When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., at least 3,000 of Pompeii’s some 15,000 inhabitants were killed, buried under continuous waves of 700° ash-containing toxic gas. The deceased were either the wealthy who didn’t want to abandon their valuables or the poor and slaves with nowhere else to go. 

A fascinating new exhibition, “The Other Pompeii, Ordinary Lives in the Shadow of Mount Vesuvius,” is now being held in the Great Gymnasium in Pompeii’s archaeological park until December 15, 2024. For the first time ever, an exhibition delves into the daily lives of the city’s less affluent classes: artisans, shopkeepers, ex-slaves, who accounted for 50% of the population, and slaves from Syria, Jerusalem, Africa, Northern Europe, and Greece — an additional 30%. 

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