Ep. 18 Pompeii: How an Ancient Roman City Became a Time Capsule of the Past

The year is 79 AD. A bustling Roman port city sits nestled at the base of a mountain. Ships bob in the harbor, their nets heavy with fish and crabs to sell at the markets. Already the vendors have gathered, offering fresh pomegranates, pots of honey, spiced wine. In the forum a group huddles excitedly around a sign, recently erected, announcing the date of the next gladiator battle. Children run by, chasing a cat, giggling. They duck into an alley past a man who has just emerged through the low doorway of a tabernae, squinting in the sunlight. Above, a woman leans out an open window. She shakes out a cloth and hangs it up to dry. It seems an ordinary day in Pompeii, a city in the Campania region of ancient Rome. But everything is about to change. That seemingly innocent mountain isn’t just a mountain, it’s a volcano and it’s about to erupt, burying Pompeii in over 13 feet of rock and ash, rendering it uninhabitable, and preserving it for 1,500 years. But did you know, Pompeii wasn’t so much forgotten as it was left, undisturbed, like a time capsule for future generations to dig up? Let’s fix that.

Videos to watch:

• "A Day in Pompeii" (8 minute simulation)
• "Footage of the 1980 Mount Saint Helens Eruption" (3 minutes)

Sources:

• Short History of podcast episode "Pompeii"
• History Extra podcast episode "Pompeii: everything you wanted to know"
• History.com "Mount Vesuvius Erupts"
• Oregon State University "Vesuvius"
• Encyclopedia Britannica Online "Pompeii History of Excavations"
• pompeii.org.uk "House of Julia Felix"
• cupolahouse.org "Historic home survives through the centuries"

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