies of Rome.
The city took part in the uprising of the Italian allied cities of 90-88 BC. e., during which in 89 BC. e. was taken by Sulla, after which it was limited in self-government and made a Roman colony of Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum. It occupied an important place on the Via Appia trade route connecting Rome and Southern Italy. Many noble Romans had villas in Pompeii. There is evidence that around 2,000 Roman veterans were housed in a large enclosure in the south-eastern part of the city with their families. It is unknown whether these parts of the city were taken from their owners for this purpose.
According to Tacitus, in 59 AD. e. There was a brutal battle between the inhabitants of Pompeii and Nuceria. Beginning with a squabble during gladiatorial games in the Pompeian arena, the conflict escalated into a fight in which the Pompeians gained the upper hand, and among the Nucerians many people were killed or injured. After a long trial, the Senate sent the culprits into exile and banned games in Pompeii for 10 years. However, already in 62 the ban was lifted.
The city of Pompeii arose in the 6th century. BC. for the most natural and rational reason: where the roads connecting the northern and southern parts of the Apennine Peninsula converged. Which means it was perfect place for profitable trading. In addition, nature and climate have created everything here for a relaxing pastime, which in antiquity was considered best condition a life worthy in all respects. Then the settlements that became the forerunners of the city were located on the shores of the Bay of Naples (then the bay retreated from this place). The Osci lived here - one of the ancient Italian tribes. Subsequently, the Osci were assimilated with the Latin-Romans and disappeared from the ethnic landscape of history as a tribe. It is believed that the Osci were related to the Samnites, based on the fact that they had similar languages. The most convincing version of the origin of the city’s name is associated with the Oscan word pumpe - “five”: there were so many first settlements on the site of the city. And the main roads that converged here led to Nola, Cumae, and Stabiae. Another version of the origin of the city’s name is based on the Greek pompe - “triumphal procession”, according to the myth about the founding of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum by Hercules. The second version is supported by the fact that the city was built according to the canons of Greek architecture. Which, however, is typical for all buildings Ancient Rome along with Etruscan influence. And the Etruscans took possession of Pompeii first, then the Greeks from Qom, and only then the Romans.
At first, the structure of Pompeii was rustic and arbitrary, but from the 4th century. BC e. it is being transformed: straight streets were laid, blocks of two- and three-story buildings were formed residential buildings, in which apartments and rooms were rented. The public buildings of this essentially small city gave it almost metropolitan respectability. “The plan of a Pompeian house is striking in its desire to divide the space as small as possible and to connect all the divisions as closely as possible. We are surprised by the small size of Pompeian rooms, but isn’t it more surprising that in other houses the number of rooms reached sixty. Among these countless bedrooms and dining rooms, the difference between which could only be understood by the eyes of a home-loving owner, stretched courtyards - a half-open atrium and a completely open peristyle. They are repeated with amazing accuracy in all Pompeii houses...” this is a quote from a short essay on Pompeii by the outstanding Russian art critic P. P. Muratov (1881-1950).
Many houses here did not have kitchens. Bread was bought in bakeries (there were 34 of them), and ready-made hot dishes were bought in 89 thermopolia, ancient Roman trattorias. The sybaritic way of life was asserted by the Roman aristocracy, who built luxurious villas in Pompeii, Herculaneum and near them. This is how the Pompeians lived: artisans worked, merchants carried on their commerce in markets and in the port near the mouth of the Sarno River, patricians rested, and everyone visited the Forum, temples, theaters, the amphitheater - an arena for gladiatorial fights, baths and lupanaria - meeting houses. And even military conflicts did not particularly disturb this order and serene spirit. And the main events in the history of Pompeii were as follows: the conquest by the Samnites - 20s. V century BC e., alliance with Rome after the Second Samnite War - around 310 BC. e., Allied War - the uprising of the Italic tribes against Rome (91-88 BC) and the conquest by Emperor Sulla in 89 BC. e.
The inhabitants of Pompeii did not know about the most important thing for them - what was happening in the depths of the stratovolcano, standing at the junction of the tectonic plates of Europe and Africa. From time to time, the Pompeians felt tremors, but since large-scale destruction did not occur, no one attached serious importance to them. The inhabitants of Pompeii did not even care that some of the slopes were noticeably warm. This continued until 62.
