Eruption, Discovery & Excavation
In what year did Mount Vesuvius erupt, destroying Pompeii and Herculaneum?
AD 79
What was the main centre of political and commercial activity in Pompeii?
The Forum
What was the central entrance room of a typical Roman domus called?
Atrium
What were the household gods associated with protecting the Roman family and home?
Lares
What technique allows archaeologists to create physical representations of some victims of the eruption?
Plaster casting
Which Roman writer provides an eyewitness account of the eruption in letters written to Tacitus?
Pliny the Younger
What was a thermopolium?
A shop selling prepared food and drink
What was the name of the basin in the floor of an atrium used to collect rainwater?
Impluvium
What was the household shrine where domestic gods could be worshipped called?
Lararium
Give one major threat to the conservation of Pompeii today.
Examples: weathering, water, vegetation, tourism, pollution, structural collapse
Which city was primarily buried by volcanic ash and pumice during the eruption?
Pompeii
What name was given to the members of the local town council?
Decuriones
What was the name given to the training and exercise ground used for physical activities in Pompeii?
Palaestra
Which Egyptian goddess had a major temple at Pompeii?
Isis
What major conservation initiative launched in the 2010s combined Italian and European Union funding to protect Pompeii?
The Great Pompeii Project
Which archaeologist developed the technique of pouring plaster into cavities left by decomposed bodies?
Giuseppe Fiorelli
Which two annually elected chief magistrates were the highest local political officials in Pompeii?
Duoviri
What famous Pompeian house belonged to the wealthy freedmen Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vettius Restitutus?
House of the Vettii
The famous Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun demonstrates the influence of which culture on Pompeian art?
Greek/Hellenistic culture
Why are graffiti particularly valuable to historians studying Pompeian society?
They provide direct evidence of ordinary people's activities, opinions, relationships, politics and/or literacy.
What feature of the eruption caused the rapid deaths of many inhabitants of Herculaneum?
What form of evidence, commonly painted on external walls, provides particularly valuable information about candidates and elections in Pompeii?
Electoral notices/graffiti
The discovery of carbonised loaves, ovens and large millstones provides evidence for what important Pompeian occupation or industry?
Baking/bakeries
Which Pompeian villa contains a famous series of frescoes often interpreted as depicting initiation into the cult of Dionysus?
Villa of the Mysteries
Why can early excavation methods at Pompeii and Herculaneum limit historians' ability to reconstruct the ancient cities accurately?
Early excavators often removed objects without recording their archaeological context and/or damaged or destroyed evidence.