Pompeii · History & visitor context

Pompeii History: The Ancient Roman City Beneath Vesuvius

Pompeii was more than a city buried by Vesuvius. For roughly 700 years it was a working town shaped by Italic, Greek, Samnite and Roman influences, and by trade, politics and private ambition. This guide explains how its streets, houses and public buildings reveal the people who lived there, and how the city was lost and found again.

Start with its origins What to notice inside

What it isA Roman city in Campania, near Naples

BuriedBy the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79

SizeAbout 66 ha, around 44 ha excavated

World HeritageUNESCO-listed since 1997

Origins

A city built for work, worship and display

Pompeii was already about 700 years old when Vesuvius erupted. Its layout makes sense when you read it as a city that grew in layers, not as a set of separate ruins.

017th–6th century BC

A hilltop town above the Sarno river

The first recognisable town took shape on an ancient lava ridge near the mouth of the Sarno, a natural port for inland Campania. Local Italic (Oscan-speaking) people lived here alongside Greek and Etruscan influences. The Doric Temple in the Triangular Forum and the early Sanctuary of Apollo date from this phase.

Why this mattersPompeii started as a trading hub. Its river-and-sea position explains why commerce shaped the city from the beginning.

024th–2nd century BC

The Samnite town grows rich

Under Samnite control the city expanded to its final circuit of walls, about 3.2 km long. Wealth from wine, olive oil and Mediterranean trade paid for new public buildings, the Stabian Baths and grand houses such as the House of the Faun. Oscan was still the everyday language.

Look forTufa façades and Oscan inscriptions show a city that was prosperous and Hellenised well before Rome took over.

0389 BC

Besieged in the Social War

Pompeii joined other Italian allies who rebelled against Rome to win citizenship. In 89 BC the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla besieged the city. Afterwards Pompeii was absorbed into the Roman state.

What remainsImpact marks from sling bullets and siege missiles can still be seen on the walls near the Vesuvius and Herculaneum Gates.

0480 BC

A Roman colony reshapes the town

Sulla’s veterans were settled here as the Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum, founded under his nephew Publius Sulla. Latin replaced Oscan in public life, and new colonists paid for the Amphitheatre, the covered theatre (Odeion) and the Forum Baths.

Why this mattersThe Forum you see today is largely the stage on which Roman civic power became visible.

Pompeii was not a city frozen in one perfect instant

By AD 79 it had already been rebuilt many times. It was also still repairing damage from the earthquake of AD 62. Unfinished work, patched walls and redecorated rooms are part of the evidence, not signs of decay after the eruption.

How it changed

Eight moments behind the ruins

Residents, wars, disasters, excavators and conservators have all altered the city. Each left traces you can still read on site.

012nd century BC

Elite houses grow to palace scale

The House of the Faun, about 3,000 m², filled an entire city block. It had two atria and two peristyle gardens. The Alexander Mosaic that paved one of its rooms shows the kind of Greek-inspired luxury Pompeii’s elite wanted to display.

What remainsThe layout survives on site. The original Alexander Mosaic and the bronze faun are in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN).

02c. 70 BC

The Amphitheatre is built

Two leading colonists, Gaius Quinctius Valgus and Marcus Porcius, paid for the Amphitheatre. It is the oldest surviving stone amphitheatre in the Roman world and held roughly 20,000 spectators.

Important distinctionThe Amphitheatre staged gladiator fights and hunts. The Large Theatre and Odeion were for drama, music and recitals.

03AD 59

A riot in the Amphitheatre

At a gladiatorial show, a fight between Pompeians and visitors from nearby Nuceria turned deadly. The historian Tacitus records that the Roman Senate banned such games at Pompeii for ten years, dissolved illegal associations and exiled the show’s organiser.

Where to see itA fresco of the brawl, found in a Pompeian house, is now in MANN in Naples.

04AD 62

An earthquake starts 17 years of repairs

The philosopher Seneca dates a severe earthquake to 5 February AD 62 (Tacitus places it in AD 63). Temples, houses and the water system were damaged. Many repairs were still unfinished in AD 79.

Visitor takeawayA relief in the House of Caecilius Iucundus appears to show the Temple of Jupiter shaking in this quake.

05AD 79

Vesuvius buries the city

Pumice and ash fell for hours, then deadly pyroclastic currents swept through the streets. The traditional date is 24 August. A charcoal inscription found in 2018, dated to mid-October, has persuaded many scholars that the eruption happened in autumn, probably 24 October.

What remainsSeveral metres of volcanic deposits preserved the city’s plan, walls and many interiors, but not every object or roof.

061748

Systematic excavation begins

Engineers under Charles of Bourbon, then King of Naples, started digging here after the success at Herculaneum. At first they were looking for treasure more than understanding. An inscription found in 1763 confirmed that the site really was Pompeii.