Ancient Pompeii, now an archaeological park, is located in the Italian region, in the southwestern part of the Apennine Peninsula, at some distance from the coast of the Gulf of Naples - in ancient times the Cuman Gulf, about 24 km southeast of Naples. The city is divided into 9 districts (regions), which can be called more commonly - quarters.
The earthquake of February 5, 62 caused very significant damage to Pompeii. The then reigning Emperor Nero even thought about evicting all residents from the city. But they did not believe that something like this could happen again.
After all, before this, Vesuvius seemed to them to be a good-natured giant in character: herds grazed on its emerald-green slopes, olive groves and vineyards bore fruit abundantly on its fertile volcanic soils. During the earthquake, the walls of houses collapsed, the water supply system was damaged, and statues fell and were broken.
In just 10-15 years, everything was restored and new buildings were built. The neighboring city on the other side of Vesuvius also suffered; it suffered more, but it was also much smaller than Pompeii. The city of Stabiae was completely destroyed back in 89 BC. e. Sulla during the Allied War, but quite a few villas were built in its place, which were also heavily damaged by the earthquake in 62.
Harbingers of a new coming disaster began to appear from the first days of August 79: streams dried up, animals behaved restlessly, birds flew away. Observant and educated residents of the city, on reflection, considered it best to leave it as soon as possible. Those who remained in Pompeii were mostly slaves guarding the property left by their owners, as well as small artisans with their families and single people. In total, at least 2 thousand people died. There is an assumption that there is much more - up to 16 thousand (taking into account Herculaneum, Stabiae and small villages), but since the excavations have not been completed to this day, the official figure is 2000.
The fatal, devastating eruption began in the afternoon of August 24 and lasted almost a day. First, there were explosive emissions of volcanic ash that covered the entire vicinity of Vesuvius. Then a thick layer of frozen lava flew out of the volcano’s mouth, like a cork from a bottle, sealing the volcano’s mouth for the time being. While still in the air, this layer scattered into large and small pieces, and already hot lava flowed. And also pyroclastic flows. It was driven by the pressure of volcanic gases and from time to time taking off into the air a mixture of molten deep rocks, hot stones and pumice - porous frozen volcanic glass, now melting again. According to modern calculations, the speed of this deadly flow could reach 700 km/h (in spurts), and the temperature - 800°C. Over the crater of Vesuvius, lapilli - small fragments of magma frozen in flight - flew up in volley sheaves.
Then the frequency of the volleys decreased, and a huge smoky cloud of ash and volcanic gases formed, which was carried by the wind towards Pompeii and Stabiae. The height of the cloud reached 33 km. And the process inside Vesuvius continued, the western part of the volcano exploded and collapsed into an expanded crater, and new lava flows burst out from there. The people of Pompeii were doomed. Someone tried to hide in own home, someone, on the contrary, is in open places to see where to run. But all this turned out to be useless. Many, before the stones fell on them, died, suffocated by poisonous sulfur fumes. Presumably, the writer Pliny the Elder, the author of Natural History, the largest encyclopedic work of antiquity, also died in Stabiae. He then commanded a galley fleet in Misenum on the shores of the Gulf of Naples and, as soon as the eruption began, rushed to Pompeii, but stones were already falling on the galleys, and Pliny turned to Stabiae to help someone and generally understand what was happening.
When the eruption ended, Pompeii and Stabiae were covered with ash, stones, lahars - mud flows. The thickness of the layer reached 8 m. A cover about 20 m thick formed over Herculaneum. The surviving people ran wherever they could, as long as they were away from the place of the apocalypse they experienced.
Scientific archaeological excavations at the site of the tragedy of 79 in Pompeii began only in the 18th century.
