The Importance Of City Life In Pompeii

Pompeii is an ancient town located in Italy, and due to the large scale eruption of the volcano Vesuvius, many of its structures have been preserved, allowing people to have a glimpse of what life during these ancient times might have been like . There is much speculation as to how the town obtained its name, however the general belief was that it was so named by the legendary hero “ Hercules” and was mainly under Roman rule . It has been seen tat not only did they put Hercules in high regard as the founder, but the people of Pompeii also worshipped gods such as Apollo, Bacchus and Venus . City life in Pompeii was socially divided, as many citizens were homeless and those who were considered as wealthy lived in beautifully constructed homes

Beard suggested that besides the presence of shops selling goods on the streets, it was also possible that these streets may have been generally filthy due to the faeces that people and animals produced which thus created an unsanitary environment . One key aspect of Pompeian life was the extravagant gladiatorial events that occasionally took place in the “amphitheatre” . These events were known as “Munera Gladiatoria” and were a form of competition whereby warriors fought each other or foreign animals on some occasions, to the death , however, death depended on the performance of the gladiators . In this essay I am going to discuss how the gladiatorial games played an important role in the lives of Pompeii’s citizens in terms of its social, economic and political influence by examining the data obtained by scholars such as Beard (2008) and Weidemann (1992). I am also going to discuss how archaeological finding have allowed people to gain a better understanding of these events and how people in ancient Pompeii