Pompeii

#40 - Rome, Italy

#39

#41

Visited Here?

Do You Dream?

It's like a fossilized city where sweeping would be a crime.

The layers of dust just add to its history. We all know the story of Pompeii. The city was stuck in time, under 12 - 20 inches of ash and pumice after a volcanic eruption in 79 AD. Mount Vesuvius and a natural disaster made this city appear in all history books. You can get a glimpse of what life was like nearly 1700 years ago as you walk through the deserted streets. A city habituated by tourist and remains - it's our #40 AbsoluteVisit.

Slide 1: Pompeii House of Faun gardens mountains

by Freddy Kugler
Slide 2: Pompeii House of Faun largest home

by Mike Batt
Slide 3: Pompeii Mount Vesuvius city street

by hazelsheard
Slide 4: Pompeii Temple of Apollo

by S. Sosnovskiy
Slide 5: Pompeii Temple of Jupiter ruins

by Paul 'Tuna' Turner
Slide 6: Pompeii ruins of temple blue skies

by eric journey
Slide 7: Pompeii streets Mount Vesuvius

by allieosmar

Overview

Plan a Visit

Maps

Photos

Videos

Quick Facts & History

Pompeii is most well known for the tragedy that hit in 79 A.D: The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that left over 2,000 people trapped and helpless, at the mercy of the powerful act of nature that buried the entire city beneath 20 feet of volcanic rocks and ashes.
The ruined city of Pompeii in Naples, Italy was discovered almost 1700 years after that fateful day by sheer accident, and has now been transformed into one of the largest archaeological sites in the world.
There was no way for the citizens of Pompeii to even know that the mountain was a volcano, as it hadn't erupted in 1,800 years! That being said, the eruption itself was very unusual, absent of any lava! Oddly enough, it was an even more dangerous and deadly type of eruption, a Plinian eruption, made up of super-heated gas, magma and ash that form a giant column straight up into the sky. The magma cooled and fell to the earth as pumice (a type of volcanic rock) and buried the city below.
Mt. Vesuvius erupts in this way every 2,000 years, making it too dangerous and at-risk to ever develop into a long-term and well-populated city.
One of the reasons Pompeii is such a popular archaeological site is the unique way in which the volcanic rock and ashes preserved the remains and artifacts of the entire city. The lack of air and moisture preserved the remains almost expertly, allowing archaeologists to get an extremely well-developed picture of daily life in Pompeii before the incident. Since their unearthing, however, oxygen and other forces have begun their work in their deterioration process.
As if the volcanic eruption wasnt bad enough luck, the people of Pompeii actually should have survived, had the wind stuck to its normal behavior. It just so happened that on the day of the eruption, instead of blowing towards the bay of Naples, the wind changed and blew over the city, putting Pompeii right in the line of fire from the column of magma that escaped from Mt. Vesuvius.

Where is Pompeii?

World

Zoom

Photos from Pompeii

Submit a new Photo