The first to come across traces of the lost city was the architect D. Fontana, who supervised the laying of an underground canal from the Sarno River to the villa on Civita Hill. These traces were fragments of buildings and, apparently, a city wall, but little significance was attached to the finds. Meanwhile, under this hill was Pompeii, although the symbolic name of the Civita hill - “City” (in translation) - directly indicated this. In 1607, the Neapolitan theologian and historian G. Capaccio, thinking about what the Latin inscription from this hill - decurio pompeis - could mean, interpreted it as “chief of the decuria” (group of slaves) or city councilor of Pompeii (and consul Pompey the Great in history of Rome) and concluded that there was a villa of a nobleman here, perhaps that of Pompey the Great. The thought of an ancient city still did not occur to anyone, and the ordinary hill town of that time, Civita, did not prompt such guesses. Another thing happened in 1631 powerful eruption Vesuvius, which had already covered Civita with a layer of ash, and the inhabitants of the city also abandoned it.
Excavations on the hill began in 1748. The head of the archaeological expedition, R. J. Alcubierre, however, was confident that the city found was Stabiae, and discovered only three minor sites that were not connected with each other. Of much greater interest to him were the excavations of Herculaneum, above which was located new town- Rubber. Here, by chance, while digging a well, objects of great material value were found, and a real fever of hunting for them began. Alcubierre also aimed only at the most valuable, but, of course, unlike amateur diggers, valuable from the point of view of high art. He, being a snob by nature, fearlessly destroyed all other finds from what he found in Stabiae and Herculaneum. Until his scientific colleagues were outraged by this barbarity.
In 1760-1804. under the leadership of F. le Vega, the excavations finally acquired a different, systematic character. The raised soil was removed, and primary restoration immediately began on open monuments. Both valuable artifacts and ordinary ones household items carefully classified: century (approximately), style, origin.
In 1763, an inscription was discovered on the pedestal of one of the statues indicating the date and place of its creation, and it became clear that the city being excavated was not Stabiae, but Pompeii. The most significant contribution to the return of Pompeii to world culture was made by archaeologist G. Fiorelli, who led the excavations in 1863-1875. In 1870, looking at the skeletons dead people, covered with a layer of ash and looking like statues, he came up with the idea of filling with plaster the voids formed in the place of the unpreserved bodies of people and animals. This is how their poses were reconstructed, telling about the most dramatic episodes of the death of Pompeii. Since 1980, after another earthquake in the Vesuvius area, only restoration work has been carried out in Pompeii: forcing excavations could lead to the collapse of buildings, which has already happened. Today, approximately a quarter of the city's territory has not been excavated.
Among the ancient cities, Pompeii ranks special place, no matter which way you look at it. For example, from the point of view of urban culture, the city had everything a person needed for a prosperous life at that time. The streets are straight, wide, and in general all communications are extremely well thought out. Household comfort was of a high level - the water supply in Pompeii is technically not much inferior to medieval water supply systems. The monumental buildings of Pompeii: temples, buildings for public meetings, entertainment, sports, villas were so impeccable in their proportions and general appearance in the spirit of Greek tradition that they could be ranked, if not on a par with masterpieces ancient architecture, then immediately behind them, and some - and level.
Frescoes, sculptures, furniture, decorative items made of metals, marble and other materials - all this is special, unique art world. All technical devices used by artisans, as well as medical instruments, were also of a high level. Pompeii even sold their bread to other cities - it was so good, thanks to the fine baking technology used here. 
An ancient Roman city in Italy, destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the 1st century. And as a result of this, it was preserved as an archaeological site.
Location
: western coast of the Apennine Peninsula, southern Italy.
Administrative affiliation
: region of Campania, province of Naples.
Official status
: open air museum, UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
Founding time: VII-VI centuries BC e.
Beginning of archaeological excavations
: 1748
Officially accepted date of death
: August 24-25, 79
Currency of Italy
: euro.
Nearest airport
: Capodichino in Naples (international).
The population of the city on the eve of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79
: about 20 thousand. people (according to modern speculative estimates).
Area of the archaeological reserve of Pompeii
: 0.66 km 2 (within the city walls), villas on the outskirts and buffer zone - another 0.44 km 2.
Distance from the crater of Vesuvius
- 9.5 km, from the foot of the volcano - 4.5 km, from Naples - about 24 km.
