Pompeii Archives - Biblical Archaeology Society

The Bacchic Cult at Pompeii

Nathan Steinmeyer — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 11:00:24 +0000

The procession of Bacchus depicted on a frieze in Pompeii. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

While carrying out excavations at the archaeological site of Pompeii in Italy, archaeologists uncovered a large banqueting room painted with a nearly life-size frieze of the sacred procession of Bacchus. Buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, the frieze reveals fascinating details about Roman culture and the mystery cult of Bacchus.

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Scene of Mystery Cult Initiation

The Initiate and Silenus on the Pompeii frieze. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

The frieze was uncovered in the central part of Pompeii, as part of an ongoing project aimed at regenerating the archaeological and urban landscape of the ancient Roman city. Covering three walls of a large banquet hall, the frieze depicts the Thiasus (procession) of the god Bacchus, the Roman equivalent of the Greek Dionysus, the god of wine and festivity. This procession was primarily made up of women, known as bacchantes, and human-goat hybrids called satyrs. The frieze depicts the bacchantes as dancers and ferocious hunters, shown either with slaughtered goats or holding a sword and the innards of an animal. Meanwhile, one satyr is playing a double flute while the other offers a libation of wine. In the center of the frieze is a woman standing beside Silenus, the tutor and companion of Bacchus. The frieze depicts the woman as an initiate into the mysteries of Bacchus who, according to myth, died and was reborn, promising his followers the same. Above the procession of Bacchus was painted a second, smaller frieze with various animals, including deer, wild boar, chickens, birds, and fish.

The archaeologists at Pompeii gave the house the name Thiasus, in reference to the procession. Dated to the 40s or 30s BCE, the frieze connects directly to the mystery cult of Bacchus, one among many cults in antiquity that were only accessible by those who went through an initiation ritual, as illustrated in the frieze. It was only after initiation that one could learn the secrets of the cult. These cults were often linked to the promise of a new blissful life, in this world and the next.

One of the bacchantes with a goat over her shoulder. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

According to Alessandro Giuli, the Italian Minister of Culture, the frieze “provides another glimpse into the rituals of the mysteries of Dionysus. It is an exceptional historical document and, together with the fresco of the Villa of the Mysteries, constitutes a one-of-a-kind, making Pompeii an extraordinary testimony to an aspect of life in classical Mediterranean life that is largely unknown.”

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“The hunt of the Dionysiac bacchantes,” explains Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, was “a metaphor for an unrestrained, ecstatic life that aims to achieve ’great, wondrous things,’ as the chorus observe in Euripides’ play. For the ancients, the bacchante or maenad expressed the wild, untamable side of women; the woman who abandons her children, the house and the city, who breaks free from male order to dance freely, go hunting and eat raw meat in the mountains and the woods. These frescoes have a profoundly religious meaning which, however, was also designed to decorate areas for holding banquets and feasts … rather like when we find a copy of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the wall of an Italian restaurant in New York to create a little bit of atmosphere.”

View of the banquet hall of the house of Thiasus. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

The house of the Thiasus was just one of many buildings in its neighborhood at Pompeii that included incredible and vibrant paintings. Other such examples were a large reception room decorated with scenes from the Trojan War, and a massive private bath complex with paintings of athletes and more scenes of the Trojan War.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on September 8, 2025.

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Luxurious Private Bath Uncovered at Pompeii

Nathan Steinmeyer — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:00:21 +0000

Pottery left behind in the luxurious baths following the destruction of Pompeii. Courtesy Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

Continued excavations at Pompeii have revealed possibly the largest private bath complex ever uncovered in the ancient city. Attached to an equally impressive house, the baths give a further glimpse into the luxury and pomp that could surround the life of an aristocratic Pompeiian family in the lead-up to the city’s destruction by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE.

