Pompeii is a Beverly Historical Society Site.
Located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius , Herculaneum ( Italian : Ercolano ) was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 AD . Mount Vesuvius ( [ pronvᵻˈsuːviəs ] Monte Vesuvio [ ˈmonte veˈzuːvjo ] Vesuvio Mons Vesuvius [ mõːs wɛˈsʊwɪ.ʊs ] also Vesevus or Vesaevus in some Roman sources ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania , Italy , about 9 km east of Naples and a short distance from the shore . Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples , in the Campania region of Italy , in the territory of the comune of Pompei . The Roman Republic ( Res publica Romana [ ˈreːs ˈpuːb.lɪ.ka roːˈmaː.na ] ) was the era of ancient Roman civilization beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom , traditionally dated to 509 BC , and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire .