Location

Description

Between the Herculaneum Gate and the Vesuvius Gate can be seen the walls and towers built by the Samnites to defend their city against Roman attacks. Near the gates, in the great tufa blocks, are deep holes made by the stone projectiles hurled against the walls by Sulla's military machine when he crushed the city in the Social War in BC89. .. The Vesuvius Gate, on the Via del Vesuvio, was already damaged by the earthquake of AD62. As evidence of this is the relief found in the House of L. Caecilius Jucundus which shows the collapse of the Vesuvius Gate pictured with two mules and a cart being tossed in the air. The gate was still under reconstruction when the eruption struck. .. .. Little is left of the Vesuvius Gate today, as it sustained considerable damage during the eruption. Next to the gate is the Castellum Aquae (pictured right), the termination of the Aqua Augusta which brought water from a source near the present day town of St. Lucia di Serino. .. The building, the main distribution point for Pompeii's water supply, was sited next to the gate due to the elevation of the site, the area being some 34m higher than the lowest point in the city around the Stabian Gate.

.. There was a necropolis outside the walls along almost every road exiting the city. The road leaving via the Vesuvius Gate was no exception. Here we can see the tombs of Arellia Tertulla, Septumia, and most notably the monumental tomb of C. Vestorius Priscus who died at the age of 22 in 75-76 AD (detail pictured left). ..