Comparative Analysis Of ' The Last Days Of Pompeii '

Pompeii attracted many people before Mount Vesuvius “froze” the city in time for over a thousand years. In the eighth century BC, Pompeii was for wealthy vacationers who came for the sun and scenery. By the first century AD, Pompeii was for Rome’s most dignified and noble citizens. Pompeii had luxurious houses and paved roads. Daily life included relaxing in the thermal bathhouses which were good for the body and were great social atmospheres. In addition, people spent their days going to the amphitheater to watch gladiator shows and going to the market and town squares. Citizens who lived in Pompeii owned and worked in factories, artisan shops, taverns, cafés and more.

Christianity was frowned upon by the Romans. The Roman Emperor wanted the people to worship him and the Roman Gods. Christians were blamed for many of the misfortunes that happened in Rome. Due to the belief that Christians were to blame they were ostracized, tortured and even killed.

‘Christians to the lions’ as Trajan would say, an emperor in the early centuries Christianity to them have alienated the favour of their gods which has and would continue to cause disasters in the Roman Empire. The misfortune of Christians did not stop during this period, but it did come to a composed halt as Galerius, gave Christians the right to worship in some sense. Christianity during the early stages was clearly a course of persecution and forced pagan accusations. Constantine dramatically changed the recourse of religions with the battle of Milvian Bridge as Christianity became the predominant religion of the Roman Empire.

Tacitus, perhaps the greatest Roman historian, provides us with an account of the fire of Rome.1 It is within this account, recorded in The Annals, that Tacitus mentions Jesus. In chapters 38 through 45 of Annals 15, Tacitus discusses how Nero implicated Christians as those responsible for the fire.

With this spread Romans became very suspicious about the Christian cult. In fact in 35AD, the Senate decreed it a “strange and unlawful11.  They did not like the idea of monotheism, believing to favor one God so highly above others would anger them. The idea of polytheism also supported the Roman Empire, as by worshipping the gods an individual in turn worshipped the emperor in a way and believed the signs of priests and words to the emperors to be directly from the Gods12. Christians also refused to pledge allegiance to the emperor believing their allegiance could only be sworn to God and Jesus13.  Theophilius of Antioch described it as such “The emperor, given authority by God, must be honored with a proper respect, but he must not be adored. You see, he is not God; he is a man whom God has placed in that office not to be adored, but in order that he exercise justice on earth… As the emperor may not tolerate that his title be taken over by those subject to him, so no one may be adored, save God”14. Romans also found the idea that Christians did not make sacrifices to be very disturbing, especially when combined with the fact that they would gather to “drink the blood and body of Christ”15. Sacrifice was the norm throughout polytheism and the fact that Christians refused sacrifice of any kind, to

Within the Roman Empire, Christianity was banned and Christians were punished for many years. Feeding Christians to the lions were seen as entertainment in Ancient Rome. In AD 313, the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal and for the first time, they were allowed to openly worship. Churches were quickly built not just in Rome but throughout the empire, The main beliefs of Christianity The belief of one god, so it was monotheistic and the god that they worshipped was not the emperor so that is why the emperor was upset. The religions started out fairly similar to each other but as I said earlier when there imperial Rome's religion changed there was really no more similarities in the two empires religion.

Pompeii was a old Roman town located in Campania Italy, that was covered completely by volcanic ash. The reasons for this event were the conditions of mount Vesuvius, location of Pompeii and the people, and the preserved leftovers of the eruption.

The town itself had many temples devoted to their gods. The city even had an amphitheatre, which is the oldest of its kind dating back to 80 BC. The people of Pompeii had a serene living condition and well function social classes.

The sky turned dark as a huge, black cloud rose into the air. Stones, hot ash, and poisonous gases fell down onto the city of Pompeii as the seemingly quiet Mt. Vesuvius erupted in the year 79 A.D. Soon the entire city and all of it’s people were buried under 20 feet of ash. Even though this ancient city lived over 2,000 years ago, their daily life has similarities to ours today. Daily life in Pompeii is similar to us in various ways.

The town of Pompeii was located about five miles from the volcano by the turn of the first century A.D. which they later learn may not have been the smartest idea. But the city of Pompeii wasn’t one you would want to run from. Elegant houses and elaborate villas lined the paved streets. Tourists, townspeople, and slaves bustled in and out of small factories, cafes and bathhouses. People gathered in the 20,000 seat arena and lounged in the open-air marketplaces. It was estimated that on the day of the eruption, about 20,000 people were living in Pompeii and the surrounding region.

Before its destruction, the city of Pompeii was home to a flourishing city that through observations made from its archeological excavation and through the analysis of certain artifacts and various buildings An exact image of the city as it stood in the first century is presented to the archaeologists. This provides insight into the lives of the people living at the time.

According to the sources the Christians were hated by the people of Rome. According to a source, that was written by Tacitus in 64 AD, they were “ a class hated for their abominations, who are commonly called criminals......... an immense multitude was convicted, not so much on the charge of arson as because of hatred of the human race.” (Tacitus, Annales 1a). They were convicted of crimes due to the fact that the Romans hated them. The

As Christianity was spread throughout Rome, people began to question the teachings of Jesus. Out of fear, officials arrested and killed a multitude of Christians as a result. The everyday plebeian became impressed with these people dying for a belief. Although persecutions became more common, the number of Christians stayed the same and maybe even grew because of the influx of polytheistic Romans converting to the monotheistic religion of Christianity. People were converting quicker than they were being killed off because of the likeable teachings of love, the bravery of these people dying because of what they believed in, and their appealing message to those not in the affluent classes.

The focus of this research paper is on Mount Vesuvius is two of its most deadly eruptions in 79 A.D. and 1631 that destroyed the ancient cities of Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum forcing the citizens to flee to the Bay of Naples to escape the ash falls and its pyroclastic flows. Both eruptions left the populations

Pompeii provides us with the perfect example of a typical roman city and is arguably the most famous site for archaeologists in the world after the events in 79AD. When considering how far Romanized Pompeii had become by the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius it is important for us to take into considerations defining factors that made up Roman cities such as the Political set up, the Governments in place, structure of the city and even the religious aspects of the city, which is all somewhat apparent from Pompeii through discoveries. Within this essay I will compare the defining features that made up a typical Roman city and compare them to what we know of how Pompeii was set up.