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Bathing in Pompeii

The newly discovered private baths are one of the largest and most complex ever discovered at Pompeii, with a cold room that could host upwards of 30 people at a time. Hosted is certainly the key word, as the bath complex would have played an important role in turning the house into a tool to impress and flaunt the owner’s status. “Everything was designed to stage a show, in which the owner was the center of attention,” emphasized Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

After undressing in a changing room decorated with vibrant red walls and mosaic floors, those invited into the baths would have first entered the hot room. Here, the suspended floor allowed hot air to flow underneath, turning the room into a sauna, heated by a furnace. After this, they would have moved into a warm room where they would massage their skin with oils before finally entering the cold room. Here, they would have plunged into the pool or simply sat with their feet in the water, chatting with those around them. The walls of the cold room were ornately decorated, featuring wall paintings of athletes and scenes from the Trojan War. According to Zuchtriegel, this “must have lent these spaces a Greek atmosphere, in other words, an environment full of culture and erudition as well as relaxation. The peristyle with the large pool in the center and the adjoining thermal bath complex created a setting worthy of a Greek gymnasium which was further accentuated by the athletic scenes added later on.”

The cold room of the private bath complex featuring a central pool. Courtesy Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

Immediately adjacent to the bath complex was a large dining hall, known as the “black salon,” excavated the year before the pool’s discovery. Painted black and measuring about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, the hall had an exquisite mosaic floor, and beautiful frescoes featuring mythological scenes inspired by the Trojan War. Together, the pool and the dining hall “would have transported guests into the world of a Greek palace,” said Zuchtriegel.

Map of the large house with the bath complex highlighted in red. Courtesy Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

With the dining hall and the bath complex, the house lent itself to becoming a stage for celebrating sumptuous banquets, offering the house’s owner the opportunity to flaunt his wealth, or perhaps to gain the electoral support of his guests. Beyond the house, the owner may have also owned nearby buildings, including a laundry and bakery.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on January 24, 2025.

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The Home of Nero’s Wife at Pompeii

Nathan Steinmeyer — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 11:45:50 +0000

Newly excavated Fresco from the Villa of Poppaea. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

Renewed excavations near Pompeii are revealing more of the incredible riches of a house believed to be the home of Emperor Nero’s second wife, Poppaea. In addition to newly excavated rooms, archaeologists have uncovered multiple stunning frescoes and other remarkable finds.

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Excavating Poppaea

The Villa of Poppaea was once a luxurious Roman seaside villa, not far from the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Like those cities, it was similarly buried in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. With more than 100 rooms, the villa is one of the largest and most luxurious in the region. Various finds indicate it was likely owned by the infamous Roman Emperor Nero (r. 54–68 CE). Based on a few written source linking the site to Poppaea, archaeologists believe it was likely the empress’s home away from Rome.

Although the site has been extensively excavated in the past, renewed excavations were undertaken to reveal additional areas of the villa and to allow for the conservation of previously uncovered sections. “Despite the existing traces and the interpretative efforts made during the initial excavations, a great deal of uncertainty still surrounded the actual layout of this room and the rooms nearby,” explained Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. “The current excavations may clarify the situation and also reveal new decoration with extraordinary details and colors.”

The renewed excavations have already uncovered multiple frescoes, including one of a peahen that is mirrored by a previously uncovered peacock, and another that depicts a theater mask. The team was able to connect the theater mask to the character Pappus, from the well-known Atellan farces. In these performances, Pappus is an old, foolish character attempting to act young, but he is mocked for his attempt. The new excavations also uncovered four previously unknown rooms, including one that was likely part of the villa’s bathing complex.

One of the more intriguing finds from the excavation was the discovery of trees planted within the villa’s garden. Using a plaster casting technique, archaeologists were able to recreate the trees in their original positions. Botanical analysis suggests they were likely olive trees.

As for conservation work, the team is working to restore the decorations of two small bedrooms within the villa, which were part of a relaxation area known as a cubicula. One of the rooms included frescoes depicting faux marble and fanciful architectural features that give the illusion of greater space. The room also includes a black-and-white mosaic floor decorated in a geometric pattern. The second room was decorated with a monochrome background and floral motifs. This room also included several architectural elements that appear to have been unfinished, suggesting it was undergoing restoration at the time of the Vesuvius eruption.

