pompei and roman civilization

NAME: ESHA KAMRAN
CLASS: 5 LILIES
SUBJECT: HISTORY
PROJECT NAME: POMPEII AND ROMAN CIVILIZATION

The city of Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the commune of Pompeii. The archaeological digs at the site extend to the street level of the 79 AD volcanic event; deeper digs in older parts of Pompeii and core samples of nearby drillings have exposed layers of jumbled sediment that suggest that the city had suffered from other seismic events before the eruption. Three sheets of sediment have been found on top of the lava that lies below the city and, mixed in with the sediment, archaeologists have found bits of animal bone, pottery shards and plants. Carbon dating has determined the oldest of these layers to be from the 8th–6th centuries BC (around the time the city was founded). The other two strata are separated either by well-developed soil layers or Roman pavement, and were laid in the 4th century BC and 2nd century BC.
The town was founded around the 7th–6th century BC by the Osco or Oscan’s, a people of central Italy, on what was an important crossroad between Cumae, Nola and Stabile. It had already been used as a safe port by Greek and Phoenician sailors. According to Strabo, Pompeii was also captured by the Etruscans, and in fact recent [timeframe?] excavations have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions and a 6th-century BC necropolis. Pompeii was captured for the first time.

. Many of the town's inhabitants were farmers. Several kinds of arts and crafts also played an important role in the local economy. As the town was a flourishing trading centre, thousands of people would flock towards it every day from the surrounding areas. Almost every family even the relatively wealthy ones used to rent out rooms to passing tradesmen since it was an easy source of income. In many cases the owners were also directly in charge of sales.

In a building used to house and train gladiators, archaeologists discovered a wealthy woman's remains. At the time of the eruption, she was wearing expensive gold jewellery, including an ornate necklace with twelve emeralds. Thus was born the legend of a wealthy woman caught in the disaster while visiting her gladiator lover. Gladiators' tools were also found in this complex.

The major deity for the town of Pompeii was Venus. She was worshipped over other deities as she was born from the sea. The sea had a major importance for Pompeii as this was where most of their trade came from. Therefore, the citizens of Pompeii had a major "connection" with this goddess. Perhaps the most popular deity, especially just before the eruption in 72 A.D. was the Egyptian goddess Isis. We can tell this as her temple was the only temple to be completely (or nearly completely) rebuilt after the earth quake in 62 A.D. Other temples were ignored or put on hold until the rebuilding of the Temple of Isis was completed. Even the temple of Venus was not completed. Isis was very popular with the women, the poor and the slaves. As Pompeii was a middle class town, these groups of people would have made up the majority of numbers, hence the popularity of the religion. Rome was a thriving civilization that began growing on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, Religion played a very important role in the daily life of Ancient Rome and the Romans. Roman religion was centered on gods and explanations for events usually involved the gods in some way or another. The Romans believed that gods controlled their lives and, as a result, spent a great deal of their time worshipping them.

The most important god was Jupiter. He was the king of gods who ruled with his wife Juno, the goddess of the sky. Temples to worship the gods were built throughout the Roman Empire. Temples usually always followed the same building pattern. The roof was triangular shaped and supported by great pillars. Steps led up to the main doorway that was usually built behind the pillars. Jupiter ruled the heavens, the earth, and all life. No god was more powerful than Jupiter. And no major decision was made without Jupiter's approval. The Romans worshiped thousands of gods. As they expanded their empire, they discovered new gods worshiped by other cultures. They adopted the ones they liked. They gave most of their adopted gods Roman names, and acted as if they had been Roman gods all along So life style of roman and Pompeii was different and they worshipped many gods and in different periods of time.