When Pompeii was first uncovered, it became a rite‑of‑passage for affluent young gentlemen touring Europe to soak up the continent’s past. A stop at the ash‑preserved city quickly turned into a must‑see, and these travelers brought back stories that helped spark the Neoclassical movement. Since the 1700s, the site has yielded thousands of artifacts that have reshaped our view of Roman life, from the mundane to the scandalously explicit. In this roundup of 10 amazing archaeological discoveries, we’ll travel through the streets, villas, baths and even the hidden museums of ancient Pompeii.
10 Amazing Archaeological Discoveries in Pompeii
10 Ancient Graffiti
We tend to overlook how prolific the Romans were at putting words on walls, especially when compared with other ancient societies. Sadly, most of those writings have vanished over the centuries.
Back in the day, public figures routinely plastered messages hoping to boost their reputation at home. This habit even spurred Julius Caesar to pen a multivolume account of his Gallic campaigns, peppered with self‑aggrandizing flourishes to win over voters.
Even the unlettered masses got swept up in the political fervor, and street‑level graffiti was as common as any other urban scribble. In perfectly preserved Pompeii, however, we encounter a rarer breed of Roman street art: painted graffiti instead of the usual scratched‑into‑stone style. Such painted tags are far more fragile, yet the ash shielded them for millennia.
Some of the political slogans appear to have been paid for by the candidates themselves – simple pleas like “I ask that you elect [name] as [position]” abound. Others are more elaborate, even resembling attack ads, such as “All the deadbeats and Macerius ask for Vatia as aedile.”
Of course, the Romans were far more uninhibited about sexuality than many later cultures, and their wall scribbles could be downright explicit. Phrases like “I don’t care about your pregnancy, Salvilla; I despise it” and “Romula sucks her man here and everywhere” illustrate the bold, lewd side of Pompeian graffiti.
9 The Villa of the Mysteries
The Villa of the Mysteries (Villa dei Misteri) stands as a remarkably intact Roman villa, likely owned by an influential family. Unlike most grand homes that sit within the city walls, this villa lies just outside Pompeii, perched along a country road.
Although Vesuvius’s eruption buried it under a thick layer of ash, the villa survived with astonishing integrity. Most walls and ceilings escaped serious damage, and the vivid frescoes remain almost whole, making them some of the most celebrated examples of Roman painting ever found.
Scholars still debate the precise meaning of the frescoes, but the prevailing theory depicts a young woman undergoing initiation into a secret Dionysian cult, the god of wine and revelry.
An intriguing Roman wine press was also uncovered on the premises, suggesting the household could produce its own libations. By the time of the eruption, the villa was over two centuries old and featured baths, gardens, shrines, and expansive kitchens—essentially a self‑sufficient estate.
When the villa first emerged in 1909, it was dangerously exposed to the elements. Within months, water seeped in, fading the paint and threatening the frescoes.
Early conservation attempts involved coating the surfaces with wax, which gave the artwork an unwanted gloss and later caused darkening and yellowing. A comprehensive restoration program launched in 2013 adopted far less intrusive methods, and today the villa enjoys a much-improved state of preservation.
8 A Horse Wearing a Harness
During 2018 excavations of stables near the Villa of the Mysteries, archaeologists uncovered at least three horses that had been entombed by volcanic ash. While tragic, the find proved invaluable because two of the horses still wore harnesses, and one even retained a saddle.
These equine remains may represent a desperate, last‑minute effort to flee the eruption, and the harnesses themselves are exceedingly rare in Roman archaeology.
Because such equipment is so scarce, scholars continue to debate how Romans rode and managed horses in both civilian and military contexts. Although the skeletal remains are fragmentary, future study could illuminate the design and use of Roman tack.
Interestingly, the discovery was tied to a law‑enforcement sting called Operation Artemis, launched in 2014 after a fresco theft. By 2015 the operation had led to over 140 arrests across 22 provinces and the recovery of more than 2,000 illicit artifacts.
7 Lupanare
The Romans were remarkably candid about sexuality, peppering public and sacred spaces alike with phallic symbols. In this open culture, prostitution was entirely legal, provided patrons exercised self‑control and avoided overt desperation.
One of the most striking examples is the Lupanare, a purpose‑built brothel in Pompeii whose walls are plastered with explicit frescoes advertising the services on offer—essentially an ancient menu board for adult entertainment.
Much like today’s rotating digital menu screens at fast‑food chains, visitors could glance at the vivid frescoes to see the variety of sexual positions and services available.
The Lupanare, meaning “Wolf’s Den,” was a two‑story structure housing ten private rooms and a lavatory, constructed only a few years before the catastrophic eruption. It appears to be the only building in the city designed specifically as a brothel from the outset.
True to Roman custom, the walls are littered with over a hundred graffiti comments, adding another layer of candid commentary to the already provocative décor.