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DNA and Gender at Pompeii

BAS Staff — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 11:00:03 +0000

Just a few of the casts that preserve the final moments of the residents of Pompeii. Credit: Lancevortex, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

In 79 CE, the Roman town of Pompeii was covered in volcanic ash, courtesy of Mt. Vesuvius. While the bodies of the dead decomposed long ago, their final poses remained cemented into the pumice and volcanic debris that engulfed the island. Ensuing excavations revealed nearly a thousand individuals whose bodies were cemented into their surroundings. In the late 19th century, archaeologist Giuseppe Florelli devised a system of pouring liquid chalk into the outlines of the bodies, creating casts that could then be studied.

Many of these casts, some in intimate embraces, have become the subject of narratives surrounding the ancient city. These narratives, however, are often more speculation than fact. For example, two such individuals have been assumed to be a mother holding her child, simply because one wears a golden bracelet. Another pair was believed to be sisters though, again, based on no specific evidence. However, in both cases, the intimacy of the poses suggested to many that these were related women whose final moments were preserved in the ash.

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However, a genetic analysis of DNA from preserved bone fragments found in the casts and recently published in the journal Current Biology has quashed these assumptions. To everyone’s surprise, of the five individuals studied (including the ones discussed above), none are definitively female and none show any biological relationship to each other. Adoption was a common Roman practice, and family was not always defined by blood, but there is no biological evidence these five individuals were related.

Furthermore, at least one of the pairs was discovered to be two men. Intimate relationships between men were not unusual in the Roman world. The genetic analysis revealed not only the sex of the individuals but their ethnicities as well. All five were descendants of eastern Mediterranean immigrants. Their ancestors may have originated in Anatolia or the Levant. This was already hypothesized based on the archaeological evidence found at Pompeii (including jewelry and cultic objects), but such origins are now confirmed through DNA evidence. Michael Anderson, a professor at San Francisco State University, commented to the Jerusalem Post, saying the DNA evidence “helps to topple the European ‘ownership’ of the so-called ‘classical world.’”

This article first appeared in Bible History Daily on November 29, 2024.

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Pompeii Reborn

Nathan Steinmeyer — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 10:00:30 +0000

Pompeii Reborn: A fresco depicting the mythological scene of Frisso and Elle fleeing on the golden-fleeced ram. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

The Pompeii Archaeological Park is launching a 100-million-euro project aimed at regenerating the archaeological and urban landscape of the ancient Roman city. As well as reimagining the way visitors interact with the site, the project will carry out the largest archaeological campaign at Pompeii in more than 70 years, and restore many sections of the ancient city, including the famous House of Leda and the Swan.

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A New Future for an Ancient City

The project, which will ensure “accessibility and protection,” will connect the 11 different municipalities that surround Pompeii, including Herculaneum. “After the years spent safeguarding the site of Pompeii,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of the Archaeological Park, “we are now in a phase in which we must set sail for new horizons: Our work is underpinned by an approach based on town planning applied to an archaeological site, in this case, an ancient city.”

Cleaning a fresco in the northern house. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

Among the planned improvements are large exhibits, increased preservation and protection of the site, shuttle services between areas, workshops for kids, and new catering options. “In a nutshell,” continued Zuchtriegel, “we are thinking of Pompeii as a contemporary city, with the sole difference that it has remained almost unchanged for 2,000 years and consists of a global citizenship of travelers who come every day from every continent on the planet.”

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Leda and the Swan. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

One of the project’s immediate goals is the restoration of the famous House of Leda and the Swan, named after one of its impressive frescos, which sensually depicts Jupiter, in the form of a swan, consorting with Leda, wife of King Tindar of Sparta. Intending to open the house to the public, the Pompeii archaeological team has already begun renewed excavations and conservation work and will construct new protective shelters over the house. While excavations have continued to focus on previously identified rooms within the house, they have also uncovered several new rooms, including servants’ quarters, another small room, and a corridor. Two new houses have also been discovered to the south and north.

