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A fresco discovered in Pompeii in 1879
in the House of the Centennial (“Casa
del Centenario”) and preserved today in the Naples
National Archaeological Museum shows “Bacco”
with an enormous cluster of black grapes at the foot of an isolated
mountain believed to be Mount Vesuvius. The volcano did not seem to be a danger to the
inhabitants of Pompeii before that terribile day in 79
A.D.. The slopes were surrounded by grapevines,
the top was a thick forest full of
game. Frequently the wine aanphorae from Pompeii carried the
inscription “Vesuvinum” and in
the kitchens there were sometimes paintings of wild-pork heads. The city, founded by the “Osci”, rose high on a counterfort created by a prehistoric lavaflow and was crossed by the Sarno River which represented a confortable link with the sea for the people living in the valley. Even
if ceramic pieces and stone arms found seem to date the first human
settlements back to the Bronze and Iron Age
(VIII century B.C.) a lava block wall and small groups of dwellings
dated between the VII and VI
centuries
B.C.
represent the first certain example of the founding of the city. The land was first dominated by the Greeks
who ruled over the gulf of Naples,
then by the Etruscans who ruled
over the Campania hinterland and then again by the Greeks
(474 - 425 B. C.) after the defeat of the Etruscans at Cuma.
Toward the end of the V century B.C. the city was conquered by the Samnites
who came down from the mountains in the Irpinia
and Sannio regions. Pompeii will
remain under their influence for more than three centuries, until the
Rome conquest of Campania (end III
century B.C.) and the conquest of the city, but allowed to maintain its
own institutions and language. In
89 B.C. Lucio Silla and his troops
besieged Pompeii and occupied it. Nine years after, in 80
B.C., Pompeii became a Roman colony, with the name of COLONY
CORNELIA VENERIA POMPEIANORUM, and
absorbed the language, customs and architecture of the Romans. In 62 A.D. it was seriously damaged together with other Campania cities, by a violent earthquake, but reconstructed quikly. Pompeii was growing rapidly: it had approximately 20,000 inhabitants, when on August 24, 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvius awake and completely destroyed it together with the neighbouring cities of Ercolano and Stabia. A famous letter written to Tacito
by Plinius the Young contains a
description of the eruption and of the tragic death of his host uncle, Plinius
the Elder, a naturalist and commander of the Miseno
Fleet. A layer of approssimately six, seven meters of ashes and lapilli buried the city. Most of its inhabitants died while trying to escape along the road to Stabia and to Nocera, or by soffocation in the cellars of their own homes. Many casts by Giuseppe Fiorelli, director of excavations in 1840, obtained by pouring liquid plaster into the space left by the corpses buried in the ash bank are a contiuous witness of the tragedy. Pompeii was forgotten until 1594 and 1600 when the works to build a canal for transportation of water from the Sarno River to Torre Annunziata drilled the hill of the Civita and brought to light the ruins of many buildings and inscriptions. It was only in 1748, under the rule of Charles of Borbone, that the first real excavation actually started. Excavations were greatly incremented in 1800,
infact most of th public buildings were discovered between 1806
and 1832. Among these are the Forum
and some of the most important private houses such as the House
of Tragic Poet and of the Faun.
In the 1860, during the Reign of Italy,
Giuseppe Fiorelli became director
of the excavations which he conducted in an orderly manner. He also
promoted contemporary interventions of restoration and protection. After an interruption due to the 1st World War,
excavations recommenced in 1924
under the supervision of archaeologist Amedeo
Maiuri who passionately dedicated to this work the resto of
his life, almost 40 years. Three fifths of the city equal to a surface of approximately 66 ha, and a wall of 3220 meters perimeter have been brought to light thus offering an exciting view of the buildings, and of the original decorations and house tools. On the basis of the road plan archaeologists have split up the area in nine regions each of which into insulae and have progressively numbered the entrance room of each block (insulae).
For further informations about the Roman city buried by the fire of the Vesuvius, visit the site www.PompeiSepolta.com/. You will find many historical news about the city-life, the typical Roman houses, the education of the Pompeian youth, the games, the sports and the "ars amatoria" of our ancestors. From the section "Visit to the Ruins" you can enter directly in the archaeological area and, virtually, in the houses, the places, the sacred and public buildings, discovering the secret of a city that will live forever in consequence of a tragic event that disseminated death and terror all over the surrounding territory.
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