the geographical setting and natural features of Campania
the eruption of AD 79 and its impact on Pompeii and Herculaneum
early discoveries and the changing nature of excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries
representations of Pompeii and Herculaneum over time
There is a tendency to examine Pompeii and Herculaneum as though they were cities not destroyed but preserved perfectly from 2000 years ago. Much of the research and popularisation of these towns has stemmed from the year of the eruption and centred on the lives and deaths of the inhabitants. However, it is important to note that Pompeii and Herculaneum existed long before the year 79 CE, and their earlier histories contribute much to the historical records. Before 79, they were common Roman towns, the eruption of Vesuvius making them unique. What is most interesting about these towns to the historian is not what makes them unique but what makes them common. This is how historians and archaeologists can glimpse what life must have been like for a bustling commercial Roman town in the 1st century.