Pompeii and Herculaneum: Geography, Economy, and Society

Location of Pompeii and Herculaneum

200km south of Rome in the Campania region.

Reason for fertile Campania area

Mount Vesuvius eruptions.

Major river near Pompeii

River Sarno (or Sarnus).

Modern-day major city in the region

Naples.

Phlegraean fields feature

Burning fields with geothermal activity, steam, and bubbling mud.

Bay of Naples role

Large bay with prosperous trading cities including Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Port districts today

100m inland for Pompeii and half a kilometer for Herculaneum.

Major industry in the Bay of Naples

Fishing.

Pompeian specialty food product

Garum (fermented fish paste).

Salt extraction method

Extracted from sea water to preserve goods.

Pompeii plateau

Built on a low plateau formed by lava flows overlooking River Sarnus.

Campania crop yield

6x higher than the rest of the Italian peninsula.

Climate suitability

Suitable for vineyards and other crops.

House of the Centenary wall painting

Depicts Mt Vesuvius and Bacchus, implying slope fertility.

Woodland resources

Provided building materials, and sand was mixed with lime to make cement.

Date of Mt Vesuvius eruption

August 24th (or October 24th), AD 79.

Stage 1 of eruption

Cloud of ash and pumice reaching 20km into the air.

Stage 1 deposit depth after 17 hours

2.7 meters deep.

Stage 2 of eruption

Series of lethal pyroclastic surges and flows (hot gas and molten rock).

Speed and temperature of initial pyroclastic flows

100-300 km/h at 100°C.

Later pyroclastic flow speed and temperature

20-50 km/h at 400°C.

Final stages of the eruption

Covered the town, killing everything left; buried Pompeii and Herculaneum under volcanic material.

Pompeii burial depth

4 meters under by the afternoon of the next day.

Herculaneum burial depth

20 meters under rock consistency.

Estimated death toll

500 to 2,000 people from thermal shock, crushing, and hot ashes.

Plinian Phase description

Column of ash and pumice resembling an umbrella pine reaching 20-30 km high.

Pelean Phase description

Pyroclastic surges and flows that tore through towns.

Pliny the Elder's action

Sailed to Stabiae to offer assistance and observe the eruption.

Pliny the Younger's role

Stayed behind at Misenum to study and wrote a famous eyewitness account.

Topographical change from eruption

Turned the Sarno river and raised the sea beach.

1748 Pompeii excavation initiator

Charles III instructed the beginning of excavations.

18th-century excavation method

Haphazard, conducted like treasure hunts where interesting items were found.

1738 Herculaneum excavation method

Destructive vertical tunnels dug straight down without keeping records.

Karl Weber's contribution (1750)

Developed a systematic method, excavating slowly, keeping logbooks, and drawing plans.

19th-century early excavations (1808-1815)

Haphazard; low-interest buildings were abandoned or reburied.

Giuseppe Fiorelli's appointment (1860)

Became director, introducing a sophisticated systematic approach.

Fiorelli's excavation technique

Excavated along roads, uncovering houses top-to-bottom.

Fiorelli's famous invention/technique

Plaster casts of victims.

Fiorelli's other contributions

Gave Pompeii streets modern names, established an archaeology school, and opened the site to visitors.

Amedeo Maiuri's achievement (1927)

First to dig below the AD 79 level at Pompeii.

Maiuri's excavation scale

One-quarter of the town was excavated under his direction.

WWII impact on excavations

Pompeii bombed in 1943, Vesuvius erupted in 1944, work resumed in 1947.

Criticism of Maiuri

Rushed excavations (1951-1961) with little restoration; published only spectacular finds.

Zevi's appointment (1977)

Stopped new excavations to focus strictly on conservation.

1980 event affecting sites

An earthquake caused significant damage.

Spinazzola's excavation focus (1910-1923)

Excavated important buildings, reconstructed facades, and kept photographic records.

Casa del Menandro excavation (1926-1932)

Excavated carefully with detailed records on volcanic deposits.

1763 excavation milestone

Movable objects were systematically disturbed and taken from the site.

1877 excavation pause

Ceased because residents opposed their land being taken.

Limitation of early 18th-century work

No attempt to interpret the cities as a whole or keep provenance records.

"Pompeii" song release year

2013, by the British band Bastille.

