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The Buried City

Every year thousands of tourists visit Pompeii, Italy. They see the sights that Pompeii is famous for--its stadiums and theaters, its shops and restaurants. The tourists do not, however, see Pompeii’s people. They do not see them because Pompeii has no people. No one has lived in Pompeii for almost 2,000 years.

Once Pompeii was a busy city of 22,000 people. It lay at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, a grass-covered volcano. Mount Vesuvius had not erupted for centuries, so the people of Pompeii felt safe. But they were not safe.

In August of the year 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted. The entire top of the mountain exploded and a huge black cloud rose into the air. Soon stones and hot ash began to fall on Pompeii. Then came a cloud of poisonous gas. When the eruption ended two days later, Pompeii was buried under 20feet of stones and ash. Almost all of its people were dead.

Among the dead was a rich man named Diomedes. When the volcano erupted, Diomedes decided not to leave hiss home. The streets were filled with people who were running and screaming. Diomedes was probably afraid that he and his family would be crushed by the crowd. So, Diomedes, his family, and their servants—16 people all together—took some food and went down to the basement. For hours they waited in the dark, hoping the eruption would end. Then they began to cough. Poisonous gas from the mountain was filling the city. Diomedes realized that they had to leave. He took the key to the door, and a servant picked up a lantern. Together they walked upstairs. But the poisonous gas was already filling the house. When they were a few feet from the door, Diomedes and his servant fell to the floor and died. The 14 people downstairs died embracing one another.

For centuries Diomedes and his family lay buried under stoned and ash. Then, in the year 1861, an Italian archeologist named Giuseppe Fiorelli began to uncover Pompeii. Slowly, carefully, Fiorelli and his men dug. The city they found looked almost the same as it had looked in the year 79. There were streets and fountains, houses and shops. There was a stadium with 20,000 seats. Perhaps most important of all, there were many everyday objects. These everyday objects tell us a great deal about the people who lived in Pompeii.

Many glasses and jars had a dark blue stain in the bottom, so we know that the people of Pompeii liked wine. They liked bread, too; metal bread pans were in every bakery. In one bakery oven there were 81 round, flat loaves of bread—a type of bread that is still sold in Italy today. Tiny boxes filled with a dark, shiny powder tell us that the women liked to wear eye makeup, and the jewelry tells us that pearls were popular in the year 79. Graffiti is everywhere in Pompeii. On one wall someone wrote “Romula loves Staphyclus.” On another wall someone wrote “Everyone writes on these walls –except me.”

Fiorelli’s discoveries tell us much about the way the people lived. They also tell us much about the way they died.

Ono day Fiorelli was helping his men dig. When he tapped on the hard ash he heard a hollow sound. He suspected that the space beneath was empty. As an experiment, he drilled a few holes in the ash and poured liquid plaster down the holes. When the plaster was hard, Fiorelli cleared away the ash. He found the plaster form of a man. The man’s body had turned to dust long ago, but the ash had hardened around the space where the body had been.

During the next years Fiorelli filled dozens of spaces with plaster. The plaster froms show how the people of Pompeii looked in their last moments of life. Some have calm expressions on their faces; others look very afraid. Some people died holding their children. Others died holding gold coins or jewelry. Diomedes died with a silver key in his right hand, and his servant died holding a lantern.

Giuseppe Fiorelli, too, has died, but his work continues. One-fourth of Pompeii has not been uncovered yet. Archeologists are still digging, still making discoveries that draw the tourists to Pompeii.

EVEN MORE TRUE STORIES/An Intermediate Reader/Second Edition/by Sandra Heyer