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Did Vesuvius bury the home of the first Roman emperor? - EurekAlert

A group of archaeologists, led by researchers from the University of Tokyo, announce the discovery of a part of a Roman villa built before the middle of the first century. This villa, near the town of Nola in southwestern Italy’s Campania region, was found beneath a more recent, but still ancient building from the 2nd century. Specific findings at the site, buried by multiple eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, suggest it might have been the home of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (Octavian), the founding emperor of the Roman Empire, as they coincide with contemporary writings by known Roman writers Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dio Cassius. This excavation is also significant as it was previously thought that only areas to the south of Vesuvius, famously the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, were heavily damaged, but this villa is located in the valley of Somma Vesuviana to the north.

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