In the year AD 79, nearly 2,000 years earlier, the people of the busy town of Pompeii were hurrying about their lives. Pompeii is 20 kilometres south-east of Naples, and it is only 10 kilometres from the great volcano. At that time Pompeii was a rich town of 20,000 people with a busy port and market. All around the town were the beautiful homes of rich men and their families