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Well before the famous eruption of [[79]] which destroyed the Roman towns of [[Stabiae]], [[Pompeii]], and [[Herculaneum]], Vesuvius had erupted violently and destroyed [[Stone Age]] and [[Bronze Age]] settlements as far back as [[1800 BC]]. The remains of a settlement at [[Nola]] was discovered recently by Italian [[archaeologist]]s, with huts, pots, pans, livestock and the remains of people buried under [[pumice]] and ash in much the same way that Pompeii was later destroyed.
The mountain subsequently went through several centuries of quiescence and was described by [[Roman Empire|Roman]] writers as having been covered with [[garden]]s and [[vineyard]]s, except at the top which was craggy. Within a large circle of nearly perpendicular cliffs was a flat space large enough for the encampment of the army of the rebel gladiator [[Spartacus]] in [[73 BC]]. This area was doubtless an ancient [[Volcanic crater|crater]], left from the last major eruption of Vesuvius. At the time, the mountain appears to have had only one summit (of which the present Monte Somma is a fragment), judging by a painting found in a Pompeiian house.
By the time the Greeks and Romans settled the area, the nature of the mountain had entirely been forgotten. The area was, then as now, densely populated with villages, towns and small cities like Pompeii, and its slopes were covered in vineyards and farms.
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