Pompeii, a prosperous Roman city near modern Naples, was buried under volcanic ash and pumice when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, killing much of the population but preserving the city in extraordinary detail. Rediscovered in the 18th century, its excavation has given historians an unparalleled window into daily Roman life: houses with their frescoes and mosaics still in place, bakeries, taverns, a forum, an amphitheater, and even political graffiti and advertisements scrawled on the walls. Among Pompeii’s most famous discoveries are the plaster casts of victims, made by pouring plaster into the voids their decomposed bodies left in the hardened ash, capturing their final moments; the House of the Faun, one of the largest and most lavish private homes, home to the famous Alexander Mosaic; and the Villa of the Mysteries, with its vivid frescoes thought to depict initiation rites into the cult of Dionysus. [Editor’s note: the original site listed this page but never added content. This paragraph was drafted as a placeholder and should be reviewed/expanded by Dr. Siegel.]