Two thousand years ago, disaster struck the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. When Mount Vesuvius erupted, a deadly cloud of superheated ash, rock, and gas descended on the city and its terrified people. Pompeii lay buried and forgotten for centuries. The thick layer of volcanic ash acted like a time capsule, preserving homes, temples, human remains, and even food. What secrets did this lost city hold? Explore the science being used to solve Pompeii's...

Andrea Carandini is professor of archaeology at the University of Rome, La Sapienza, and the author of many books. For more than two decades, he has supervised some of the most important archaeological excavations in Rome, and he was instrumental in the discovery of the ancient Palatine Wall and the earliest phase of the Sanctuary of Vesta. Rome's most important and controversial archaeologist shows why the myth of the city's founding isn't all...

Uses a fictionalized account of the life of the stewart of an important estate to describe the ancient Italian city of Pompeii and what happened to it during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

"Describes the archeological wonder of Pompeii, including discovery, artifacts, ancient peoples, and preservation"

Describes the discovery and excavation of the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii, buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., and what has been learned about life there.

Baiae, an ancient Roman city lost to the same volcanoes that entombed Pompeii. But unlike Pompeii, Baiae sits under water, in the Bay of Naples. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the city was an escape for Rome's rich and powerful elite, a place where they were free of the social restrictions of Roman society.

"In 1448 a team of architects and engineers brought Pope Nicholas V unhappy news: the 1100-year-old Basilica of St. Peter suffered from so many structural defects that it was beyond repair. The only solution was to pull down the old church--one of the most venerable churches in Christendom--and erect a new basilica on the site. Incredibly, one of the tombs the builders paved over was the resting place of St. Peter. Then in 1939, while working underground...