Robert Harris's novel "Pompeii"

Published in 2003, blending historical fiction with the real-life eruption.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel

"The Last Days of Pompeii", published in 1834.

Inspiration for Bulwer-Lytton's novel

Karl Briullov's painting "The Last Day of Pompeii".

Jacob Philipp Hackert artwork

"View of Pompeii" (1799).

Karl Pavlovich Briullov artwork

"The Last day of Pompeii" (1833).

Edouard Alexandre de Sain artwork

"The Excavations of Pompeii" (1866).

"The Fires of Pompeii" (2008)

Doctor Who television episode set during the eruption.

British Museum exhibition (2013)

"Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum" focusing on everyday people.

Nature of archaeological evidence in representations

Offers greater reliability and less bias than textual accounts alone.

Role of the Forum in Pompeii

Political, commercial, and religious centre of the town.

Forum structure

Open rectangular area (~620m²) paved in limestone with a two-story colonnade.

Temple of Jupiter location

Northern side of the Forum, the only visible building there.

Mensa ponderaria function

Official public weighing and measuring table for dry goods and liquids.

The Macellum function

Open-air market area where fresh fish and meats were sold, featuring a central tholos.

Forum Holitorium function

Open portico building along the west side used to sell and store dry goods.

Building of Eumachia function

Monumental public building linked to the wool industry and imperial commemoration.

The Basilica function

Economic centre and law court with 28 fluted Ionic columns where magistrates sat.

The Comitium function

Building where voting took place, located at the southeast corner of the Forum.

Municipal buildings function

Three identical office structures for local administration, duumvirs, and aediles.

The Granary function

Multi-room storehouse for grain and amphorae storage.

Herculaneum Forum status

Known to exist via inscriptions, but not yet excavated.

Pompeii port location

Found less than 1km from the center with 20 warehouses for trade.

Strabo's note on Pompeii's port

Served as the port for Nuceria and Nola, trading agricultural products.

Commercial shops location

Front rooms of houses lined along main thoroughfares and temporary stalls.

Evidence of trades in shops

Wall paintings depicting masons' and carpenters' tools.

Praedia of Julia Felix

Estate featuring temporary stalls where vendors sold goods like shoes, cloth, and produce.

Fullery of Stephanus

Evidence of cloth manufacturing and washing (fullonica).

Graffiti function

Used for political campaigning, expressing opinions, and recording mundane thoughts.

Election wall usage

Covered in campaign posters; men whitewashed walls so writers could update notices.

Wine production method

Grapes pressed in villas, wine transported in wineskins, then stored in amphorae or dolia.

Lucius Jucundus association

Rich Pompeian banker believed to have owned the Villa of Pisanella (wine/oil estate).

Olive oil production role

Vital part of the regional economy and a principal source of income for rich landowners.

Garum definition

Famous fermented fish sauce made from fish guts, intestines, and blood.

Aulus Umbricius Scaurus

Pompeii's most famous garum dealer, controlling a large share of the fish sauce containers.

Cloth manufacture process

Washing and dyeing of wool clothes in fullonicae using water, fuller's earth, and urine.

Source of urine for fulling

Collected in bowls left outside establishments; camel and human urine used.

Bakery operation

Refined grain in lava stone mills, kneaded dough, and baked in brick ovens (e.g., Bakery of Modestus).

Dietary staple proportion

Cereals accounted for 70-75% of the caloric intake of inhabitants.

Drinking culture evidence

About 200 public eating and drinking places identified in Pompeii.

Estimated population of Pompeii

10,000 to 20,000 people before the eruption.

Proportion of slaves in Pompeii

Approximately 40% of the population.

Social mobility limitation

People had limited ability to change their social status by moving between classes.

Freeborn men status

Local elite who owned land, engaged in business, and joined the town council (ordo decurionum).

Freedmen (liberti) status

Former slaves who went into business but were denied political office.

Freedmen political strategy

Sought influence by joining priesthoods or through their freeborn sons (e.g., Augustalis).

Rich women's rights

Could own property, manage affairs without male supervision, and become priestesses.

Working-class women occupations

Tavern owners, bakers, cloth traders, vegetable sellers, weavers, and doctors.

Marcus Nonius Balbus

Prominent magistrate, proconsul, and patronus of Herculaneum honored with multiple statues.

Segregated seating evidence

Theatre seating was segregated by class and gender, excluding slaves from paid spectating.