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Pompeii is an ancient city of Italy. It is located a few miles south of Mount Vesuvius. The city was founded about 600BC. It was a favorite resort for wealthy Romans. It had a population of about 20,000. The city was badly damaged by a earthquake in 63AD and was completely demolished in 79AD by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
For more than fifteen hundred years Pompeii lay undisturbed beneath heaps of ashes and cinders. In 1748 an excavation was undertaken. Several houses were found that had balconies. Some of the ruins were badly damaged during world war two. Many excavations have taken place over the years.
One of the most significant aspects of the discoveries at Pompeii is the remarkable preservation of the objects that have been found. The showers of the cinders and ashes formed a hermetic seal about the town preserving the buildings and many valuable objects. They have also found bodies of people in the ruins that were perfectly preserved, including some Roman Gladiators.
Most of the people of Pompeii escaped the eruption carrying with them most of their belongings. After the eruption they tunneled in and around the houses and buildings and carried off their most valuable and movable belongings, even to the extent of removing the slabs of marble floors. For this reason few objects of great value have ever been found at Pompeii. Most of the moveable objects that have been found, like wall paintings and wall mosaics, have been moved to a museum.
The buildings and objects provide a realistic and complete picture of what life may have been like in this time during the history of the Roman Empire..
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