Pompeii

Pompeii is an ancient Italian seaport on the Bay of Naples, fell into the possession of Rome about 80 BC, and was converted into a watering-place and "the pleasure haunt of paganism". The Romans erected many handsome public buildings, and their villas and theatres and baths were models of classic architecture and the scenes of unbounded luxury. The streets were narrow, provided with side-walks, the walls often decorated with painting or scribbled over by idle gamins. The number of shops witnesses to the fashion and gaiety of the town, the remains of painted notices to its municipal life. A terrible earthquake ruined it and drove out the inhabitants in AD 63. They returned and rebuilt it, however, in a tawdry and decadent style, and luxury and pleasure reigned as before till in AD 79 an eruption of Vesuvius buried everything in lava and ashes. The ruins were forgotten till accidentally discovered in 1748. Since 1860 the city has been disinterred under the auspices of the Italian Government, and is now a favourite resort of tourists and archæologists.

Nearby pages
Pompey's Pillar, Ponce de Leon, Poncho, Ponda Vidhan Sabha Constituency, Pondicherry