A Bronze Statue in the Pompeiian
POMPEIIAN HISTORY
A Bronze Statue in the Pompeiian
Forum Area.
Mt. Vesuvius Erupts
The earliest humans known in the Campania region of Italy where Pompeii was later built were Neolithic people. Pieces of pottery they used or made are being studied today to learn more about what was happening during their time. These people were the ancestors of the Oscans who are known to have lived in the area long before Pompeii was visited by the Greeks. The ancient Oscans were living in the area during the 800 B.C. eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Around 800 B.C., Mt. Vesuvius was a very active volcano, much like modern-day Mount St. Helens in Washington. Both are composite volcanoes, given to sudden explosive violent eruptions that send out powerful flows of poisonous gasses, hot ashes, cinders, and lava flows. But, just like Mount St. Helens, Mt. Vesuvius went back to a dormant period, sleeping for nearly 800 years.
The Pompeiians did not know there was anything to fear from the mountain they looked up to each morning as the sun rose. Will people forget about the tremendous Mount Saint Helens earthquake in a few hundred years? Do you think it will erupt again? When you compare the two eruptions, they were almost identical in force, destruction and in the condition of the mountain afterwards.
The tall cone of the mountain was blown to pieces
and rained debris in a southerly direction onto Pompeii and other
neighbor towns. Tons of ash formed a boiling cloud that rolled
with hot sizzling gasses as it flowed south over Pompeii. When
the eruption ended, the top of the mountain looked much like St.
Helens: flat with a deep bowl of a crater inside. Then, like St.
Helens, Vesuvius began to slowly build a new dome in the crater.
Early Pompeii
It is not known who first colonized the slopes of
Mt. Vesuvius, but before the Greeks arrived, people were already
living on the southern slopes of Mt. Vesuvius in the area where
the ruins of Pompeii are being uncovered by archaeologists today.
Oscans, Etruscans, Samnites and Greeks all fought and dwelt in
the area. The city was quite defensible and had an excellent harbor
below that allowed ships from the Mediterranean to dock and trade
close to Pompeii. It was also at the mouth of the Sarnus River,
which put it at an important place for trading with nearby towns.
Ancient Greek City-states (called polis) sent out
expeditions to nearby lands and established colonies where it
was profitable and safe to build a community. This was not Greek
colonization, but polis colonization, so a city-state like Sparta
had colonies and so did others like Athens. Once a colony was
established and successful, the sponsoring polis allowed the new
community to operate like a polis itself. Each community had a
family relationship with its parent polis and would not engage
in war against the parent polis or its sister-colonies. Cumae
(where modern Naples is today) was an important Greek colony near
Pompeii. Pompeii was not a Greek colony.
The Greeks Arrive
The first Greeks that lived at Pompeii probably came nearby Cumae around 500 B.C. In the scheme of colonization that Greek city-states employed, Pompeii does not seem to have been of great importance from what we have learned. What the Greeks brought with them in the way of philosophy, astronomy, art, architecture, biology, trade, math, medicine and contacts with other countries was very important.
Like their counterparts back in Greece, the Greeks
in Italy were supported by a large population of slaves. Nearby
Ischia, an important colony, which was very defensible against
enemies, lay along an important sea trading route.
Trade and Industry
The market at Pompeii did good business because the region was a rich, agricultural zone. The nearby countryside was good for growing and produced harvests that kept the market stalls filled with food. Fresh fish from the river and the Mediterranean Sea balanced out the healthy foods Pompeiians ate. To learn how commerce was conducted in a Greek city, click here.
Pompeii was known for producing fine millstones (used
for grinding grain), for making perfumes, cloth, and for fish
sauce. Some of these products were shipped from the busy port
in the harbor to other cities by boat. The Greeks had a war around
400 B.C. with the the Samnites. At this time, they became a "vassel"
of Rome, but the Romans allowed the Pompeiians to continue without
interference.
Blended Cultures
Pompeii began to grow and become prosperous around
200 B.C., and by 91 B.C., it had fallen under the control of the
Romans. The size of the city began increasing with the propsperity
and wealth of its citizens. It grew to be about three times larger.
Pompeii is a fair distance south of Rome and the terrain is not
easy to negotiate, but the Romans were excellent builders of roads
and Pompeii was a resort-like community sitting high on the flanks
of Mt. Vesuvius overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. Wealthy
Romans quickly took advantage of the climate and location of Pompeii
as a vacation spot. Disaster struck in 62 A.D., when a terrible
earthquake destroyed much of Pompeii. They were still rebuilding
in 79 A.D.
Mt. Vesuvius Eruption Kills Thousands
The city grew to more than 20,000 inhabitants by 79 A.D., when Mt. Vesuvius' violent eruption covered the cities near the mountain with ash, rocks, lava, mud and poisonous gasses. Pompeiians could not escape and many were poisoned by the gasses, struck by rock showers, or choked on volcanic ash. Click here and scroll down the page. As you scroll, look at the other (cartoon) map and see if you can find the body cast of the dog that is located further down the page. This poor dog couldn't escape. You can also see some 20th century photographs of Mt. Vesuvius erupting. We'll be talking about the "dog" in the following page (Pompeii is Rediscovered).
The eruption was written down by eyewitness Pliny
the Younger, who along with his uncle, Pliny the Elder, tried
to help people escape by sea in boats. Young Pliny saved his mother,
but the fumes killed Pliny the Elder and more than 2,000 other
victims whose remains have been uncovered at the archaeological
dig over the past century. When the eruption subsisded, survivors
took what they could of their belongings that was valuable: metal,
marble and statues. More eruptions followed. The harbor was badly
damaged. The nearby towns of Herculaneum and Stabiae were also
badly damaged.
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