amazing artifacts and locales of ancient Pompeii

Though most famous for being destroyed and buried by the volcanic Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, Pompeii has been inhabited by various peoples since the Stone Age. By the 1st century BCE, the seaside town was firmly established within the Roman Republic. Many of its inhabitants were wealthy, and built sprawling villas replete with all the modern conveniences and luxuries of the era. Vesuvius ended all of that, but the suddenness of its eruption meant that the town was essentially frozen in time. Preserved by volcanic ash, Pompeii was buried and left untouched until its rediscovery in the 18th century. Archaeologists have been uncovering its secrets ever since.