The history of Pompeii began on 24 October 79 A.D., when an extremely violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius invaded everything with ash, lapilli and a powerful pyroclastic flow.
The history of Pompeii has never been the same since. The beautiful mountain, rich in vineyards and considered by the ancient Pompeians to be a good mountain, suddenly turned into a bomb.
Already in the days before the eruption, there were signs of the impending catastrophe that would befall Pompeii. Sudden water shortages, small earthquake tremors, but the Pompeians did not understand the danger that was about to befall them.
For them, Vesuvius was a friendly, fertile mountain that produced fine wine and gave them abundant harvests.
It was around 1pm when gas, ash and lapilli suddenly erupted from the volcano, forming a column fifteen metres high, visible even from Naples.
In fact, it was Pliny the Younger, who was at Misenum, who described the terrible event, describing that column as a pine tree as high as the sky.
Pompeii in a few hours was covered by a mantle of ash and lapilli between 3 and 5 metres high.
And then it was invaded by the destructive pyroclastic flow. The eruptive column collapsed along the walls of Vesuvius and invaded first Herculaneum closest to the volcano and then Pompeii.
The few Pompeians who managed to survive the falling lapilli, however, found no escape when the pyroclastic flow arrived.
Within three days, Pompeii was completely overrun and buried for centuries.
The history of Pompeii ruins
It was not until 1748 that the history of the Pompeii excavations began.
After the chance discovery of Herculaneum, Charles III of Bourbon ordered the first excavations to begin in Pompeii too, believing he was on the trail of Stabia. It was only in 1763, following the discovery of an inscription that read ‘Res Publica Pompeianorum’, that it became clear that it was in fact not Stabia, but Pompeii.
The finds, however, during the Bourbon era were scarce and of little importance, only coins, frescoes and part of the Amphitheatre and the necropolis of Porta di Ercolano were found, so it was decided to bury everything and to stop excavations in 1754.
These only resumed later, at the behest of Maria Carolina, wife of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies.
Thanks to which, the temple of Isis, the Triangular Forum, the area of the theatres, some necropolises and several dwellings were brought to light.
From then on, the rise of Pompeii began.
In 1863, thanks to the archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli, an important new technique was also discovered, which is still used today, that of the cast.
This technique allows an exact copy of an object or living being to be brought to light in its original state. It consists of filling a hollow area with a mixture of water and plaster or cement, once solidified, one proceeds with the excavation.
Numerous casts have been made in Pompeii and are still being made today using this technique, with which it has been possible to reconstruct the last moments of life of many Pompeians.
The history of the Pompeii excavations continued successively in the hands of various archaeologists and site managers including: Vittoria Spinazzola, Amedeo Maiuri.
