Beneath The Ruins
The Lost City
In western Italy located on the Campanina plain, lie the untouched ruins of the long lost city of Pompeii. It started when the first people settled on the Italic peninsula, these people may have been prehistoric gatherers and fishers. In the 8th century B.C a group of Italic people called the Oscans occupied the region. They were the ones who probably established Pompeii. The Ionians also settled in the Campania plain during this time. The Greeks started a small settlement with a trading post. This trading post grew very successful and Pompeii dominated the area. Throughout this time the city was under Hellenic control. Herculum and Samnia invaded Pompeii and took control over the city. Rome and the Samnities fought over the control, until Rome finally drove the Samnities out. By the 4th B.C Rome took Pompeii as an ally. There control over Pompeii was very distant, they were able to have there own language and culture. Pompeii and Rome remained in there agreement for a long time. In the 90th century B.C. the Social War began. The people of Pompeii saw chance at freedom and joined forces with Roman allies. The Rebels and Rome fought for two years. Sulla, a brilliant general finally won the war, and kept Rome and Herculum in 88 B.C. Although defeated, Pompeian’s were granted roman citizenship. Romans established colonies to keep things in order. The people of Pompeii adapted easily because they had great recourses, and trade flourished and standard living was raised. The wealthy people of Rome vacated in the cities of Pompeii and Naples. The shoreline became home to many country houses. Some belonged to some of the most powerful people in the world. Pompeii and the surrounding villas were at piece.
Mt. Vesuvius was once a very active volcano, but the people of Pompeii and surrounding cities had never heard of the volcano ever being active because no stories had been passed down by there ancestors. The first warning of Mt. Vesuvius becoming active again occurred on February 5th 62 A.D midday. The Mountain let out a long muffled roar the shook the town. Nobody knew where it had come from or what it meant. After the roar the earth began to shake and buildings began to collapse. The people rushed out of town only to die from deep trenches in the earth’s surface that had been created due to the on going earthquake. The quakes continued until nightfall. For the next seventeen years the town focused on rebuilding the destruction from the mysterious noise and violent earthquakes. They decided to make the city even better than before. Once again, the city became a peaceful and beautiful place.
The next signs came on August 79 A.D. There was another earthquake, but it was so slight the few people even paid attention to it. After that, springs and wells started to dry up. A few days later on August 20th, the earth cracked, the once calm seas grew wavy, horses, cattle, and birds showed sighs of restlessness as if they could foresee disaster approaching. Finally on the morning of August 24th, the volcano burst with an earsplitting crack. Smoke, mud, flames, and burning stone rained down upon the city. The lava swallowed farms, orchards, and villas. Adding to all the chaos, was a deadly gas called mephitic vapors. This gas was very bad for the people to breathe in. It first caused deliriousness in the people and the suffocated them. The people tried to flee the area, some waited for the crowded streets to clear, others thought they would be safe sealed up in there rooms hoping the ash and poisonous gas would not harm them. Unfortunate people were killed due to falling buildings that were overcome with the mephitic vapors or buried by the falling ash. The town was covered by the mountain's mineral deposits; the layer was over 30ft deep. The mineral deposits created fossils of the objects it covered. Today there are fossils of real humans, preserved food, and many other interesting things.
The city was lost for 1,600 years until its accidental rediscovery. Since the discovery scientist are able to provide a detailed description of what live was like in the city of Pompeii. Today, Pompeii is one of Italy’s most visited sights. Pompeii is an extraordinary discovery that has changed our prospective of early life. Pompeii has become very famous because of it's amazing artifacts that still remain to day. Due to its growing popularity, more and more people are becoming educated about what happened on that horrible day.
