Zusammenfassung der Ressource
All you need
to know about
Pompeii
- Location and History
- Fertile Area
- Natural floodplains
and harbours
- Produced 3 or 4
crops per year
- Olive, grape, spelt, wheat
and millet were grown
- Wine and rose perfume
- Good road network
- Sarno river and
sea were close
- Vesuvius associated with
prosperity and festivity (Bacchus)
- Looted since eruption
- Walls 6th century BCE
- Rome colony and Sulla's
veterans settle 80BCE
- First influenced by Oscans,
Etruscans and Greeks
- Founded 8th century BCE
- City 6th century BCE
- Samnite control 5th century BCE
- Roman 'ally' 290BCE
- Loyal in Punic Wars 3rd century BCE
- Rebels in Social Wars 91BCE
- Besieged by Sulla 89BCE
- Prospering 1st century CE
- Amphitheatre riot 59CE
- Large earthquake 62/63CE
- Earthquakes then eruption 79CE
- The Eruption
- Recorded by Pliny the Younger
- Pliny the elder died during the eruption
- The Plinian Stage
- Day 1
- Started (around midday) with a column of hot gas and pumice
30km high emerged from Vesuvius accompanied by a loud bang
- Described by Pliny as like an 'umbrella pine'
- Pompeii was downwind and was plunged into darkness
- Ash and rock fragments began accumulating at a rate of 15cm p/h
- Many people chose to escape whilst some sheltered in their houses
- By evening, roofs were starting to collapse under the strain of the debris
- The Pelean Stage
- Day 2
- During the early morning there was a lull in the eruption
- Some Pompeians made their escape believing that the worse was over
- This was actually a sign that the volcano was running out of energy
- As the column could no longer be supported it started to collapse
- This began the stage of pyroclastic flows and ground surges
- These are flows of hot volcanic material travelling between 100 and 400
kilometres per hour at a temperature ranging from 100 to 300 degrees celcius
- The first and second pyroclastic flows buried Herculaneum whilst
Pompeii's walls were hit by the third and it was buried by the other three
- Pliny the Elder's story
- Pliny was interested in nature and was
in the process of writing an encylopedia
- He was also in charge of
the Bay of Naples navy
- When the eruption began he
led a rescue party by sea
- On being blocked by floating pumice
he ordered the fleet towards the house
of his friend situated in Stabiae
- There he bathed and slept
- During the night he was woken as the house was
struggling under the weight of the debris
- They decided to flee with pillows
tied to their heads for protection
- He was killed by the poisonous gas
cloud pushed by a pyroclastic flow
- The Aftermath
- Titus was the (relatively new) emperor at the time
- He journeyed to the Bay of Naples and organised relief efforts
- Survivors moved into nearby cities which were given special rights to help them settle
- Anyone who died without making a will had their wealth donated to the relief fund
- Pompeii was looted yet was then soon forgotten
- Around 1,150 bodies have so far been found (1/3 of the city has been excavated)
- This suggests that a majority of the 10,000 inhabitants escaped
- 345 of the 394 bodies discovered in the pumice layer were indoors
- 48 bodies have been found near the Sarno river
- 319 of the 653 people discovered in the pyroclastic flows layer were buried outdoors
- The initial blast had the power of 500 of the
nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima
- Rediscovery
- Alcubierre
- First person in charge of Pompeii's excavation
- Military engineer
- No clue about archaeology
- Worked for King Charles VIII
- Careless and clumsy in excavations
- Karl Webber
- Alcubierre's deputy
- Swiss architect
- Didn't get on with his boss
- Brought innovations to process
- Kept records
- Giuseppe Fiorelli
- Most famous archaeologist of Pompeii
- Worked when Italy was reunified in 1860
- Insisted no walls were destroyed
- Protected buildings
- Introduced system of mapping
- Stopped items being removed unless neccessary
- Opened part of site to public
- Invented the plaster cast process
- This is the technique where any holes found are filled in with plaster
(today we use a resin) to re-create the body's dying moment
- Layout
- Learn gates
- Learn key streets
- Learn key features