What Was Pompeii?

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Pompeii is a Roman ghost town. In 79 AD it was buried in ash from a volcano. This ash perfectly preserved the whole city including the people. The architecture of Pompeii was like other Roman towns. Pompeii was also in a great location, strategically placed on the west banks of Italy. It was a significant port city, trading with places as far out as Egypt. The city became quite rich from its trading. The city of Pompeii was perched on a lava flow 130 ft above sea level, this also gave it it's irregular shape. Pompeii was not always a Roman town, throughout it's 900 year existence it was controlled by the Greeks, Etruscans, Samnites, and by the Romans. When the Greeks controlled the city, they built a large wall around the city. This wall was 20 feet thick and 26 feet tall. When the Romans took over the city, the wall was no longer necessary because of Rome's large army. Although they no longer needed it, they never got around to tearing down the wall. The streets of Pompeii were designed like most of America's neighborhoods today. They were in a grid pattern with blocks of houses and shops. There were three large public areas in Pompeii. The first is the Forum, which was their town center. All their government business happened near the Forum. The next public area was their public sports center. It contained the Gymnasium and stadium. The last public area was their theaters. They had a whole district dedicated to theaters, that had large and small theaters.
The government in Pompeii was a lot like America's today. It was a republic, meaning that the people voted for officials who then decided things for the people. The main reason we know this is because when the city was buried, people had signs in their yards telling people to v...

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...odies of water close to the volcano evaporated from the heat, and the sea heaved from the pressure building up.
In 1594, workmen were digging out an underground tunnel for water when they found pieces of buildings, one piece even mentioned the name of the town. Unfortunately, no one connected this with the lost city. In 1709, an Austrian Prince discovered Herculaneum, a city buried from the same eruption as Pompeii. He did not care about the historical value of the city and stole most of the artwork. Finally, in 1748 Pompeii was discovered. Many archeologists came to excavate the city and some did not care about destroying things. In the 1860s, an archeologist planned out a careful method to excavate Pompeii, including the method of filling the cavities where people were buried with plaster to maintain their shape. After over 1600 years, Pompeii finally was unburied.

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