1 Pompeii

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3 Outline  Introduction  Part I. The city  Part II. The destruction of Pompeii  Part III. The excavation  Conclusion  References

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5 Introduction  Pompeii: ancient city of Italy, in the Campania Region, a few miles south of Mount Vesuvius, between Herculaneum and Stabiae  Damaged by an earthquake in AD 63 and was completely demolished in AD79 by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius  Remarkable degree of preservation of the ancient objects: The showers of wet ashes and cinders that accompanied the eruption formed a hermetic seal about the town, preserving many public structures, temples, theaters, baths, shops

6 Part I. The city  Founded about 600 BC, became a Roman colony in 80 BC and later a favorite resort for wealthy Romans  Population of about 20,000 at the beginning of the Christian era  Place of considerable trade, port town of Nola and other inland cities of the fertile valley of the Sarnus  Vesuvius: volcano near Pompeii, only active volcano on the European mainland  The top of mount Vesuvius was blown off by an explosion

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8 Part II. The destruction of Pompeii  The eruption changed the course of the Sarnus and raised the sea beach, placing the river and the sea at a considerable distance from the ruined city and obscuring the original site  Remnants of some of the 2000 victims of the disaster were found in the ruins of Pompeii, including several gladiators who had been placed in chains to prevent them from escaping or committing suicide  Some of these figures are exhibited in the museum erected at Pompeii near the Porta Marina  Most of the inhabitants escaped the eruption, carrying with them their movable assets

9 Part III. The excavation  For more than 1500 years Pompeii lay undisturbed beneath heaps of ashes and cinders, and not until 1748 were excavations undertaken  Famous work of excavation of the German classical archaeologist Winckelmann  Some of the ruins were badly damaged by air raids during World War II and had to be restored  Most of the movable objects that were found, and some of the best-executed wall paintings and floor mosaics, have been removed to the National Museum in Naples

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11 Conclusion  More than one-fourth of the city remains to be excavated  But the buildings and objects provide a remarkably realistic and complete picture of life in an Italian provincial city of the 1st century AD  The surviving edifices, representing a transition from the pure Greek style to the building methods of the Roman Empire, have been especially important for the study of Roman architecture  An eruption in 1631 destroyed five towns and caused the deaths of more than 3,000 people

12 References  res/history/Rome/Pompeii res/history/Rome/Pompeii   RefArticle.aspx?refid= RefArticle.aspx?refid=  eii eii  eport2.html eport2.html