Capacity of the most grandiose buildings of Pompeii
: amphitheater - 20 thousand, Bolshoi Theater - 5 thousand, Maly Theater - 1.5 thousand people.
Number of tourists per year
: 2.5 million people
Modern height of Vesuvius
: 1281 m.
The area of the modern (new) city of Pompeii
: 12.42 km 2 .
Population of the modern city of Pompeii
: 25,358 people (2016).
Tourism, trade.
Subtropical Mediterranean, dry hot summer, rainy autumn, mild winter.
Average January temperature
: +8.8°C.
Average temperature in July
: +25.3°C.
Average annual precipitation
: 980 mm.
Average annual relative humidity
: 73%.
Forum and on it: temple of Jupiter (150 BC), temples of Laralia (sanctuary of the Pompeian Lares - patron deities of the city, hastily built after the earthquake of 62), Vespasian (2nd half of the 1st century AD) , basilica, public building(130-120 BC), Comitia (place of voting, 1st century BC), Eumachia - a building built in the 1st century. BC. priestess Eumachia, presumably for the college of dyers, weavers and fullons (male laundresses), Macellum (covered market, 1st century BC).
Villas: House of the Faun (180-170 BC), Villa of the Mysteries (2nd-1st centuries BC), Villa Oplontis (1st century BC), house of the Great Fountain, house of the Small fountain, etc.
The most famous houses : Tragic poet, Surgeon, Moralist, Menader, Gilded Cupids, Julia Felix.
Nearby: Archaeological Park of Herculaneum, Cathedral of the Madonna del Rosario in Pompeii (1876-1901), National Park Vesuvius, Naples.
National Archaeological Museum of Naples.
The eruption of Vesuvius on August 24, 79 began the day after Vulcanalia, a festival held in Rome in honor of the god of fire Vulcan in ancient Roman mythology.
In 1944, when the last significant eruption of Vesuvius occurred, a US Army aviation unit was stationed at an airfield near the modern city of Pompeii. During this natural disaster, the layer of volcanic ash reached a meter. 88 aircraft and various equipment received strong blows from pieces of pumice falling from the sky, and the Americans abandoned the airfield, abandoning all damaged equipment.
The gladiatorial amphitheater at Pompeii is the best (though not perfectly) preserved of its kind in the world. Its dimensions are 104x135 m. Gladiator fights took place there on the very eve of the eruption of 79 AD.
At the bottom of the Bay of Naples, 20 km from Pompeii, lie the ruins of another luxurious ancient city- Bayi, who also became a victim of the volcano.
The most famous work The theme of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 was the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” by the Russian artist Karl Bryullov, painted in 1830-1833. The first people to see this epic were the Romans, who left rave reviews about it. Bryullov's masterpiece was also exhibited at the Louvre. The painting is kept in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.
During excavations of the 16th century. the architect Fontana discovered the frescoes with erotic content and took it upon himself to cover them up again. During subsequent excavations, it turned out that there were an unusually large number of similar images in the city.
The streets in Pompeii were paved with stone slabs, and were raised in relation to the pavement by 20-25 cm.
Every year on May 8 and the first Sunday in October, tens of thousands of Catholics flock to the town of Santuario, which means Sanctuary, near the modern city of Pompeii for the feast in honor of the Madonna del Rosario of Pompeii. Above the image of the Madonna and Child, which is revered as miraculous, shine star halos, decorated precious stones, among which there are unique emeralds. All these are gifts from wealthy parishioners. The cathedral was built in 1876-1901, and immediately upon completion of construction it was elevated to the rank of a papal basilica. It contains part of the crown of thorns from the head of Christ and a fragment of the Holy Cross. The cathedral's 80-meter bell tower, accessible by elevator, offers the most breathtaking views of Pompeii and the rest of Naples.
Pompeii is a huge open-air museum city, which was included in the UNESCO list in 1997 cultural heritage peace. Every day thousands of tourists flock here to touch the ancient history, witness everyday details of a thousand years ago and feel the horror of a city buried under the ash and lava of a capricious volcano.
Pompeii was founded by the Osci mountain tribes in the 7th century. BC, who built a city on solidified lava, not knowing either the origin of this “foundation” or the reason for the fertility of the soil.