Look beyond the wallsMany mosaics, frescoes and sculptures were cut out and taken to Naples, so some rooms now show only their setting.

071863

Fiorelli brings method and casts

Giuseppe Fiorelli introduced stratigraphic excavation and the region–block–door numbering system still used today (for example, VI.12.2 for the House of the Faun). He also pioneered pouring plaster into the hollows left by victims’ bodies.

What to noticeThe painted numbers on doorways come from his system and help you navigate with a map.

081997–today

Conservation becomes the story

Pompeii became part of the UNESCO property “Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata” in 1997. The House of the Gladiators collapsed in 2010. That led to the Great Pompeii Project, launched in 2012 with EU and Italian funding, which stabilised and reopened many buildings.

What to noticeClosures, protective roofs and set routes exist to preserve a fragile, open-air city.

Technique

Plaster casts, not bodies

Victims’ bodies decomposed inside hardened ash, leaving hollows. Archaeologists filled these with plaster, and the skeletons are often still inside. More than 100 casts have been made since 1863.

Scale

A city, not a museum room

The walled city covers about 66 hectares, and around 44 have been excavated. No single route can show every district, and about a third is still unexcavated.

Loss

Original objects moved

Portable finds were usually removed during excavation. The architecture stays in Pompeii, but many of its best objects are in Naples.

Key dates worth remembering before you visit

You do not need every name or house number. These dates explain the layers under your feet.

7th–6th century BC: The first recognisable town forms on the lava ridge above the Sarno river.
89 BC: Sulla besieges Pompeii during the Social War. Scars from siege weapons remain on the northern walls.
80 BC: Pompeii becomes the Roman colony Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum.
AD 59: A deadly riot in the Amphitheatre leads to a ten-year ban on games.
AD 62: A major earthquake begins years of repair and rebuilding.
AD 79: Vesuvius buries Pompeii. The date is traditionally 24 August, but more likely autumn.
1592–1600: The architect Domenico Fontana cuts a water channel under the site without recognising the city.
1748: Excavation begins under Charles of Bourbon. The city is formally identified in 1763.
1863: Giuseppe Fiorelli makes the first plaster casts of victims.
1997: The site is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
2012–today: The Great Pompeii Project and new excavations in Regio V and Regio IX reveal fresh frescoes, shops and houses.

AD 79

How the eruption actually unfolded

The only eyewitness account comes from Pliny the Younger. He watched from Misenum, across the Bay of Naples, and described it in two letters to Tacitus written about 25 years later.

Phase one · first afternoon and night

A column of pumice and ash

Around midday a column of gas and pumice rose many kilometres into the sky. Pliny compared its shape to an umbrella pine. Wind carried it south-east over Pompeii, where pumice fell for hours and built up to more than two metres.

Roofs collapsed under the weight of pumice
Many residents fled; others sheltered indoors
Pliny the Elder sailed to help and died at Stabiae

Phase two · the next morning

Pyroclastic currents

When the eruption column collapsed, fast-moving avalanches of hot gas and ash raced down the volcano. They reached Pompeii and killed those still in the city, in the streets or trying to escape.

About 1,150 victims have been recovered so far
Estimates of the population range from about 10,000 to 20,000
Most people are thought to have escaped before the final surges

Eyewitness

Pliny the Younger

His letters are the foundation of volcanology. A “Plinian eruption” is named after his description.

The date debate

August or October?

Autumn fruit, heavier clothing and the 2018 charcoal inscription point to autumn. Surviving manuscripts of Pliny’s letter give conflicting dates.

Neighbours

Not only Pompeii

Herculaneum, Stabiae, Oplontis and many rural villas were also buried, each in different volcanic deposits.

Architecture & meaning

A Roman city arranged for public and private life

The city plan shows who held power, where business happened and how families displayed their wealth.

How the city works

Streets join every part of Roman life

Paved lava-stone roads linked the Forum, baths, theatres, workshops and homes. Raised pavements kept pedestrians above rainwater and waste, and stepping stones let them cross without stepping down.

Wheel ruts worn into the paving by carts
Stepping stones spaced to let cart wheels pass
Painted election notices and graffiti on façades

Why decoration matters

Houses were arguments about status

A visitor entered through the fauces (entrance passage) into an atrium with a rain pool. They then looked through to the tablinum (the owner’s reception room) and a colonnaded garden. The view was staged to impress, and service rooms and enslaved labour kept it running.

Atria that received clients each morning
Peristyle gardens behind the formal rooms
Wall paintings in four recognised “Pompeian styles”

Public life

Power, religion and leisure in stone

The Forum gathered temples, the Basilica (law court), market halls and voting spaces. Public baths, theatres and the Amphitheatre turned leisure into civic life, funded by wealthy citizens seeking office.

