Pompeii
By: Julianna Marchese, Gina D’Itria, and Eduarda Valentin
About Mt. Vesuvius
Mt. Vesuvius is the Volcano that erupted in pompeii. In its time it has erupted over 50 times. It’s cone has
grown since the explosion,but it is now a crater. It is located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy.
Vesuvius has erupted multiple times since Pompeii.It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have
erupted within the the last hundred years. Today, it is known as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the
world.
About the city Before Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii was a
Pompeii beautiful place. It was a city in Ancient Rome,
and was located near Naples. The Greeks
settled pompeii in the 8th century B.C.
Pompeii also attracted wealthy vacationers.
There were very elegant houses and elaborate
villas. The Villa Of the Mysteres is still
preserved today. People went in and out of
small factories and artisans’ shops, taverns
and cafes, and brothels and bathhouses. The
day before Mt. Vesuvius erupted there were
20,000 people in Pompeii, and surrounding
places at the time.
Their clothing
Their makeup was white foundation with lead
carbonate mixed with honey or oil, giving the look of
someone who never had to work outside. Eyeshadow
was made of minerals like azurite and malachite. Lips
were reddened with concoctions that included
cinnabar(red form of mercury) and purple dye from
shellfish. Sparkles were added with crushed golden
mica. Hair changed a lot, in the 1st century AD some
women still wore the nodus style. this style ended up Nodus style
disappearing, and women wore some variation of a
central parting. In some cases there were ringlets on
the fringe or down the sides of the cheek. perfumes Variations of central parting
were made of flowers, bark such as cinnamon, fruits
like lemon, or seeds.Modern perfumes are fixed with
alcohol, in pompeii they marinated ingredients in oil
but this stains more. Clothing was made from either
wool or linen. Locals made wool clothing, while linen
came from Egypt. They also produced shirts that had
collars. Men wore a loincloth, with a linen shift
underneath a tunic, which had a belt and was knee
length. Both sexes wore sandals, slippers, and jewelry.
Togas were worn by the upper class with expensive
purple dye for status. Workers and slaves wore tunics
made of darker wool. Only slaves wore hats. Women
wore a shift and a tunic down to the ankles.
The eruption
Mount Vesuvius erupted the morning of
august 24th 79 a.d. It erupted for 24 hours
but cloud and ash stayed for 2 more days.
Lava came out at speeds of 1.5 million tons
per second. Ash totaled up to 10 square
miles. Stones up to 3 inches in diameter
showered the city, the only thing the did to
protect themselves was cover their heads
with pillows. The city was buried 3 months
after the eruption. The eruption had
100,000 times the thermal energy
hiroshima released. The Bay of Naples ...
never again regained the massive levels of
popularity of the two centuries before the
disaster
Warnings Signs
from Mt.
Vesuvius
The citizens of Pompeii had many signs
that Vesuvius could blow at any time.
There were many earthquakes, but the
Romans didn’t think they were alarming
because it happened a lot in Campania.
They didn’t know it was volcanic
activity. They were also aware of
burning at the peak of the mountain.
How it was
discovered
Pompeii was first unearthed in 1599. They were
digging a underground channel to divert the river
Sarno, they ran into ancient walls covered with
paintings and inscriptions. Domenico Fontana
was called in and he unearthed a few more
frescoes. He then covered them up, and nothing
more came of the discovery. There was A wall
inscription had mentioned a decurio Pompeii ("the
town councillor of Pompeii") but its reference to
the forgotten city was missed. Pompeii was
rediscovered again in 1738, then again in 1748 by
the Spanish military engineer Rocque Joaquin de
Alcubierre. He revealed many intact buildings and
wall paintings. The first real excavation was in
1764. They injected plaster into the people to
recreate the forms of pompeii people.
What was found
After the eruption, there were many things found in
Pompeii. There were the mold of the animals, and
when Pompeii was people found throughout Pompeii. There were all in
various positions, like some were laying down with
discovered? their arm out, and some were praying, as if to save
them from the volcano. As for the animals, there were
pigs, dogs, sheep, cows, and others. As for the
architecture of it some of the buildings were
completely destroyed. Most of the buildings were
intact.
The people who died
They were unprepared for the eruption, they were
actually more curious than alarmed. Up to 2
thousand people died in the eruption, although exact
numbers are unknown. 20 thousand people lived in
pompeii. some people stayed hoping to wait out
what they assumed would be a small and short
eruptions. People who remained and lived out the
eruption died the next day when toxic gas
suffocated them. Indoors
were not safe either, roofs collapsed
killing the people inside. What
is visible is just a cast of them, ,
there is actually no human
remains inside them.
Pliny the Younger Pliny the younger was an administrator
and a poet whose many very vivid
letters have been preserved.Pliny the
Younger was a main resource about
the eruption in Pompeii, he was west
along the bay of Naples at the time of
the eruption. He sent out many letters,
there are 247 letters that remained and
are of great historical value. Pliny the
Elder was his uncle, he became a
celebrated naturalist, but at the time of
the eruption, he was commander of a
roman fleet in Naples. Unfortunately,
Pliny the Elder died of toxic gas when
he returned to Pompeii.
Fun facts
● Ironically Romans were extremely interested in predicting the future yet they couldn’t figure out that there
would be a volcanic explosion.
● They thought the earthquakes were Giants roaming the land. One standard explanation for the volcanoes of
south Italy was that, when the gods defeated the rebellious giants and brought peace to the universe, they
buried them beneath the mountains, and that it was their stirrings that caused the eruptions.
● Mt. Vesuvius had actually 2 craters, one was the original one, and the other was one created from the
previous eruption
● Some of the rich came back to Pompeii to get their riches and jewelry.Some stop trying to find their riches.
