Can you imagine what would happen if a volcano erupted next to your home tomorrow? If you were very near the volcano, it's likely that your home and the entire town would be covered in volcanic ash.
This happened to the Roman city of Pompeii 2,000 years ago when Mount Vesuvius, a volcano near the city of Naples in Italy, erupted. While it was very bad news for the Pompeians, it was very good for historians because it preserved the city, meaning that the ash and mud from the volcano kept it in the same condition it had been in when the volcano first erupted.
To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account
As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you succeed.
Get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons.
Try it now
I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline.
Thanks to the outstanding preservation of Pompeii, we know much about the city's history. The volcanic soil around Pompeii made crops grow strong. The city's nearby location to the Mediterranean Sea meant that people could fish and go in and out of the area by boat, which allowed them to travel and trade with other people.
Pompeii grew wealthy enough to build an amphitheater, an open-air theater for plays. There was also a stadium where gladiators, the famous Roman fighters, did battle with animals and other men. At the time of the volcanic eruption, Pompeii had about ten thousand people. Probably about one-third were slaves.
To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account
Prior to the volcano blowing up, Pompeii had some warning of the events to come. An earthquake in the year 62 AD damaged the entire region, including the city of Naples 20 miles away. However, back then nobody knew that earthquakes could trigger a volcano. So the people rebuilt the city and even hosted the Roman Emperor Nero two years later.
In the year 79, however, just before the volcano blew its top, people noticed that fish began to die in the rivers. Though they didn't know this at the time, this was probably due to poisonous gases leaking out of the unstable mountain. Some people worried about these events and left, but more stayed. Not long after, Mount Vesuvius erupted and changed the city forever.
Pompeii was quickly coated in a volcanic ash that came down from the sky like rain. Stones dropped on the city as well, destroying some buildings. Finally, the mountain collapsed and a wave of super-hot air and ash literally baked the city and its inhabitants, covering them in several feet of ash.
To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius killed everyone who remained in Pompeii, about 2,000 people. The layer of ash and mud that came out of the volcano preserved many of the buildings as well as the bodies of the people who had died.
Archaeologists who dig up this city continue to discover new information. We know from Pompeii that people had bad teeth because bread had tiny chips of stone. They also found graffiti, words and pictures drawn on buildings without permission, throughout the city. Some of the graffiti is in the form of love letters, while others are insults, such as one that reads, ''this food is poison.''
To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account
In the year 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius, a volcano near the city of Naples, Italy, erupted and buried the Roman city of Pompeii in ash and mud. This powerful blast preserved the city, keeping it exactly as it was, so that historians and archaeologists can study it. Much of what we know about ancient Rome comes from Pompeii, like the fact that they had an open-air theater for plays, an amphitheater, and that their stadium would host famous Roman fighters, the gladiators. Today countless visitors come to see the ruins.
To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account
Already a member? Log In
Back
I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline.
