Interesting facts about Pompeii

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Subject: Interesting facts about Pompeii

Posted by: ElusiveDream
Date: Dec 16 16

Please share with us all the interesting things you've learnt about the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.

For those of you who've been lucky enough to visit Pompeii, feel free to tell us about your experience.

31 replies. On page 1 of 2 pages. 1 2

Mixamatosis

I've not been to Pompeii but only watched programmes about it. The latest theory seems to be that it was the "pyroclastic flow" that killed people. It happens so fast that people have little or no time to react to it. It wasn't the first pyroclastic flow that killed people in Pompeii because its force didn't reach that far, but a subsequent one. There's a difference in the bodies at Pompeii and Herculaneum (the other town affected) but that's explained by the different distances they were from the volcano, Vesuvius. Pliny the Elder died in the catastrophe and Pliny the younger, his nephew, who was a witness to the events at the time, wrote about it.

Reply #1. Dec 16 16, 7:25 AM

ElusiveDream

The boiling point of water is 100 degrees centigrade, so can you imagine being literally boiled to death by a cloud of gas and pulverized rock that's 250 degrees or hotter? Recent research has shown that most victims died not from suffocation but from the searing heat of the pyroclastic surges. Even at a distance of 10km, the heat alone was enough to cause death and sheltering indoors offered no protection. In Herculaneum's boathouses, the skeletons of roughly 300 people have been found, ranging in age from children to the elderly. I hate to think how terrified those people must have been.

Reply #2. Dec 16 16, 8:56 PM

Mixamatosis

Elusive Dream, What is your particular interest in this topic? Have you been to Pompeii? Please do tell us more.

Reply #3. Dec 18 16, 7:37 AM

ElusiveDream

Unfortunately I've never been to Pompeii, though I'd like to one day. A few years ago, my local museum hosted a travelling exhibition called "A Day in Pompeii". It was very interesting, full of artefacts ranging from jewellery to household items. Of course, an exhibition about Pompeii wouldn't be complete without a display showing the body casts. Among them was a guard dog that was found chained to a post outside one of the houses.

Reply #4. Dec 20 16, 5:04 PM

13LuckyLady

I remember seeing a person, via a photograph, who had been in the path of the eruption.

You could still see their features.

Appreciate each day is what I took away from that experience.

Reply #5. Dec 20 16, 5:29 PM

ElusiveDream

Looking at the body casts, you can still see the pain and fear those people were feeling in their last moments of life. Even with that dog, from looking at its twisted body, you can clearly see the poor animal was in distress and had a very painful death. It's possible that the owners, thinking they'd be able to return to their home, left the dog chained outside to guard the house. Of course, the people never returned and the poor dog ended up suffocating under the ash. Poor doggy :(

No-one living in Pompeii (or the surrounding areas) knew what Vesuvius really was until the eruption and, even then, people who could have left chose to stay. They didn't realize how much danger they were actually in until it was too late.

Reply #6. Dec 20 16, 7:52 PM

Mixamatosis

I saw a programme, I can't remember the title exactly or the front person - only that it was a woman with grey hair (but not the well known Mary Beard). Anyway she was talking to experts about the forensic/scientific side of the deaths and the preserved bodies, and unless my memory's at fault, I'm pretty sure the forensic expert said that the contortions in the bodies were the result of what happens to muscles when exposed to extreme heat, but he said that death would have been so quick (instantaneous?) they wouldn't have suffered. That was quite a comforting thought. I've just googled an in fact it's the programmes of the woman on this page of BBC trailers about Pompeii but I couldn't see her name. Hope you can access this. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01706fw/clips

Reply #7. Dec 21 16, 4:09 AM

Mixamatosis

P.S. WARNING. You may find the clips on the link upsetting because the drama recreates the fear of what it must have been like and forensics discuss things quite frankly in a detached scientific manner and not everyone would be comfortable with that. Sorry, it's a while since I've seen the programmes and I forgot the detail. Please don't watch if it's likely to upset you.

Reply #8. Dec 21 16, 4:25 AM

ElusiveDream

I suppose it is comforting thought to know that at least some of those who died didn't have to suffer. I remember a documentary titled "Pompeii: The Last Day" which mentioned the victims died in different ways...suffocation, thermal shock and even committing suicide. I also remember one of things on display in that museum exhibition I went to was a beautiful gold bracelet in the form of a snake. Let's see if anyone can guess the status of the woman who was found wearing this jewellery.

