This book is the result of two interdisciplinary symposia held by a group of volcanologists, engineers, Near Eastern and Classical philologists, and Old and New World archaeologists, in Naples, Italy and Medford, Massachusetts. Contributors to the nineteen chapters examine the complex problems that can arise in volcanic environments and the various ways in which societies respond. These studies cross barriers among the volcanological, geological, antiquarian, and archaeological perspectives in studying such topics as risk assessment, responses in prehistoric and historic times, and representations in ancient literature.