POMPEII (anc. geog.), a town of Campania near Herculaneum, and destroyed along with it by the great eruption of Vesuvius in the time of Titus. See HERCULANEUM. It is about 15 miles from Naples, and six or seven from Portici—So much has been said and written on the discovery of this place, as makes it unnecessary for us to say much: we shall therefore only give a short extract on the subject from an anonymous work lately published, apparently of considerable merit.
"On entering the city (says our author ||), the first object is a pretty square, with arcades, after the pre-fective Sketch of England and Italy, quarter of the soldiery; numbers of military weapons being found here. Compare five Sketch of England and Italy, with Disquisitions on National Advantages
"A narrow, but long street, with several shops on each side, is now perfectly cleansed from its rubbish, and in good preservation. Each house has a court. In some of them are paintings al fresco, principally in chiaroscuro; and their colours not in the least injured by time. The few colours which the ancients knew were extracted only from minerals; and this may be a sufficient reason for their freshness. The street is paved with irregular stones of a foot and half or two feet long, like the Appian way.
"In discovering this city, it was at first doubted whether it were actually Pompeii: but the name inscribed over the gateway put it beyond all doubt. The skeletons
Pompey skeletons found were innumerable, It is said that many
Pompeii. had spades in their hands, endeavouring, probably at
tins. first, to clear away the torrent of ashes with which they
were deluged. Indeed the satisfaction which is felt at
the view of ancient habitations, is much allayed by in-
evitable reflections on this frightful scene of desolation,
though at the distance of so many centuries.
"An ancient villa is also seen entire at a little dis-
tance from Pompeii. The house is really elegant and
spacious, but only two stories high. The pavement of
the chambers is composed of tessellated marble, and,
when polished, displays the design perfectly well.—
There is some at the museum of Portici brought from
this place, which the eye would really mistake for paint-
ing. Under the house is a fine triangular cellar, of
which each part is 100 feet long, well filled with am-
phore. The skeletons of 29 persons were found here,
supposed to have fled to it for safety. Each house is
filled with ashes: they have almost penetrated through
every crevice; and it is incredible how such a volume of
them could have been thrown out by Vesuvius with suf-
ficient force to have reached so far." See Swinburne's
Travels in the Two Sicilies, vol. 2. p. 98, &c.; Lady
Miller's Letters, or De La Lande; Captain Suther-
land's Tour up the Straits, from Gibraltar to Constanti-
nople, p. 75, &c.; Dr Smith's Sketch of a Tour on the
Continent, in 1786 and 1787, vol. 2. p. 118, &c.;
and Watkins's Tour through Switzerland, Italy, &c.
POMPEY the GREAT, (Cneius Pompeius Mag-
nus), the renowned rival of Julius Cæsar. Being de-
feated by him at the battle of Pharsalia, owing to the
defection of his cavalry, he fled to Egypt by sea, where
he was basely assassinated by order of Theodotus,
prime minister to Ptolemy the Younger, then a minor,
9 See Rome. 48 B. C.