At that time, Vesuvius was sleeping and seemed like a harmless mountain.
In the 4th century BC.
became part of the Roman state.
It remained for a long time in the shadow of the larger settlements of Campania. History of urban planning is divided into two periods, as evidenced by the presence of different architectural parts of the city: old quarters with chaotic buildings, and new quarters built according to a single plan.
The old quarters are a legacy of the dominance of the Oscans, who built houses intuitively. Planned construction began in the 4th century. BC. At this time, straight streets with names, rectangular blocks, temples, markets, and amphitheaters appeared.
Pompeii was built according to Roman urban planning traditions: two streets, cardo and decumanus, intersected in the center, forming a central square.
At the beginning of the 5th century, the area of Pompeii was more than 65 hectares.
The roads were paved with cobblestones, and taking care of the condition of the roads was the responsibility of the townspeople: everyone looked after the area adjacent to the house, removed garbage, and made repairs. Roads and mourning had a sloping profile for the drainage of water heading into the city sewer.
A fountain was installed at almost every intersection. On some streets there were altars decorated with paintings, stucco and inscriptions.
The facades of the houses faced city streets, on the lower floors of which there were shops and workshops, and on the upper floors there were living quarters.
Excellently executed frescoes, mosaics, statues testify to high level visual arts. The originals are placed in the Archaeological Museum of Naples, but in their place there are copies that create a wonderful impression of past luxury.
Private houses were quite simple. The warm climate made it possible to do without windows, thereby saving on expensive glass. Sometimes they pierced the wall narrow gaps. The houses faced the street with blank ends; instead of numbers, the name of the owner was written.
Above residential buildings a portico was built for noble townspeople - wooden canopy on poles, protecting from rain and sun.
The atrium was considered the main room of the home, i.e. closed courtyard, in the center of which there was a pool for collecting rainwater. This water was considered sacred. Adjacent to the atrium were rooms intended for sleeping and working; and there was also a garden and a dining room. The houses of the nobility were distinguished by luxury and wealth, the number of rooms reached 40.
Water was supplied through pipes to the houses and fountains of the city.
Pompeii was a rich and highly developed city where trade and crafts flourished.
At the same time, it was a densely populated city in which all the human traffic flocked to the business center of the Forum.
At the Forum, meetings of the city council were held and related ceremonies were held: from elections and oaths to solemn funerals.
In working on the forum project, the architects followed ancient tradition: it should not be small for practical purposes, but it should not appear deserted due to sparse people.
The oldest building of the Forum is considered to be the Basilica, in which justice was administered, and the rest of the time it hosted commercial and entertainment meetings. Next to the Basilica there was a prison, which consisted of cramped, windowless rooms with narrow, iron-clad doors.
In the II century. BC. The central place in the Forum was occupied by the Temple of Jupiter or the Capitol, which was considered the main sacred building. After the final conquest by the Romans, the temple was dedicated to the three Capitoline deities - Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. A wide staircase with a stone terrace led to its main entrance, from where the priests made ceremonial speeches.
During the Roman Empire, the Forum was erected Triumphal Arch dedicated to Emperor Tiberius, built administrative buildings, tabularium - city archive, buildings for rituals, temple of Apollo, Pantheon - temple of Augustus.
Part of the area was occupied by a food market – macellum. Nearby were the temples of the city lares and Vespasian, the Eumachian exchange, and the Comitium - a platform for citizens to vote.
When the sun set, the Forum closed. The gatekeeper walked around all the exits and locked the gates. The main square of the city was empty until the morning. After sunset, only prison guards and prisoners were allowed to be in the Forum.
The ancient Romans loved and worshiped the gods of the conquered peoples. They moved other people's idols into their home and treated them with great respect, trying to earn their sympathy. Pagan temples were located in the main squares.
The best preserved temple of Isis.
Isis was the idol of wealthy Roman women, who found protection in her in extramarital love. The priestesses of the temple of Isis also arranged dates between same-sex lovers.
