Pompeii is one of the oldest cities in Italy, situated at the foot of Mount Vesuvius in Campania - the fertile region of the volcanic soil and mild climate. It is not known when Pompeii was founded, but the fragments of the Temple of Apollo, one of the city's oldest structures, archeology dates from the end of VII century BC. Another ancient building of Pompeii is Doric temple, which is referred to the beginning of VI BC. and probably served as a cultural center of the Greek emporium. The original founders of the city can be considered Oscans, the ancient inscriptions in Pompey made on Oscan language. The venerable age of Pompeii and confirmed by the results of excavations of Amedeo Maiuri and Stefano de Caro: early city walls are referred to the middle of the VI century BC. The basic building material of that time was tuff.
In VI BC Pompeii was one of the cities formed in Campania by the Etruscans. However, Pompeii does not stand out against the rest of the Campanian cities. Etruscan period ends in the middle of the V BC. - the primacy in the region goes to the Samnites (Dueck, Lindsay and Pothecary).
As a result, of the Samnite Wars in IV-III centuries BC, Campanian cities transformed into Roman allies and deprived of the right to an independent foreign policy, which, however, has a little effect on their economies. In 89 BC, during the Social War, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, led the siege of Pompeii, but was forced to retreat - the city was able to resist. In these turbulent times, the city wall has been strengthened by twelve towers. However, Pompeii was not saved, and later Sulla managed to break the resistance of the inhabitants. Pompeii received the status of a Roman colony with a new name Coloniae Corneliae Veneriae Pompeianorum.
The dominant position of Rome in the Mediterranean promotes the development of trade and the emergence of new markets in the East. The invention of cheap concrete and widespread use of slaves leads to the rapid...