Pompeii is possibly the best-documented catastrophe in Antiquity. Because of it, weknow now how the Pompeians lived because they left behind an extensive legacy of art,including monuments, sculptures and paintings.Pompeii lay on a plateau of ancient lava near the Bay of Naples in western Italy ina region called Campania, less than 1.6 kilometers from the foot of Mount Vesuvius. Withthe coast to the west and the Apennine Mountains to the East, Campania is a fertile plain,traversed by two major rivers and rich soil. However, in the early days, it was not aremarkable city. Scholars have not been able to identify Pompeiis original inhabitants.The first people to settle in this region were probably prehistoric hunters and fishers. By at least the eight century B.C., a group of Italic people known as the Oscans occupiedthe region; they most likely established Pompeii, although the exact date of its origin isunknown. The root of the word Pompeii would appear to be the Oscan word for thenumber five, pompe, which suggests that either the community consisted of five hamletsor, perhaps, was settled by a family group (gens Pompeia)(Kraus 7).In the course of the eight century B.C., Greek and Etruscan colonizationstimulated the development of Pompeii as a city around the area of the Forum. A point forimportant trade routes, it became a place for trading towards the inland. Up until themiddle of the 5th century B.C., the city was dominated politically by the Etruscans. In thecourse of the 6th century B.C., the influence of Greek culture is also documented byterracottas, ceramics and architecture. A group of warriors from Samnium, calledSamnite, invaded the region in the 400s B.C. Pompeii remained a relatively unimportantvillage until the 200s B.C., when the town entered a prosperous period of building andexpansion. The Romans defeated the Samnites, and Pompeii became part of the emergingRoman state. Pompeii joined the Italic revolt against Rome...