The temple, placed in the middle of a quadrangular portico with columns covered with drawings, rises on a high podium with a side staircase. On the sides there are two niches intended for the statues of Anubis and Arpocrates, the son and brother of Isis.
Behind the temple there are small buildings, where the priestesses of Isis gathered and had dates, and there was also a Purgatory with water from the Nile, which was used in the purification ritual.
In Pompeii there were two theaters built according to the Greek model.
Grand Theatre was built in 200-150. BC. in a natural depression of the hill. During the time of Augustus, the theater was expanded and its capacity was 5,000 spectators. The lower part of the theater, covered with marble and intended for the most important citizens, has been preserved.
IN Pompeii worked a lot thermopoly- antique taverns where hot food and spiced wine were served. Dishes were heated using large vessels built into the counter up to the neck, into which hot water was poured.
There were many public baths in the city, and each rich house had its own baths.
But the life of a prosperous city was cut short by the will of fate. Destructive eruption Vesuvius brought not only human tragedy, but also gave “immortality” to Pompeii.
There were harbingers of a volcanic eruption strong earthquake, which occurred in 62 AD. Almost all of Pompeii's buildings were damaged, some completely destroyed. But the city was quickly restored.
The eruption of Vesuvius began on the afternoon of August 24, 79 AD.
At first, few residents paid attention to the cloud of ash and steam that rose above the volcano, because Vesuvius had long been considered asleep.
Soon a black cloud covered the entire sky over the city, flakes of ash settled on the roofs of houses, sidewalks, and trees. Ashes had to be constantly shaken off clothes.
Under its layer, the bright colors of the city dimmed, merging into a single gray background. Continuous tremors constantly shook the earth.
The earthquake that began was so strong that carts in the streets began to overturn, and statues fell from houses and tiles crumbled.
It was possible to go outside only by covering your head with a pillow, since stones began to fall from the sky along with the ashes. People's anxiety was growing.
The pillar that rose from the crater of the volcano reached a height of 20 km.
Many residents tried to hide from the ashes in their houses, but there the air quickly filled with poisonous sulfur fumes and people died from suffocation.
Under the weight of ash, the roofs of houses collapsed on the inhabitants who had taken refuge in them.
Many died, unable to leave their valuables.
During the excavations, many people were found with bags filled with gold and other valuables.
The explosion was spread out over time, so most residents managed to leave the city.
There were slaves left in the city, who were left specifically to take care of household property, and citizens who stubbornly refused to leave their homes.
The morning of the next day greeted the people remaining in the vicinity with pitch darkness, the air became hot. The eruption of Vesuvius completely destroyed.
The city disappeared under a layer of ash, the thickness of which reached several meters.
For many centuries, in the place where olive trees once grew and vineyards grew green, dull gray plains of frozen lava stretched.
The cities buried under the ashes disappeared from people’s memory for almost 1,700 years, until by chance, in late XVI century, the architect Fontana, while digging a well near Sarno, did not find the remains of a wall and fragments of frescoes. The first excavations of the city began in the 18th century.
The first of all the cities to be excavated.
Directions:
Take the Circumvesuviana train from Naples to the Pompei Scavi stop.
Opening hours:
From November 1 to March 31: all days from 8.30 to 17.00 (ticket office until 15.30)
From April 1 to October 31: all days from 8.30 to 19.30 (ticket office until 18.00)
Closed: January 1, May 1, December 25.
Official archaeological site of Pompeii www.pompeiisites.org.
On August 24, 79, Vesuvius erupted. It was so strong that it completely destroyed three cities. Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae simply disappeared from the face of the Earth. Many residents died in severe torture, and their houses were buried under a multi-meter layer of stones and volcanic ash.
It is believed that the story of the death of Pompeii is well known. Archaeological excavations are constantly underway there. Eyewitness accounts have also been preserved. The same Pliny described everything in great detail. However, much about this tragedy remains unclear, and new facts are constantly emerging:
The harbinger of the tragedy was a powerful earthquake that occurred in 62. There were practically no undamaged buildings left in the city at that time, some were completely destroyed. And the day before the eruption of 79 there was a series of tremors. Of course, the inhabitants of Pompeii did not understand that this was connected with the volcano. But they believed: the earth was shaking due to the heavy tread of the giants, who warned that people were in danger of death.
