First Pompeii Uncovered

[Primus Pilus]

Rome, February 1 - The origins of the famed buried city of Pompeii have emerged from years of excavations, an international conference in Rome was told Thursday.

 

The first Pompeii was not built by the Romans or even by the Greeks who preceded them, but by an ancient people called the Samnites, Pompeii heritage Superintendent Piero Guzzo told a packed audience of archaeologists and scholars...

 

ANSA.IT

[Skarr]

Rome, February 1 - The origins of the famed buried city of Pompeii have emerged from years of excavations, an international conference in Rome was told Thursday.

 

The first Pompeii was not built by the Romans or even by the Greeks who preceded them, but by an ancient people called the Samnites, Pompeii heritage Superintendent Piero Guzzo told a packed audience of archaeologists and scholars...

 

ANSA.IT

 

Interesting... PP, I always thought that Pompeii was founded by the Etruscans and was a major haven for them as they fled away from the capital city as they were getting "romanized" and thoroughly absorbed into Roman society at all levels. The Etruscans had their own culture / traditions etc. many of which were adapted or "romanized" and over time, lost their original identity. The arch, haruspicy, the practice of lictors, various other customs -- all were of Etruscan origin.

[Ludovicus]

Interesting... PP, I always thought that Pompeii was founded by the Etruscans and was a major haven for them as they fled away from the capital city as they were getting "romanized" and thoroughly absorbed into Roman society at all levels. The Etruscans had their own culture / traditions etc. many of which were adapted or "romanized" and over time, lost their original identity. The arch, haruspicy, the practice of lictors, various other customs -- all were of Etruscan origin.

 

 

This is an important discovery for the study of the Latin language, too. All those hundreds of graffiti in Pompeii, not a few showing non-classical usage and spelling, may have to be seen now as Samnite (Oscan) influenced.

[Gaius Octavius]

"The true Pompeii is not the Roman one that was buried by Vesuvius in 79AD," Pesando said.

 

Although this is what ANSA says that F.P. said, it is still a statement that troubles me.

Edited February 8, 2007 by Gaius Octavius

[Maladict]

So what happened to the Bronze Age Pompeii that was found about a year ago?

[DecimusCaesar]

The Samnite influence makes much more sense, considering that they were dominant in southern Italy. The Etruscan held territory did not stretch as far as Pompeii, I wouldn't have thought. Even so, their trade influence certainly reached as far as the south, considering the trade links between them and the Greeks.

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

I agree. The Etruscans even lent their name to Toscana, or Tuscany, which is a Northern state, and I don't remember reading that their political influence reached as far south as the Napoli area. But trade influences are more than likely, as Decimus pointed out