Readings-Cooley

Wednesday, 20 September 2023 21:40

• It is believed that the Romans were unaware that Vesuvius was a volcano
• He speaks of mostly gold and silver coins found near bodies-valuables
• The explosion back then consisted not just of ash but of:
• Pyroclastic activity
▪ pyroclastic flow is a dense, fast-moving flow of solidified lava pieces, volcanic ash,
and hot gases'
• Timeline:
○ 24 August,
▪ Early afternoon, white pumice begins to fall south of Vesuvius by wind
▪ 5-6 pm, Buildings at Pompeii collapse under the weight of pumice
○ 25 August
▪ Surges 1-6
□ Surge 6 reaches Stabiae and 4-6 kill all in area
• 2 Phases of Eruption
○ Plinian
▪ Layers of ash
□ Lull
○ Destructive- pyroclastic surges and flows
• First white pumice fell - not too deadly
• Then grey pumice - mixed with limestone
• Each of the pyroclastic activities had a surge and a flow
○ Surge
▪ Ground surge (essentially the deadly shockwave)
○ Flow
▪ Pyroclastic flow
• Even statues were blown apart
• Only the third surge reached Pompeii
• Strong Northerly wind prevented escape by sea

(L2) The Eruption of Vesuvius Page 1

Lecture
Thursday, 21 September 2023 09:10

Pompeii:
• 6th Cent. Founded by Greek immigrants (natives and Greek speaking)
• Pre-Republic
• Rome not yet influential
○ Still under Etruscan rule
○ Etruscan is a language and people
○ Also Latin speaking people
○ Tarquin the Proud (extra reading)
• 3rd Cent
○ Samnites conquer and settle
○ Tuscan language (?)
○ Starts to form final shape
• 290 BC:
○ Turns to Rome

The Republic of Rome:

○ Patricians
▪ Old Money
▪ Power
○ Plebeians
▪ Poor and working class
▪ Own leaders and political orders a
▪ Middle/Later republic: more classes + upward mobility Ancient thought on Vesuvius
□ New money
□ Wealth through trade Mythology:
• Early 1st Cent. ○ Why it looked the way it looked:
○ Octavianus-Augustus ▪ Hercules:
▪ Principate □ 12 labours, Hercules goes to giants (cause havoc with local people)
▪ New era of Peace and Diplomacy □ Cult of Hercules near Vesuvius
○ After Augustus: ▪ Bacchus:
▪ Julio-Claudian Caesars (incl. Nero) □ Fertility
▪ Year of the 4 Emperors (69 AC) ▪ Giant snake:
▪ The Flavian Caesars: □ Manly spirit
□ Vespasian □ Power to make babies
□ Titus □ Painted right underneath Vesuvius
□ Domitian □ Fertile land
○ Pompeii colonised by Rome □ Idea of plenty and life
○ Colonus: farming ▪ Vesuvius might have been worshipped as a deity
○ War veterans settled there, given land to farm □ Vesuvius of Jove
• AC 62: □ Manly power of Jupiter
○ Important Turning Point in Pompeii's urban landscape
○ Vesuvius Explodes on 24 August 79 AC

24 August, 79 AD, Pompeii: Scientists

○ 13:00 -Vesuvius Erupts (Earthquakes preceded) Strabo:
○ Rest of Day: ▪ 63 BC- 24 AC
▪ Geographer
▪ Huge column of smoke
▪ Noted that land around Vesuvius was Fertile but not the top-
▪ Fail of pumice (frothy stone)
▪ Darkness assumed it was fuelled by fire that had died.
▪ Roofs collapse under weight of ash and pumice Vitruvius
▪ People flee Diodorus Siculus:
▪ 1st Century BC
▪ Remaining Pompeiians killed after Pyroclastic surges on 25 August
▪ Scientific Treatises
▪ After 6th surge they were buried
▪ Works no longer extant
Lucretius
▪ 100-55 BC
24 August, 79 AD ▪ Explanation of how volcanoes work
○ 13:00 Vesuvius Erupts ▪ Pliny the Elder suggested similar theory
○ Rest of day:
▪ Only 2 inches of pumice due to northern wind

(L2) The Eruption of Vesuvius Page 2