Gaby
Just like Pompeii and Herculaneum, the ancient Roman city of Somma Vesuviana was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
According to a team of archaeologists from the University of Tokyo, a spacious villa over 2,000 years old likely belonged to the first Roman emperor, Octavian Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD).
What archaeologists found
The ruins of Somma Vesuviana, preserved beneath a thick layer of volcanic ash, lie on the northern side of Vesuvius in Italy’s Campania region. A team led by Professor Mariko Muramatsu, an expert in Italian studies, began excavating this lesser-known city in 2002.
Chemical analysis by the team shows the volcanic pumice covering the ruins came from a pyroclastic flow of lava, rock, and hot gases during Vesuvius’s 79 AD eruption. Historical sources say Augustus died at his villa northeast of Vesuvius, and a memorial was later erected to honor him. But the exact location of the villa and the memorial remained a mystery until now.
The team first uncovered part of a building used as a storage facility. Lining its walls were dozens of ceramic amphorae that once held wine. They then found the remains of an ancient furnace; part of its wall had collapsed, scattering tiles across the floor. In ancient Rome, such furnaces were used to heat baths, Arkeonews reports.
Radiocarbon dating indicates the furnace was in use around the first century AD, and the archaeologists found no evidence it was used later.
Archaeologists think the villa may have belonged to Octavian Augustus because it had a large private bath — a luxury typically reserved for people of exceptional status. The bath appears to have been unused for roughly the same period after Augustus’s death. Later, a large temple-like structure was built on the site; that structure was buried under ash by an eruption in the 5th century, the Daily Mail reports.
Among the finds were intricately crafted columns and a statue of Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine (known to the Romans as Bacchus).
Masanori Aoyagi, an honorary professor of Western classical archaeology at the University of Tokyo, said the research will help scholars “assess the damage inflicted on the northern side of Vesuvius and gain the most comprehensive understanding of the eruption of 79 AD.”