The House of Leda has continued to dazzle archaeologists with new frescos depicting portraits of women, birds, trees, and even fantastic animals. The houses to the north and south also include similar frescos. The northern house, which consists of at least six rooms connected to an atrium, includes still life and lake scene frescoes. The southern house boasts a fresco depicting the mythological scene of Frisso and Elle fleeing on the golden-fleeced ram.

Portrait of a woman in the House of Leda and the Swan. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

This article was originally published in Bible History Daily on March 11, 2024.

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New Paintings Found at Pompeii

Nathan Steinmeyer — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 11:00:53 +0000

Scene of Phaedra (left) and Hippolytus (far right) discovered during new excavations in Pompeii. Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

Archaeologists working in Pompeii have uncovered yet another house filled with magnificent wall paintings. Nicknamed the House of Phaedra, which like the rest of the city was buried under volcanic ash during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE, it preserves several beautiful wall paintings. The best preserved depicts a scene from Euripides’s tragedy Hippolytus, where a barely dressed Phaedra reclines before a nude Hippolytus, with an unidentified man between them (see above). In the play, Phaedra is married to the Athenian king Theseus, but falls in love with her stepson, Hippolytus, who has taken a vow of chastity. When he rejects her advances, she accuses him of rape and commits suicide, leading Theseus to exile his son in anger. Another painting (see below) shows a satyr (half-man, half-goat) and a nymph in an intimate embrace, and a third but more damaged scene may be a rendering of the Judgement of Paris. Overall, the paintings share the themes of love, lust, and the power of the gods—each results in tragedy for the characters, as the cost for the love they experience.

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The House of Phaedra is unique not just for its art but also its construction and style. Most wealthy Pompeian homes at the time had an atrium—a central unroofed room with a basin—which functioned as a place to display family heirlooms. However, by the end of the first century, it became more common to display wealth through clothing and jewelry, and atriums transitioned into being an aesthetic choice instead of a sign of wealth. This house may have been an early example of that trend. The building itself is quite small, but the wall paintings are similar to those that adorned the homes of Pompeii’s wealthiest citizens. As such, the building’s small size yet opulent décor make it difficult to determine the family’s wealth and status.

Newly discovered painting depicting a satyr and nymph. Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

Pompeii was covered in volcanic ash after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. This tragic event perfectly preserved Roman life and society during the first century. Since work first began at Pompeii in the mid-18th century, archaeologists have uncovered about two-thirds of the site. The final third of Pompeii, despite being a work in progress, remains open to the public. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, believes in keeping the site open as a way to provide transparency about the work and to educate anyone who is interested.

This article first appeared in Bible History Daily on November 8, 2024.

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New Frescoes Discovered at Pompeii

BAS Staff — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 10:00:37 +0000

Fresco of Helen and Paris from the newly excavated dining room. Image courtesy of the Italian Ministry of Culture.

Ongoing excavations at the Italian site of Pompeii recently revealed a spectacular dining hall with elegant black walls, decorated with beautiful frescoes featuring mythological scenes inspired by the Trojan War. Measuring about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, the hall also had an exquisite mosaic floor.

One fresco features two of the central characters to the Trojan War saga—Paris and Helen, whose love ultimately resulted in the war itself. Helen is flanked by an attendant while a loyal hound sits at Paris’s feet. Of note is the Greek inscription next to Paris that refers to him by his other name, “Alexandros.” According to legend, Paris received this name (which means “Protector of Men”) for his bravery in his days as a shepherd before being recognized as the lost prince of Troy.

Opposite Helen and Paris is a scene featuring Priam’s daughter Cassandra and the god Apollo. Cassandra is a tragic character who ultimately could not prevent the Trojan War even though she had been blessed with the gift of foresight. According to myth, Cassandra agreed to be Apollo’s bride in exchange for the gift of prophecy. When the time came to give herself to Apollo, she refused and the god cursed her with a gift of true prophecy that would never be believed. Instead, she is treated as a madwoman by her family and people. Following the events of the war, she is taken by Agamemnon to be his prized slave.