6 A Roman Launderette
Many poorer urban Romans lived in multi‑story apartment blocks that would not look out of place in a modern city. Like today’s tenants, they needed a place to wash their garments.
These cramped dwellings often lacked the space for full‑scale laundry equipment, so residents would bring their clothes to a communal launderette for cleaning and drying.
Archaeologists have restored an ancient Roman building that served precisely this purpose. Open to the public, the site features large washing baths, a press for ironing, and several stone basins used for dyeing textiles.
Romans famously employed urine—readily available and mildly acidic—to clean clothes. Consequently, the launderette likely maintained a sizable collection of urine gathered from public latrines. After washing, garments were spread out on the roof to dry, a process that undoubtedly produced a pungent aroma.
5 A Perfectly Preserved Shrine
A 2018 discovery unearthed a shrine in a previously untouched sector of Pompeii, its walls and paintings shielded by the volcanic ash that kept them free from water, air and sunlight damage.
It is likely that most frescoes across the city originally looked as pristine as this one did when modern excavators first laid eyes on it. Early amateur archaeologists in the 1700s lacked the expertise and tools to protect these artworks, leading to gradual weathering over time.
Now, the shrine offers a rare glimpse of a fresco in its original, vibrant glory. The compact space showcases several scenes: a sanctuary flanked by guardian snakes, a hunting tableau set against a vivid red backdrop, and a figure with a canine head that may represent a Roman version of the Egyptian god Anubis. Additionally, a small pool within the room signals that the house belonged to a wealthier Pompeian family.
Perhaps the most eye‑catching element is a lifelike peacock, painted so it appears to stride through the shrine’s garden. While medieval art tended toward symbolism, this find demonstrates that Roman artists were capable of producing remarkably realistic depictions well before the Renaissance.
4 Varied Food
Many assume that Roman elites dined on exotic delicacies while ordinary citizens subsisted on bland bread and grains. The myth even extends to the infamous “vomitorium,” imagined as a room where the rich would purge to keep eating.
A comprehensive survey of twenty shops near one of Pompeii’s gates unveiled a trove of culinary evidence. The drainage of a particular eatery contained remnants of imported shellfish, sea urchins, and even a giraffe bone, alongside spice traces from as far afield as Indonesia.
Nevertheless, the study also revealed that average urban Romans enjoyed a surprisingly varied diet, resembling today’s Mediterranean fare. Their meals featured lentils, olives, nuts, and fish, punctuated occasionally by salted meat.
3 The Bread Fresco
While many Pompeian frescoes portray grand festivals or epic battles, some capture everyday moments. One of the most notable “ordinary” works is titled The Sale of Bread, though the name is a bit misleading.
The scene actually depicts a Roman politician in a flowing toga handing out free loaves to citizens. Ancient sources tell us that aspiring politicians often courted voters with lavish gifts, typically sponsoring gladiatorial games that were free for the public.
This fresco provides a window into Roman political campaigning, akin to modern politicians holding town‑hall meetings or community service events to win support. Moreover, it offers rare visual evidence of Roman furniture: a wicker basket, a countertop, and shelves—objects that rarely survive because they were made of perishable materials.
2 The Stabian Baths
The Stabian Baths claim the title of Pompeii’s oldest public baths and rank among the earliest Roman bathing complexes still standing today. Constructed around 120 BC, the complex spans over 900 m² and is divided into separate sections for men and women.
Each wing housed a series of rooms: cold, warm, and hot bathing chambers, a central courtyard, a gymnasium, and a large pool. Later additions included a block of public lavatories, and the women’s section even featured a room filled with bronze tubs for private bathing.
Because the baths predate many later Roman facilities, they were built with few windows and received less natural light than newer complexes. Nevertheless, they remained in active use up until the eruption, making them nearly two centuries old at that point.
Today, the Stabian Baths still stand, with many original Roman plaster layers, decorative elements, and even sections of the roof intact. Visitors can still wander the corridors, marvel at the ancient central‑heating system, and spot the holes left by renovations that were underway when Vesuvius blew.
1 The Secret Erotica Museum
Some Roman customs clash sharply with modern sensibilities, and they shocked Victorian and medieval observers alike. Legend has it that Count Muzzio Tuttavilla, upon stumbling upon Pompeii’s ruins in the 1590s, found a trove of erotic frescoes and deliberately re‑buried them, keeping them hidden for another century.
Whether or not the tale is true, once systematic excavations began in the 1800s, archaeologists uncovered explicit frescoes and statues deemed indecent. The King of Naples responded by establishing a secret museum that only men of “upright moral standing” could enter.
Numerous erotic works from Pompeii were transferred to Naples and locked away in this notorious collection. The museum opened briefly in the 1860s after Italy’s unification, resurfaced in the 1960s, and finally became permanently accessible to the public in 2000. Its holdings include uncircumcised stone penises and a satyr (half‑goat, half‑man) copulating with a female goat—pieces that would raise eyebrows even today.