What religion were the Pompeians?
The major deity for the town of Pompeii was Venus. She was
worshipped over other deities as she was born from the sea. The sea
had a major importance for Pompeii as this was where most of their
trade came from. Therefore, the citizens of Pompeii had a major
"connection" with this goddess.
There were many, many other deities worshipped in Pompeii,
however each person had their own preference. Each city / town
(such as pompeii) had it's own deity, each street had it's own
deity and then each household had it's own deity (called a Genius
or a Lares.)
Each house and street had it's own altar to the gods called a
Lalarium. Here prayers and offerings were given to the god of the
street / household.
Perhaps the most popular deity, especially just before the
eruption in 72 A.D. was the Egyptian goddess Isis. We can tell this
as her temple was the only temple to be completely (or nearly
completely) rebuilt after the earth quake in 62 A.D. Other temples
were ignored or put on hold until the rebuilding of the Temple of
Isis was completed. Even the temple of Venus was not completed.
Isis was very popular with the women, the poor and the slaves.
As Pompeii was a middle class town, these groups of people would
have made up the majority of numbers, hence the popularity of the
religion.