Fresco of Apollo and Cassandra from the newly excavated dining room. Image courtesy of the Italian Ministry of Culture.

According to press statements, the team believes the walls of the dining room were painted black to prevent the smoke from oil lamps staining the walls. When used in the dark of the evening, the flickering lights from the lamps would have made the beautiful images on the black background seemingly dance and move, “especially after a few glasses of good Campania wine,” said Pompeii Archaeological Park director Gabriel Zuchtriegel.

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The homes of wealthy Romans were often adorned with mythological figures and legendary scenes. While the paintings were definitely a sign of status, they also served a social function by offering dinner guests with subjects of conversation. “The mythical couples were ideas for conversation about the past and life,and only seemed to be romantic in nature,” Zuchtriegel continued. “In reality, they speak of the relationship between the individual and destiny.”

The townhouse dining room. Image courtesy of the Italian Ministry of Culture.

The exquisite dining hall is located in a domus (wealthy Roman townhouse) in the Regio IX area that the team has been excavating for about a year in connection with the Pompeii Archaeological Park’s extensive renovation efforts. Many exciting discoveries have been made in Regio IX recently, including a fullonica (laundry), pistrinum (bakery), and a construction site, all within the vicinity of the domus. In their official reports, the excavators suggest the laundry and bakery were residences repurposed by the owner of the townhouse. The name Aulus Rustius Verus was written on a millstone that was discovered in the bakery. This same man was running for a political office called aedile, according to political graffiti discovered nearby. The aedile was responsible for various public duties, including maintenance of public buildings, organizing festivals, and maintaining the civic infrastructure. Rustius Verus is known to have been one of the two duumviri (the highest office in a city), alongside Giulio Polibio, and could have possibly been the owner of the richly decorated town house.

This article was originally published in Bible History Daily on April 22, 2024.

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The Destruction of Pompeii—God’s Revenge?

How to Find a Brothel in Pompeii

Saved from Vesuvius

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Life-size Statues from Pompeii’s Necropolis

Nathan Steinmeyer — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:45:53 +0000

The life-sized funerary monument found at Pompeii. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

While carrying out excavations in the Porta Sarno necropolis of ancient Pompeii, archaeologists discovered the ruins of a first-century BCE tomb, partially destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. Depicted in high relief on top of the tomb were two life-size statues of a young married couple, presumably the tomb’s owners.

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Commemorating the Dead at Pompeii

The tomb at Porta Sarno is one of more than 50 cremation burials discovered in the necropolis that served the ancient city. Consisting of four separate niches for cremation burials, the tomb was partly destroyed in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, when earthquakes caused part of the structure to collapse. The two stone reliefs were damaged during the collapse, causing the head of the relief of the woman to break off.

A cluster of laurel leaves marking the woman as a priestess. Courtesy Pompeii Archaeological Park.

The reliefs, positioned over two of the niches that likely housed the couple’s remains, were both elegantly carved out of separate stone slabs framed in carved stone, presumably by a master sculptor. Likely true to life, the relief of the man stands 5 feet 7 inches tall, while the wife stands slightly taller at 5 feet 8 inches. The height, however, was not the only lifelike detail, as the man wears a toga, signifying his position as a Roman citizen, while the woman is adorned with rings, bracelets, and earrings. Most remarkable is the cluster of laurel leaves the woman holds in her hand, known as an aspergillum. The aspergillum was a ceremonial instrument used by priestesses to disperse incense inside sacred spaces.

Based on the aspergillum and other details, archaeologists identified the woman as a priestess of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture and motherhood. Priestesses held a prestigious position in Roman society, possibly the highest to which a Roman woman could aspire. It had previously been unknown how important the cult of Ceres was in Pompeii itself. Based on the impressive tomb sculpture, however, it is clear that the cult was an official part of Pompeii’s religious practices.

