Discovery of Pompeii ruins

Vesuvius was to remain active for many centuries, up until our own time; the other cities around it were built, more or less on the same sites as before, but Pompeii remained buried for nearly two thousand years. People feared the site, as if a terrible spell had been cast over it. Looters and treasure-hunters carried off what they could from the ruins near the surface, but then Pompeii was forgotten and all trace of it lost. One thousand six hundred years passed before the first ruins were properly uncovered, and another one hundred and fifty years before the city could be said to have been rediscovered.

79AD volcano eruption in Pompeii

First Disaster and Pompeii's tragedy. Despite to all political upheavals, Pompeii's development continued, and from a modest farming town it became an important industrial and trading center. The first great disaster to hit Pompeii was the terrible earthquake in 62 A.D., which left the ancient city of Pompeii no more than a heap of rubble.

Origins and History of Pompeii

Pompeii story starts in the 8th century B.C. The origins of Pompeii are as ancient as those of Rome. First settlements were founded by "gens pompeiana", who belonged to the Osci, one of the oldest of the Italic peoples. Since it lay on the only route between north and south and between sea and the fertile valleys of the hinterland, Pompeii rapidly became an important road junction and port, attracting the attention of the powerful states around it.