The Colonization of Pompeii

Pompeii is now under the control of the Romans and is now a colony of the Roman Empire. But how did it get this way?

Pompeii was founded in the middle of the 7th century (approximately 650 BCE) by the Oscans, a group of people whose origins trace back to central Italy. The Greeks at this time were already using Pompeii as a safe port. Pompeii and other surrounding areas would never be the same again after the Social War, which took place from the year 90 BCE until 80 BCE.

The Social War “was a civil war between the Romans and their Italian allies” (1). The main cause of the Social War was that “Rome couldn’t grant the Italians equality”, specifically in the issue of not being able to grant citizens in the colonies full Roman citizenship as they had hoped for (2). In protest, most of the colonies attempted to break apart from the Roman Empire.

The Romans came out victorious in the Social War, with Pompeii becoming a Roman colony in the year 80 BCE after being conquered by General Sulla. One of General Sulla’s first acts while Pompeii was a colony, as “punishment for Pompeii’s participation in the Social War, a colony of Roman veterans was established there under Publics Sulla” (3). Publius Sulla, the nephew of General Sulla, oversaw all of the happenings of Pompeii and reported everything involving the economy, politics, social life, and religion back to Rome.

After the initial colonization of Pompeii by the Romans, the city began to change. Under the Romans, there was “an inflow of population and investments” in the form of an increase in building activity (4). Pompeii became the place where all of the former soldiers who fought in the Social War would come after they retired from the military and wanted to find a glamorous place where they can live out the rest of their days. The Romans also oversaw the reconstruction of new buildings in Pompeii, as well as “the city walls were repaired and the temple in the forum was rebuilt” (5) along with the “Stabian baths were enlarged, an extra covered theatre was built, along with a second public bath near the forum” (6).

The Romans also looked to inject a sense of religion into Pompeii. One way in which the Romans looked to do this was by building a Capitolium in Pompeii dedicated to Jupiter, the Roman god of sky and thunder and is the king of all of the gods in Roman mythology. A capitolium is a “temple dedicated to the main Roman deities” and could be found in many cities across the Roman Empire (7).

The Roman colonization of Pompeii brought great change throughout the region. The Romans looked to rebuild the infrastructure of Pompeii, while also pumping in a sense of Roman culture and identity into Pompeii. The Roman colonization looked to improve the present state of Pompeii, as well as keep the city running and fully operational for generations to come.

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