In front of the tomb, excavators found numerous ceramic and glass vessels for ointments, a mirror, and a coin. Although all of these items had a place in funerary rituals, the many ointment vessels demonstrate that there had been frequent visits to the tomb for the pouring of libations to the dead. While Pompeii has provided many incredible archaeological discoveries over the years, these funerary reliefs are remarkably rare and provide new insight into the religious and funerary life of the city a century before its destruction.

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Roman Construction Site Uncovered at Pompeii

BAS Staff — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 10:00:17 +0000

Stacks of building materials found in the atrium of the Pompeii town house, including stone blocks, tuff, and orderly rows of roof tiles. Image courtesy of Italian Ministry of Culture

Researchers recently uncovered the remains of a construction site at Pompeii that remained undisturbed and preserved for nearly 2,000 years. This exciting discovery opens new windows into the past to help us understand the ancient building techniques that the Romans employed across the empire.

When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, cities in close proximity, such as Pompeii and Herculaneum, were buried in volcanic ash and left frozen in time. Because of these unique circumstances, the site of Pompeii has been of particular historical and archaeological interest for more than a century and welcomes millions of tourists a year.

Alongside the Pompeii Archaeological Park’s recently launched renovation efforts, the park teamed up with researchers from the Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology (MIT) to excavate the remains of a particular domus (upper class Roman town house) in Pompeii’s city center. The domus appears to have been undergoing extensive renovations when Vesuvius erupted, essentially preserving the first-century Roman construction site under thick layers of ash.

“Achilles of Skyros” fresco discovered within the house that was undergoing renovations at the time of Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 CE. Image courtesy of Italian Ministry of Culture

Amid walls richly decorated with frescos of the 4th Pompeian style, including a mural of “Achilles of Skyros,” the team discovered work tools, jugs, lead weights, iron hoes, as well as various building materials. Traces of the ancient renovations were also found in the area of the lararium—the household shrine dedicated to the guardian spirits of the family—in the form of amphorae used to “extinguish” the lime used in applying plaster to the walls during construction. Other tools were discovered in various rooms of the domus, from lead weights used for “plumb lines” when putting up walls to iron hoes used for preparing mortar and working lime. More building materials were kept in a nearby house, reachable from an internal door, including piles of stone for wall construction and piles of ceramics and tiles used for making opus signinum—a type of waterproof concrete that was used in Roman buildings to reduce dampness.

Analyzing the materials and construction techniques with the help of experts from MIT, the team discovered the workers at Pompeii used an innovative process for making opus caemnticium—Roman concrete.

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The usual process involved quicklime being immersed in water to “quench” it long before it was used in the building process, creating a “slake lime” that had a plastic consistency. It was then mixed with sand and other aggregates to produce the mortar or cement used in construction. At the Pompeii site, it seems that the quicklime had not been quenched and was prepared with pozzolanic sand beforehand. This means that during construction, the cement mixture was still hot due to the ongoing thermal reaction and dried at a much quicker rate.

According to press release statements made by project director Gabriel Zuchtriegel, this process was capable of significantly accelerating construction timeframes and also made renovations a much quicker process. “This seems to have been a very widespread situation at Pompeii,” said the director. “Works were underway almost everywhere, so it is probable that after the great earthquake of 62 AD, seventeen years before the eruption, there were other seismic shocks that hit the city before the cataclysm of 79 AD.”

Unfortunately, the renovation projects that were in full swing at Pompeii were ultimately left unfinished when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. However, the unique preservation of the city allows for a deeper understanding of the past. “It is a further example of how the small city of Pompeii makes us understand many things about the great Roman Empire, not least the use of cement works,” said Zuchtriegel. “Without cement we would have neither the Colosseum, nor the Pantheon, nor the Baths of Caracalla. The excavations underway in Pompeii offer the possibility of observing almost directly how an ancient construction site functioned.”

As for the future, the team hopes that more secrets of Roman construction will be revealed and provide ideas for environmentally friendly and sustainable building processes.

This article was first published in Bible History Daily on April 8, 2024.

