What Happened to Pompeii?

What Happened to Pompeii? — page 3 — Key Clue In 1734 Naples and the countryside around it came under the control of a new king Charles VII He heard about the discovery of the mysterious statues and sent soldiers to look for more old objects He hoped to be able to sell anything they found to art collectors His soldiers soon found more old statues They also uncovered the first clue to help identify what they might be One of the pieces of stone was carved with letters When an expert studied the writing he recognized it as being Latin Latin was the language used by the ancient Romans The fragment of text read the theater of Herculaneum Winckelmann studied cameos or brooches found in other Roman cities X SCIENCE SOLVES IT Digging Up Pompeii Johann Winckelmann a German art historian and archaeologist is sometimes known as the Father of Archaeology He was interested in excavating ancient sites When he visited Pompeii in 1760 Winckelmann did not think digging up the ancient city would be worthwhile If Pompeii and Herculaneum had been buried by volvanic lava he thought both cities would have been crushed by the weight so nothing would be left to be discovered 6

What Happened to Pompeii? — page 4 — Who Found the Buried City Historians recognized the name Accounts left by ancient Roman writers described how the town of Herculaneum had once stood near the foot of Mount Vesuvius Herculaneum had been buried by lava after an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 ce The buried statues had once stood in a city that had been buried for more than 1,500 years If this was the site of Herculaneum historians knew there would be other valuable ruins to be uncovered The stories about the destruction of Herculaneum said that another city had been destroyed at the same time This was Pompeii In 1748 King Charles sent his soldiers back to Herculaneum to look for this second site They heard that local people had discovered old artifacts at a site about 12 5 miles 20 km down the coast from Mount Vesuvius The ancient Romans stored foods and liquids in these clay urns X 7

What Happened to Pompeii? — page 5 — One Mystery Solved The soil at the new site was easier to dig than at Herculaneum The soldiers quickly found buried stone walls and some human bones The soldiers took whatever they thought would have value among art collectors No one was certain however that this was a second buried city Although the soldiers found more statues and other old objects there was no proof that it was the city of Pompeii The mystery was solved 15 years later In 1763 diggers at the site found the evidence they had been looking for A Latin sign carved into a wall revealed that this was indeed the once-thriving Roman town of Pompeii ANCIENT SECRETS A Dead Language Some ancient languages are difficult to read Luckily for experts at Pompeii and Herculaneum the Romans used Latin Latin is referred to as a dead or no longer spoken language but it is the basis of languages such as Italian and Spanish Latin has been taught in Europe for centuries That made it possible to read the ancient inscriptions on the stones at Pompeii 8 X Ancient writing carved in stone is often still readable today

What Happened to Pompeii? — page 6 — Who Found the Buried City X Diggers found red paint on walls throughout Pompeii Treasure Hunting Today if an ancient site is discovered almost anywhere in the world it is protected until archeologists can investigate the remains In the past however few people were concerned about preserving such sites For nearly 200 years following their discovery the sites at Herculaneum and Pompeii were used as sources of valuable objects to sell Treasure hunters even used gunpowder to blow apart the ruins to reach more objects By the middle of the 19th century some people began to suggest that it was wrong to destroy ancient ruins and steal their treasures Experts thought that saving and studying the ruins of these 9

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