More about Pompeii...

For 200 years, treasure hunters and archaeologists have been digging up Pompeii. It has yielded many an interesting artifact, brilliant wall frescoes and marble and bronze statues. Pompeii attracts tourists in ever-increasing numbers.
Around 2 million people now visit every year. Today the remains of Pompeii's magnificent forum, streets and houses lie empty in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius between the Bay of Naples and the Sarno River in Italy.

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It was given its name by the gens pompeiana, who belonged to the Osci, one of the oldest of the Italic peoples. Located on the only route between the north and south, lying between the sea and the fertile valleys, Pompeii became an important road junction and port.

In A.D. 62, a terrible earthquake left Pompeii devastated. Those who survived this first disaster were rebuilding and in the process of completing its temples when the second and final disaster hit. . . the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

In A.D. 79, shortly after midday, flames from the volcano shot into the sky, and an immense black cloud covered the sun. For three days, volcanic matter, lapilli and red-hot scoriae rained down on Pompeii making a blanket fifteen to twenty feet deep over the entire area. Artifacts and people were basically encased in the ash as it cooled. A poisonous gas soon killed the survivors who may have first escaped the eruption.

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