Temple of Jupiter framed by Vesuvius behind it
Stabian Baths, the city’s oldest, from the 2nd century BC
Inscriptions naming the magistrates who paid for buildings

Everyday economy

Water, bread, wine and fast food

An aqueduct fed a distribution tower at the Vesuvius Gate, which piped water to public fountains, baths and wealthy homes. Bakeries, fulleries (cloth-finishing workshops) and street food counters (thermopolia) served a busy population.

Street fountains within a short walk of most homes
Bakeries with lava-stone mills and ovens
Counters with built-in jars for food and drink

The casts are not the whole story

Pompeii is often reduced to its victims. The casts are powerful evidence of the eruption, but streets, businesses and homes explain the city as it was before the disaster.

Read the casts with care. A 2024 DNA study published in Current Biology showed that some long-told stories were wrong. An adult wearing a gold bracelet and holding a child, long described as a mother, was an unrelated adult man. A pair thought to be sisters included at least one male. The results also showed a diverse population with strong links to the eastern Mediterranean.

“Ruins” does not mean abandoned before AD 79

Pompeii was damaged by the AD 62 earthquake, yet it remained inhabited and busy. Election slogans were painted on walls, shops were open and houses were being redecorated. Repairs and unfinished work make the final city more human, not less complete.

Excavation is still going on

About a third of the city has never been excavated. Recent digs in Regio V and Regio IX have uncovered a painted street-food counter, a still-life fresco of a flatbread that looks strikingly like pizza, a bakery where enslaved workers and donkeys turned the mills, and a life-size Dionysian frieze in the House of the Thiasus (announced in 2025). Some new finds are only visible from walkways, so check the park’s list of open buildings.

What to notice

Read eight details as evidence

The city can feel overwhelming. Use this short list instead of trying to study every building. Each detail links what you see to the history above.

Review the historical phases → Understand the architecture →

1. Street-level shop counters

Business and home life stood side by side, often behind the same façade, not in separate districts.

2. Raised pavements and stepping stones

These were part of the city’s traffic and drainage system, not decorative stonework.

3. The Forum’s mixed functions

Temples, the Basilica and market buildings stand together because religion, law and trade were intertwined.

4. Repairs after AD 62

Patched walls, scaffolding holes and plain plaster may belong to rebuilding before the eruption, not to later neglect.

5. House thresholds and courtyards

They controlled how guests moved through a home and which rooms they were meant to see.

6. Painted words on walls

Election notices (programmata) and scratched graffiti are voices of ordinary Pompeians. More than 10,000 inscriptions survive.

7. Siege scars near the northern gates

Pitted stone near the Vesuvius and Herculaneum Gates records Sulla’s attack in 89 BC.

8. The city’s unfinished feeling

Pompeii was still changing in AD 79. Damage and repair are evidence of a living town.

Quick answers

Pompeii history FAQs

Short answers to the questions visitors ask most often.

When was Pompeii destroyed?

In AD 79, by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The traditional date is 24 August, but evidence increasingly points to autumn, probably 24 October.

How many people died at Pompeii?

About 1,150 victims have been recovered so far. Parts of the city remain unexcavated, and many residents probably escaped.

How old was Pompeii when it was buried?

The town took shape in the 7th–6th century BC, so it was roughly 700 years old by AD 79.

Who rediscovered Pompeii?

Excavation began in 1748 under Charles of Bourbon, King of Naples. An inscription found in 1763 confirmed the city’s name.

Are the bodies at Pompeii real?

They are plaster casts made in the hollows left by decomposed bodies. Bones and teeth often survive inside.

How much of Pompeii is excavated?

Around 44 of its roughly 66 hectares. The rest is deliberately left for future archaeologists.

Ready to visit

See Pompeii as layers of history, not one disaster scene

Start at the Forum. Follow Via dell’Abbondanza past shops and houses, step into one great house, then finish at the Amphitheatre or the Garden of the Fugitives. That order connects public power, daily work and the eruption’s interrupted city.

HOURSOpen daily from 09:00

Closes at 19:00 from 16 March to 14 October (last entry 17:30) and at 17:00 in winter (last entry 15:30).

TICKETSNamed, single-entry tickets

Pompeii Express €20 (city only) or Pompeii+ €25 (adds the Villa of the Mysteries). There is a daily cap of 20,000 visitors. Prices valid from January 2026.

TIMEAllow 3–4 hours

Wear sturdy shoes, bring water and ID, and check the park’s list of open buildings on the day.

Plan your Pompeii visit

Images via Wikimedia Commons: Forum & Vesuvius and stepping stones by Gary Todd (CC0 / public domain); victim cast by Jebulon (CC0); riot fresco by Chappsnet (CC BY-SA 4.0); Villa of the Mysteries fresco (public domain). Visitor details from the official Pompeii Archaeological Park; check pompeiisites.org before you travel.