When I moved into my new unit, my mum and stepdad got me a big fancy television complete with internet and, using a website called 123movies, I've just been watching "Pompeii", a movie made back in 2014. Here's a link to it if anyone's interested.

http://tinyurl.com/j4badsz

Reply #9. Dec 21 16, 5:45 AM

13LuckyLady

Thanks for the warning, Mix. I won't look.

Suffering is something, I believe, no human should ever endure.

Yet we do......

Reply #10. Dec 21 16, 7:24 AM

Mixamatosis

Lucky Lady. I should say that the link takes you to page of clips to select from. They are not all hard to watch. One that might interest you is the reconstruction of a couple of the faces of those who died.

Elusive Dream, Was that lady a prostitute by profession? Apart from the obvious possibility of her being from a wealthy family, that's the only "profession" for women I can think of that might bring her such expensive jewellery.

Reply #11. Dec 21 16, 8:32 AM

13LuckyLady

Mix, thank you! Face reconstruction is one of my interests!

Happy Holidays, my friend!

Lyndi

Reply #12. Dec 21 16, 8:59 AM

Mixamatosis

Thank you Lucky Lady. Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year (which will be upon us before we know it). How time flies - or Tempus Fugit (as they would say in Pompeii :)

Reply #13. Dec 21 16, 12:07 PM

C30

I was lucky enough to visit Pompeii in 1963, and was totally captivated by the place, it is both eerie and yet fascinating.
The nearest thing to time travel one can experience.

A while back, on TV was "The Last Days of Pompeii" - excellent film, which by what I remember from my visit, they got pretty much right.......except maybe the Area which was portrayed like the Colosseum, when in reality it was much smaller (I actually walked out through the tunnel the gladiators used.

I traveled extensively 1958-1969, and of all the places I visited there are very few that I would have any interesting in returning - Pompeii is an exception to this (as is New Zealand and Malta, for different reasons).

Reply #14. Dec 21 16, 12:30 PM

C30	Delete "Area" add "Arena" Reply #15. Dec 21 16, 12:31 PM

MiraJane

Mix, there were other professions available for women. A large bakery and restaurant was uncovered. By something the archeologists found, I don't remember now, tablets possibly, they discovered this large business was owned by a woman. I think one of the bath houses was also owned by a woman.

Reply #16. Dec 21 16, 2:25 PM

Mixamatosis

Hi Mira Jane, I didn't think of those. I suppose a woman could be an innkeeper or a shopkeeper too - more likely her husband would be, but if she was a widow she would probably be in charge. One reason my mind turned towards the other "profession" was because from the request for us to "guess" I thought it might be something that would not normally spring to mind.

Reply #17. Dec 21 16, 3:19 PM

ElusiveDream

You'd expect to see that kind of jewellery being worn by the wife of a senator or a rich merchant, right? Believe it or not, the woman found wearing that gold bracelet was a slave. We know she was a slave due to an inscription on the inside of the bracelet which reads: 'DOMINUS ANCILLAE SUAE'. When translated to English it reads 'From the master to his slave'. Because slaves were treated as "property" rather than the human beings they actually were, sexual relationships between masters and their slave girls were perfectly legal.

Reply #18. Dec 21 16, 5:03 PM

jabb5076

I've been lucky enough to vist Pompeii twice, and I would gladly go back again. The first time was about 20 years ago and the most recent about 7 years sgo. The ongoing excavations make each visit a new learning experience. One thing I particularly remember as an interesting fact about the city is that one can see cobblestones carved with a representation of a penis leading visitors in the direction of the city's brothels. The first time I visited was with a group of high school students, and you can imagine how hilarious they found those carvings to be!

Reply #19. Dec 21 16, 6:01 PM

daver852

It was considered very bad form for a master to have sexual relations with one of his household slaves. Not that it didn't happen, but it was frowned upon in polite society, as they say. And since there were over 30 brothels in Pompeii, quite unnecessary. In Roman society, household slaves were regarded almost as members of the family.

Reply #20. Dec 21 16, 7:34 PM

31 replies. On page 1 of 2 pages. 1 2

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