Pompeii

(pom-pa'yc.) (Anc. Geog.) A famous city of Italy, distant abt. 12 m. S.E. of Naples, at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius. About the commencement of the Christian æra, it flourished in wealth and luxury; but, with the neighboring city of Herculaneum, it was wholly buried under the lava discharged by an eruption of Vesuvius, A. D. 78. Excavations begun in 1750 have succe ively brought to light parts of its magnificent architecture, in almost perfect preservation. [s. 721]