Pompeium

Pompeium is a name that appears in some historical sources as a potential neighboring settlement to Pompeii in Campania, Italy. It is not recognized as a distinct, excavated town in modern archaeology, and its status remains uncertain. In scholarship and antiquarian literature, Pompeium is often noted as a speculative or obsolete designation rather than a confirmed site.

The form Pompeium derives from Latinized naming conventions, echoing the region’s practice of naming places with -ium endings. Its appearance is sporadic in late 19th- and early 20th-century maps and notes, and it does not have a stable, consistently cited location in contemporary toponymy. Because of these inconsistencies, the term often signals uncertainty about the precise geography of the Vesuvian area rather than a clearly defined locality.

Location and archaeology linked to Pompeium are conjectural. Proposed positions have varied, with some nineteenth- and early twentieth-century sources suggesting areas near routes to Nuceria Alfaterna or other vicinities east or northeast of Pompeii, but there is no inscriptions, architectural remains, or stratigraphic evidence that conclusively identifies Pompeium as a separate ancient town.

As a consequence, Pompeium has limited independent historical footprint. In scholarly discussions, the term is typically encountered as an example of ambiguous toponymy in the Vesuvian region and as a reminder of the difficulties in reconstructing urban networks in Campania from fragmentary evidence.

See also: Pompeii, Herculaneum, Vesuvian cities, Roman Campania.