Ancient site · City
Pompeii
Pompeii was a wealthy Roman town of 10,000 to 20,000 people near Naples. In 79 CE the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried it, with nearby Herculaneum, under metres of ash and pumice.
Because it was sealed so quickly, excavators have found streets, shops, bakeries, houses with wall paintings, and even the shapes of people and animals left as hollows in the ash. Excavations began in the 18th century, and the town gives an unmatched snapshot of everyday Roman life.
- Dates
- 7th–6th century BCE – 79 CE
- Still standing
- Yes
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 40.75° N, 14.49° E
How we know
Pliny the Younger wrote an eyewitness account of the eruption, and thousands of inscriptions and graffiti survive on its walls.
Nearby sites
- Colosseum 72–80 CE; games until the 6th century
- Pantheon, Rome c. 126 CE; a church since 609
- Su Nuraxi di Barumini tower 17th–13th century BCE; village to the 6th century BCE
- Ġgantija temples c. 3600–2500 BCE
- Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum c. 4000–2500 BCE
- Carthage founded c. 814 BCE (traditional date); destroyed 146 BCE; Roman city to 698 CE