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How to Find a Brothel in Pompeii

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Top Biblical Archaeology Discoveries of 2024

Nathan Steinmeyer — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 11:45:01 +0000

The past year witnessed some incredible discoveries in the world of biblical archaeology. Bible History Daily readers have already been treated to some of our favorites, but now we hear what some real archaeologists have to say! In this Bible History Daily video exclusive, join Biblical Archaeology Review Editor-in-Chief Glenn Corbett as he reviews the year’s top finds with two exciting archaeologists and public scholars, Chris McKinny of Gesher Media and Erika Brown of Just So You Know.

Video created, produced, and edited by Just So You Know Productions, LLC, in collaboration with the Biblical Archaeology Society and Gesher Media.

Ramesses II’s Lost Sarcophagus

While the mummy of Ramesses II—known as Ramesses the Great and suggested by some to be the infamous pharaoh of the Exodus—was discovered in 1881, it was not found inside its original coffin, as the body had been moved to a plain wooden coffin in antiquity to protect it from grave robbers. Now, it appears that part of the original granite sarcophagus from his burial has been discovered in a Coptic monastery in Abydos.

Deep Sea Late Bronze Age Shipwreck

While surveying the floor of the Mediterranean 55 miles off Israel’s coast, an international energy company made a startling find: the oldest deep-sea shipwreck ever discovered. Located over a mile below the waves, this shipwreck could rewrite the history of ancient seafaring, showing that Mediterranean sailors left the safety of the coastline much earlier than previously thought.

Archaeologists examining storage jars from the shipwreck. Courtesy Emil Aladjem, IAA

Hercules, Hydra, & Hazor?

What do a Mesopotamian cylinder seal, a Greek vase, and the Book of Revelation have in common? Seven-headed serpents. The only issue is that scholars are not certain why. Now, a small stamp seal discovered at the site of Hazor in northern Israel may finally provide a clue as to how the myth of the seven-headed serpent was transmitted between cultures across the millennia.

A Genie in Jerusalem

How did an Assyrian genie end up in Jerusalem during the First Temple period? During continued excavations of the City of David in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered a rare stone seal bearing two names in paleo-Hebrew script and a depiction of a Neo-Assyrian winged genie. Likely belonging to a high official in the Judahite court, the seal would have served as both a signature and a protective amulet.

Rare stone seal with an Assyrian genie and paleo-Hebrew writing. Courtesy Eliyahu Yanai, City of David.

Herculaneum Scrolls Deciphered

The 2,000-year-old Herculaneum Scrolls make up one of the largest extant libraries from antiquity, whose importance might well rival that of the Dead Sea Scrolls. But ever since their discovery in the 18th century, they have been almost completely unreadable, having been turned into little more than ash when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE. Now, in what may be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in decades, the Herculaneum Scrolls have been unlocked.

Pompeii Tiny House Frescoes

Archaeologists working in Pompeii have discovered yet another incredible home buried by Mt. Vesuvius. Nicknamed the House of Phaedra, the walls of the house preserve several beautiful wall paintings. The best preserved depicts a scene from Euripides’s tragedy Hippolytus, where a barely dressed Phaedra reclines before a nude Hippolytus, with an unidentified man between them. Another painting shows a satyr and a nymph in an intimate embrace, and a third may be a rendering of the Judgement of Paris.

Scene of Phaedra (left) and Hippolytus (far right) discovered during new excavations in Pompeii. Credit: Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

Paul’s Prison in Caesarea

The final story highlighted by the scholars involves a fascinating room built into the Herodian Promontory Palace at Caesarea Maritima, a city where the apostle Paul spent several years in jail before being sent to Rome for trial before Caesar. According to some scholars, this complex, built as a basement of the seafront palace, may be the same room where Paul was imprisoned.

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Top Biblical Archaeology Discoveries of 2024

Ramesses II’s Lost Sarcophagus

Deep Sea Late Bronze Age Shipwreck

Hercules, Hydra, & Hazor?

A Genie in Jerusalem

Herculaneum Scrolls Deciphered

Pompeii Tiny House Frescoes

Paul’s Prison in Caesarea

Related reading in Bible History Daily

Get a FREE eBook today