Pompeii: Temple of Apollo, podium and Corinthian columns

Built in the Samnite period (425-80 BCE). The Temple of Apollo, in which Oscan and Latin inscriptions dating from the establishment of the colony in 80 BCE have been found, was a Corinthian hexastyle building set on a high podium, reached by means of a flight of 14 steps. The pronaos (porch) was quite wide, the naos (sanctuary) beginning only from the 5th column; the temple was surrounded by a peristyle comprising 9 by 17 fluted tufa columns.\u000a\u000aLocated SE of Naples at foot of Mount Vesuvius; possibly founded by the Oscans in 6th century BCE; ruled by Samnites, then taken by Rome ca. 80 BCE; was prosperous city and resort; damaged by earthquake in 63 CE, rebuilt; destroyed by eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. The eruption buried Pompeii under 22 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery around 1592. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire.