The earliest settlement (A1)
The earliest settlement was founded on a lava plateau at the mouth of the River Sarno, controlling access to the interior. The Sanctuary of Apollo and the temple in the Triangular Forum were probably its focal points. It is generally thought that it is possible to discern in the current street pattern the less regular layout of this earliest settlement, covering an area of about fourteen hectares (the so-called ‘Altstadt’ or ‘Old Town’). By the mid-sixth century BC, the site of sixty-six hectares was enclosed within a defensive circuit, and these impressive fortifications went through many phases of strengthening and rebuilding until the first century BC.
Figure 1.1 A1 Map of Pompeii, with ‘Old Town’ highlighted
PRE-ROMAN POMPEII Hercules at Pompeii (A2—3)
As one of his twelve labours, Hercules was sent to the western edge of the world, to Gades (modern Cadiz, Spain). Having defeated the monster Geryon there, he drove Geryon's herd of cattle back to Greece, passing through Italy in his travels. As he did so, he was said to have bestowed upon Pompeii its name, derived from the word for procession common to Greek and Latin (pompe/pompa). Nearby Herculaneum was also reputedly founded by the Greek hero and named after him. The cult of Hercules may therefore have had early origins at Pompeii, but there is some dispute about the location of his cult. He is represented on a fourth-century BC terracotta antefix from the Triangular Forum, whose Doric Temple may have honoured him alongside Athene. A bronze statuette of the Hellenistic period representing Hercules was also found in the area of the Temple of Isis.
Isidore was a late antique writer (sixth—seventh centuries AD) from Spain. Servius was a scholar who wrote during the fourth-fifth centuries AD.
A2 Isidore, Etymologies 15.1.51
Pompeii (was founded) in Campania by Hercules, who had led a procession (pompa) of cattle from Spain as victor.
A3 Servius, Commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid VII, 662
As he was coming through Campania from Spain, Hercules made a triumphal procession (pompa) in a Campanian town: this is how the town of Pompeii gets its name.
The geography and ethnography of Pompeii (A4—6)
Figure 1.2 A4 Map of the Bay of Naples (Modern place names given in italics)
PRE-ROMAN POMPEII A5 Strabo, Geography 5.4.8
The Oscans used to occupy both Herculaneum and Pompeii next to it, past which the River Sarno flows. Then the Etruscans and the Pelasgians, and after that, the Samnites; these peoples were also thrown out of these places.
A6 Pliny the Elder, Natural History 3.60—2
From this point is famous productive Campania. . . It was inhabited by Oscans, Greeks, Umbrians, Etruscans, and Campanians. On the coast is Naples. . . Herculaneum, and Pompeii: Mount Vesuvius can be seen not far away and the Sarno river flows past.
Rome and Pompeii: an episode in the Second Samnite War,
310 BC (A7)
The region of Samnium (adjacent to Campania to the north) opposed Rome’s expansion in a series of wars. The Second Samnite War lasted for some twenty years from 326 BC. Some of the Samnites’ opposition to Rome was based in Campania: Rome pursued an aggressive campaign aimed at encircling the Samnites. Pompeii is here merely mentioned in passing, as the point of entry into the territory of Nuceria, upon which Pompeii was probably dependent at this time. Compare H2.
A7 Livy 9.38.2
At about the same time, a Roman fleet, under Publius Cornelius, whom the Senate had put in command of the coast, sailed to Campania. When it had put ashore at Pompeii, Italian marines set out from there to lay waste Nucerian territory.
World History
