ABSTRACT
The rediscovery of the settlements overwhelmed by Vesuvius possesses a history as interesting, and nearly half as long, as their occupation in antiquity. Their recovery ushered in archaeology and art history as primary methods, alongside philology and ancient history, for approaching and reconstructing the past. Their contents provided creative inspiration for architects, painters, wallpaper manufacturers, poets, novelists, filmmakers and forgers. It is not an exaggeration to say that Pompeii and Herculaneum have influenced the last several centuries of our age more profoundly and extensively than those cities ever impacted the Roman world of their own day.
