Ancient literary sources rarely mention Pompeii’s history prior to the first century BC. In addition, the vast majority of archaeological exploration has been concerned with uncovering the town’s appearance at the time of its burial by Vesuvius in ad 79, so relatively little is known of the town’s early history.
The earliest writing from the site is scratched upon fragments of pottery, notably in a deposit of votive offerings in the Temple of Apollo. Some of these texts are dedications, and others record the identity of the owner of the pottery. They range in date from the first quarter of the sixth century to C.475 BC, and are written in Etruscan. Otherwise, the earliest decipherable writing from the site (second-first centuries Bc) appears in Oscan, an Italic language used in parts of southern Italy. Written from right to left, it uses an alphabet different from that of Latin, although some words mirror Latin usage. Monumental inscriptions and graffiti in Oscan provide our main documentary source for life in Pompeii before it became Roman. Some inscriptions were still on public display in ad 79; others were found where they had been reused as building material.
We know even less about the deaths than about the lives of the town’s pre-Roman inhabitants. Twenty-nine inhumations from the fourth to midsecond centuries bc were found beyond the Herculaneum Gate, in the area to the west of the last shops along the north side of the street and in the area of the Villa of the Mosaic Columns. These were not monumental tombs, and contained a few grave goods, including pottery, coins and a bronze mirror. For a necropolis of the Epidii family, see G1—3.
This chapter starts by presenting some evidence for the character of the earliest settlement at Pompeii, before turning to its mythological foundation by the Greek hero Hercules, Roman traditions about its early inhabitants and the earliest appearance of Pompeii in the Roman historical record (A1—7). It then shows how the preservation of Oscan inscriptions allows us to piece together a picture of the town’s administration, urban development and religious life from the second century bc (A8—14). By the late second century BC, we can see the impact of Hellenistic culture from the Greek East upon the town’s public and private buildings (A15—21). The monumentalization of the Sanctuary of Dionysus just outside Pompeii in the late third to early
Second century BC and construction of the Basilica at its heart in the late second century bc illustrate the impact of Hellenistic culture upon the town’s public character. The long-established Sanctuary of Apollo adjacent to the Forum was also remodelled along Hellenistic lines in the second century bc, when a temple in stone replaced the wooden temple. The addition of a palaestra and portico to the Stabian Baths in the mid-second century bc also reflects the same tendency. At about the same time, the town’s elite increasingly adopted Hellenistic culture in their private lives too, and the House of the Faun provides an outstanding example of this. The impact of the Greek language is evident in the names of Oscan measures inscribed (and later erased) upon the Forum’s measuring table, which were derived from Greek (H64). Finally, a selection of sources present a picture of one particularly prominent local family, the Popidii (A22—26).
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