Pompeii happened to be in the mainstream of much of ancient Roman architectural innovation which seems to have been occurring in the Campania region around the 2nd and 1st century BC: roughly in correspondence with Pompeii’s annexation as Roman colony. This activity was the result of the economic opportunity and changing social needs brought by Rome, combined with the technological and building skills readily available in Campania. Whilst Pompeii itself is unlikely to have been the hotbed of architectural innovation it is in many way fortunate that the city has enabled us to witness the architecture of a site which had for a period been situated in a region where architecture was at its most innovative.