Shortly before the eruption, the water temperature in the Bay of Naples increased sharply, and in some places reached the boiling point. All streams and wells on the slopes of Vesuvius have dried up. From the depths of the mountain, eerie sounds began to be heard, reminiscent of a drawn-out groan. It's interesting which last years heard all over the planet, also foretells the death of thousands of people?
About a tenth of the population died on the streets of Pompeii - about 2 thousand people. The rest may have managed to escape. This means that the disaster did not take people by surprise. This is clear from Pliny's letters. True, the remains of the dead were found outside the city, so no one knows the exact number of dead. According to some reports, the total number of victims of the eruption in Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabia is 16 thousand people.
People fled to the harbor, hoping to leave the dangerous territory by sea. During excavations on the coast, many remains were discovered. Apparently, the ships were unable or did not have time to accept everyone. And those who remained hoped to sit out in remote cellars or indoors. Then, however, they tried to get out, but it was too late.
Some believe that people burned alive in streams of hot lava, and the city was engulfed in flames. In fact, everything was not like that. Vesuvius practically did not erupt lava at that time. And if fires did break out anywhere, it was only by accident. This is known from the letters of Pliny.
First, a gray-black column of smoke and ash rose from the crater. Then the volcano began to eject larger debris. The hot cloud reached 33 kilometers in height. The energy of Vesuvius was many times greater than that released during atomic explosion over Hiroshima. People rushed through the streets in panic, but quickly became exhausted, fell and covered their heads with their hands in despair.
Destructive hydrothermal pyroclastic flows poured into the city. Their temperatures reached 700 °C. They brought fear and death. Hot water mixed with ashes, and the resulting mass stuck to everything that was in its path. A rockfall began. All this lasted 18-20 hours. The volcano erupted a huge amount of stones and slag.
It was difficult to breathe; a heavy black veil hung in the air. People fought for their lives, tried to escape from imminent death, and find safe areas. Then they fell exhausted, and were quickly covered with ash. They suffocated and died in cruel agony. Distorted faces, mouths open in a silent scream, convulsive clenched hands, cramped fingers... This is how most of the townspeople died.
As a result, the city was buried under volcanic rocks. The bottom layer consists of stones and small pieces of plasma. Its average thickness is 7 meters. Then there is a two-meter layer of ash. The total is about 9 meters, but in some places the thickness of the rubble was much greater.
Most of the inhabitants of Pompeii are buried in upper layers volcanic ash. They lay there for almost 2 thousand years, but, at first glance, they were well preserved. In the photographs, which are abundant on the Internet, you can see not only the position of the bodies at the moment of death, but even the expression of horror and agony on the faces of the unfortunate people.
But in fact, these are only casts that archaeologists make. The first to come up with this idea was a certain Giuseppe Fiorelli, who led the excavations. Back in 1870, he discovered that voids had formed at the sites where people died. After all, the ash mixed with water that poured onto the city during the eruption densely stuck around the dead. The mass dried and hardened, preserving the exact imprints of bodies, folds of clothing, facial features and even the smallest wrinkles.
By filling them with plaster, the scientist received accurate and very realistic casts. This is how he managed to reproduce people’s poses and obtain their death masks. But the bodies themselves have long since turned to dust. And it’s still creepy... These are not for you, which look more like ordinary fakes. Everything is real here.
So, at least, some historians and philosophers thought. Indeed, when archaeologists excavated the city, they found many frescoes with unambiguous content. And there were more lupanariums (in other words, brothels) and separate rooms for meetings with prostitutes than, for example, bakeries. No wonder the inhabitants of Pompeii were considered the most dissolute in the Roman Empire.
After 79, several more eruptions occurred. And every time it was terrible tragedy. So, in 1631, approximately 4 thousand people became victims of the volcano. In 1805, an eruption killed about 26 thousand people and destroyed most of Naples. In 1944, 27 people died and lava flows destroyed the cities of Massa and San Sebastiano. You can read more about the volcano, and about the death of Pompeii -. By the way, there are documentary videos:
