[dramatic music] [peaceful music] NARRATOR: Today,
2 million people live around the foot of
Mount Vesuvius near Naples in Southern Italy. The inhabitants of
modern-day Pompeii are very much aware of
the constant threat posed by the still-active volcano. Farmers tend fertile fields,
where, just a few feet below, lie the remains of an
ancient civilization. Sprawling over 160 acres,
the layout of ancient Pompeii is much like that
of any modern city. Unequaled among historical
sites for its remarkable state of preservation, Pompeii is a
unique showcase of ancient art and architecture. There is an abundance of
original mosaics and frescoes, some as vivid as though
they were created yesterday. The city offers archaeologists
a "once in a lifetime" opportunity to explore the
mysteries of those who once inhabited the Roman world. During the first century
of the common era, Rome was a powerful empire,
straddling Europe and the Near East from Britain to Egypt. Pompeii was a thriving
commercial center with a population of 20,000. Then, these streets
leading to the city's forum were bustling with
farmers and merchants from afar, trading
produce and merchandise. Many of the local
citizens were wealthy, enjoying a relatively affluent
and placid way of life. Mount Vesuvius always
loomed in the background. But as far as the
people were concerned, it was just another mountain, a
good place to cultivate vines. The Romans living in the
area were not aware of the fact that the mountain was a volcano. For example, the most
famous of these Romans was Pliny the Elder, who was a
great historian and a writer. And he described many
volcanoes in Italy, but he never mentioned
Vesuvius as a volcano. NARRATOR: The 24th of
August in the year 79 was an ordinary summer's day,
with the people of Pompeii uneventfully going about
their daily business. The slight rumbling
sounds coming from Vesuvius in the early
morning were largely ignored. ANN KOLOSKI-OSTROW: People
proceeded as if everything was normal. Women at home were probably
getting their children ready for a short siesta. Slaves were bustling
about the kitchen, getting everything ready for
what would be the evening hours at home. Men were thinking about
spending an afternoon at the public baths. But the rumbling didn't stop. [tense music] [volcano rumbling] NARRATOR: Suddenly,
around 12:00 noon, deafening explosions
shook the entire city. The people watched, horrified,
as Vesuvius erupted. A pillar of black volcanic
ash and red-hot magma spewed miles high into the sky. Then, a torrent of suffocating
ash fell upon the city, followed by complete darkness. At the same time, stones
hailed down from heaven. Gradually, Pompeii became
buried in white pellets of solidified ash. They hadn't seen
an eruption before, so I don't think that
they had any idea-- true idea-- what they
were encountering. They must have been
really terrified, however, with the addition of the
eruption to the earthquake. And I suspect it
took a lot of them an awfully long time to figure
out that they were actually going to be buried
by these pellets. NARRATOR: Two men whose
names have come down to us from that time were
witness to the inferno. Pliny the Elder, an
admiral in the Roman navy, died attempting
to rescue victims. His nephew, Pliny the Younger,
wrote the only eyewitness report to have
survived the disaster. ACTOR AS PLINY THE YOUNGER:
"On Mount Vesuvius, broad sheets of fire and
leaping flames blazed at several points,
their bright glare emphasized by the
darkness of the night. The buildings were now
shaking with violent shocks and seemed to be swaying to
and fro, as if they were torn from their foundations. Outside, on the
other hand, there was the danger of
falling pumice stones. It was a choice of fears." ANN KOLOSKI-OSTROW: Some
huddled in corners, collecting their belongings
with them there, and thought, "We'll wait it out. It will stop." But it didn't stop. And 17 hours later, it
was still raining ashes, and many of the
roofs of the town had collapsed from the
weight of these ashes. Some people, then, were
trapped in their cellars. Others were trapped
in their homes. And many others
still were trapped as they tried to flee the city. NARRATOR: Pliny
the Elder did not grasp the severity
of the situation until it was already too late. ACTOR AS PLINY THE
YOUNGER: "My uncle decided to go down to the shore
and investigate the possibility of an escape by the sea. The flames and smell of
sulfur drove the others to take flight, and he
stood leaning on two slaves and then suddenly collapsed, I
imagine because the dense fumes stifled his breathing
and choked him." NARRATOR: Pliny the
Younger also describes his own death-defying escape. ACTOR AS PLINY THE
YOUNGER: "You could hear the shrieks of women,
the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men. Then, ashes began to fall again,
this time in heavy showers. We rose from time to
time and shook them off. Otherwise, we should have been
buried and crushed beneath. I derived some poor
consolation in my belief that the whole world was
dying with me and I with it." NARRATOR: As the night wore
on, thousands would perish. [energetic music] Death and destruction
rained down from the sky for an
entire day and night. As Pompeii writhed in
agony, another town lay in the direct path
of the volcano's fury. Nine miles away,
neighboring Herculaneum was a small seaside resort
for the Roman rich and famous. But even fame and wealth
would not save the inhabitants that terrible night. As Vesuvius erupted, Herculaneum
was entombed in a layer of ash 40 feet thick. Today, beneath the
rubble and debris, pieces of carbonized
wood can still be seen. Such evidence enables
volcanologists to reconstruct the city's final moments. Even complete window shutters
and doors are preserved. Artifacts like these reveal
that Herculaneum's destruction was very different
from that of Pompeii. We know that around midnight,
the style of the eruption changed dramatically. Instead of a very
high eruption column, all of a sudden,
the ash and pumice comes out of the
crater as a flow, a glowing avalanche,
a dust cloud that is moving like a nuclear
blast in all directions from the crater at velocities
of about 100 to 200 miles per hour. And within minutes, this cloud
would have reached Herculaneum. And this cloud is hot
enough to carbonize wood and to melt glass. Obviously, it is lethal. NARRATOR: At Herculaneum's
public baths, this marble washing bowl now
stands below the window, where it once stood in ancient times. But when the bath was
excavated, the bowl was found hurled
across the room. Its impression can
still be seen imprinted on the solidified
volcanic magma. The Vesuvius eruption in
79 AD was one of the largest volcanic explosions in history. In terms of the energy,
the amount of energy involved, it is much larger
than any nuclear explosion that has been set off on the earth. NARRATOR: One of the great
mysteries of Herculaneum is the absence of human
skeletal remains in the town. The houses and streets
seem to be deserted. What happened to the people? Did they know something that
their neighbors in Pompeii did not? Were they forewarned
of the disaster and had time to escape? Archaeologists always thought
so, until a grisly discovery was made. More recent excavations right
at the seashore of Herculaneum have brought a much
grimmer and sadder result to our understanding
of this mystery. Upwards of 100 victims have
been found, and some of them are so well-preserved and
give us such poignant details of those tragic final moments
that we can say quite a bit about their stories
and what happened to them at the end of the city. NARRATOR: This was the
first time we have ever come face-to-face
with human remains from the ancient Roman world. As it was a Roman custom to
always cremate their dead, the unearthing of the skeletons
at Herculaneum and Pompeii was a rare discovery. This was once a soldier,
found face down, clutching the sand, his
sword still with him. It's an extraordinary
find because no other Roman soldier has ever been
discovered anywhere. And he was wearing--
he had his sword belt. He had his money belt.
He had three gold coins, and he was all
prepared to be rescued. And it never happened. NARRATOR: Physical
anthropologists examined the skeletons in detail. Through their work, we
have gained new insight into the lives of
these long-lost people. ANN KOLOSKI-OSTROW: In
one of the chambers, amid a family of 12 victims,
we find a young woman, probably about 14, clutching very
closely a baby of seven months in her arms, trying
to protect this child from the inevitable death
that is soon to come. NARRATOR: At first, it seemed
that this was the baby's older sister. But then, investigation
pointed towards a more poignant and tragic story. ANN KOLOSKI-OSTROW: The baby
is very likely an aristocratic baby. It had in its ear a gold
earring with a small pearl on it, whereas the bones
of the 14-year-old girl are bones that show she's done
far heavier labor than a girl of her age should do. She's not well-nourished. Her teeth are in poor condition. She very likely had a difficult,
not to say terrible, life. NARRATOR: The conclusion was
that this is the skeleton of an overworked slave girl. One of her duties may have been
to protect and tend the baby. Her lifestyle stood
in stark contrast to that of the more affluent
citizens of the town. The gleaming white
teeth of some remains indicate healthy
nutrition, at least for most of the population. This is the only
find of Roman bodies-- the only important
find-- ever made. So for the first
time, we can find out what Romans were really
like and not just the way they looked from
statues and frescoes. [somber music] NARRATOR: Perhaps the
most moving examples to survive Pompeii's
fearful night of destruction are these silent forms. After what must have
been a terrible death, bodies decomposed,
leaving eerie cavities within the hardened
volcanic ash. These are casts made
by archaeologists after filling the hollow
spaces with plaster of Paris, forever preserving the
form of the victims exactly as they were caught
at the moment of death. [eerie music] This man was wearing a wide
belt, identifying his status as a slave. All slaves had to wear a heavy
belt inscribed with the name and title of their owner. 2,000 years after death,
the people of Pompeii still tell a haunting,
yet silent, tale. Can we ever understand
the destruction of an entire community on
such an unprecedented scale? n music] [ominous music] The eruption of
Vesuvius in the year 79 is comparable to the drama of
Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington in 1980. In both cases, volcanic ash
was hurled high into the air, followed by a
devastating explosion. But the eruption of Vesuvius
was three times more powerful than that of Mount St. Helens. In just a few hours,
two prosperous cities disappeared from the
face of the earth, taking with them the great
works and accomplishments of their inhabitants. Where ash and lava once
covered the cities, grass and vines slowly took
possession of the land. Gradually, the place
faded from memory. More than 1,500 years would
pass before Herculaneum would be rediscovered. It was totally by accident. [peaceful music] In 1709, two monks were sinking
a well when they inadvertently struck the marble floor
of an ancient theater. JOHN J. DOBBINS: Pompeii was
also discovered by accident. The digging of a canal actually
produced part of the city, and it became clear that
there was something there. And during the early
days, excavation was not an archaeological
enterprise, but it was really a treasure-hunting activity
in order to provide objects for the royal collection. NARRATOR: During the
17th and 18th centuries, kings from Vienna and
Spain ruled Naples. To provide their courts with
classical statues, Roman gold and silver, they ordered
excavations of the ruins. Plundering the area in
search of ancient bounty, treasure hunters secretly sank
numerous shafts and tunnels, many of them still
visible today. It was only in 1861 that
orderly scientific excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum began
and have continued unabated ever since. [computer beeps] We know what the width
of this building is. In fact, the way one can do
that is to type in the distance command. And so the distance-- NARRATOR: Today, cutting-edge
computer technology is used by John Dobbins at
the University of Virginia to rebuild ancient Pompeii. Statues of the city-- NARRATOR: In binary
building blocks, he's reconstructing as
three-dimensional computer images a series of
public buildings from the city's forum. There's no evidence
of a colonnade in front of the Sanctuary
of the Genius of Augustus. So this seems to have
been just an open area. That's a little bit
troubling, but perhaps-- NARRATOR: Modern technology
provides unique new tools in the search to unravel the
ancient mysteries of Pompeii and its inhabitants. In many ways, Pompeii,
more than any other city in the classical world,
demystifies ancient life because it puts the modern
viewer in close proximity with all of those aspects. There is an immediacy. It's possible to connect with
Pompeii because it is preserved well. The buildings are
three-dimensional. They're taller than we are. You can go into those
houses and have the feeling that the people
have just gone away and that you're stumbling
into someone's house. NARRATOR: Once
inside their homes, a search for their belongings
brings us closer to the people who once lived here. Walking these
silent passages, we brush with phantoms from
a long-gone civilization. Complete dwellings can be
explored, allowing the visitor to vividly travel
backwards in time. Even the frescoes
and the mosaics seem to harbor a
life of their own. Ancient technology and
plumbing laid bare, revealing a remarkably advanced
piping system for distributing water. In the panic and confusion
of the devastating volcanic eruption, everything was
left exactly as it was, including this
complete wine shop. Intact objects of daily life
are to be found everywhere, even a loaf of ordinary bread
carbonized by the hot gas of the explosion. Pompeii and Herculaneum
become opportunities for us to time travel to the
ancient world, not just time travel to a century or
to a period or to a decade, but, in fact, time travel to
one day in the ancient world, to 24 August 79 CE, and see the
moment at which these people met their deaths. NARRATOR: Obvious everywhere
is the enormous wealth and extravagance of the
villas of the well-to-do-- wall paintings and mosaics
of exquisite artistry, decorative cosmetic
boxes complete with delicate instruments
fashioned from wood and ivory, solid gold jewelry embellished
with expensive gemstones. All of these objects conjure
the ghosts of their owners, recalling a once-living,
breathing society. We actually have some life
breathed into those ruins by the writings of Pliny
the Younger once again, who describes in
tremendous detail the pleasures of
living in his villas. They enjoyed their meals, and
they enjoyed that in proximity of their garden, with fountains
playing and the light coming in, the breeze, dining,
water, music, and all of that. [birds chirping] [peaceful music] NARRATOR: The extent of the
wealth enjoyed by society is not known. But clearly, only a small
fraction of the people lived in plush opulence. There is an incredible
difference between the wealthy and everybody else
in the Roman world. There is essentially
no middle class. There are only very wealthy
people and very poor people. NARRATOR: The privileged
few often spent their time in ornate atriums lavishly
decorated with artworks. But mysteriously,
much of the decor is essentially Greek in origin. Alexander the Great, the Greek
warrior-emperor in battle. This mosaic was
found in Pompeii, yet it is an exact copy of
a similar work of art made in Greece. Why? Why does so much of
Pompeii and Herculaneum speak so strongly
of Greek influence? The Romans were
absolutely overwhelmed, I think, by the Greek world
and then the world that follows Alexander the Great,
the Hellenistic world, of great sophistication and
culture that came to Italy. The Romans didn't
fight it at all. They gave in and said,
"Wow, if it's that good, let's make 10 copies." [lively music] NARRATOR: Another mosaic
reveals a lively scene of street musicians. A delicate work of
extraordinary craftsmanship, it bears the signature of
the artist who made it, Dioskourides of Samos in Greece. The themes of the
paintings are frequently adapted from Greek literature. And we can understand
that it's very likely many of the painters
were Greek slaves, were actual Greeks who were
brought to Pompeii to do the decoration of these houses. [dramatic music] NARRATOR: Perhaps
the most famous of all artwork discovered here
are these bronze sculptures depicting two young wrestlers. Still in mint
condition, they were found in the garden of the Villa
dei Papyri near Herculaneum. JAMES L. FRANKLIN, JR.: These
are wonderful pieces of art. And they will have been done
in Greece and shipped over. There was a major trade in
shipping all sorts of statuary over from Greece. So that surely will be Greek. The Romans never were into
statuary and painting. This came to them
from the Greek world. The Romans got to
the Greek world, whether it's here
on the Bay of Naples or over in Greece, with
armies and practicality and going in and fighting. NARRATOR: Most
historians conclude that while the Romans were
emulating and admiring the Greeks in art
and literature, they themselves were innovative
leaders in more practical fields. The extensive use of
the arch and concrete where two of their great
contributions to civilization. The Romans conquered the
world and built their empire on the mighty power of the
sword but then reinforced it with massive civil
engineering skills. Little in this world
unfolds as we predict. The people of Pompeii could not
have foreseen the contributions they would make to
the chain of humanity. In the first century
before the Common Era, the wealthy lounged in
luxurious indoor baths illuminated by sunlight
thanks to an anonymous Roman who had invented glass windows. Villas with paned windows would
spread throughout the Roman Empire and the
Mediterranean, eventually leading to the design
of the greenhouse. In the ensuing centuries, the
popularity of the greenhouse would soar, inspiring
interest in harnessing the power of the sun. This quest would reach
bold new heights in 1959 when Pioneer 4,
the United States' first solar-powered satellite,
was launched into orbit. An enduring link to
the modern world, Pompeii and Herculaneum's
architectural marvels still stand, just as they
did two millennia ago. [peaceful music] From the ashes of Pompeii,
ghostly eyes stare at us across the centuries. Tantalizing clues
can be found here, revealing intimate details of
the relationship between men and women. A lady of the house
holding a stylus and writing tablet,
indicating that she is literate and well-educated. Though long gone, we
even know the names of some of these
people, Terentius Neo, wife of the town baker. JAMES L. FRANKLIN, JR.: I would
say that they're obviously a loving couple. They have that quality that
Roman marriages are always looking for, a husband and
wife who actually get along and spend their lives together. Many Romans find true
love in their life. And when you read
Roman tombstones, Roman inscriptions, you find
that expressed over and over-- "to my incredibly
sweet wife who lived with me without an
argument for 40 years." NARRATOR: This
captivating portrait was discovered in a mansion once
owned by a woman we know only as Julia Felix. Could this be her, an
independent, rich woman of property? From evidence that has
transcended the centuries, we know that most women lived
in a subdued and restricted lifestyle, deeply secluded
within the privacy of their home. Those who belonged to an
aristocratic family living in one of the lavish
villas would also be responsible for running the
day-to-day affairs of the house and would manage the slaves. But in spite of what we
know, the true status of women in ancient Rome
still remains a mystery. JOHN J. DOBBINS: Women
in the Roman world were not on the
same par with men. They did not have the same
rights to hold office. They could not vote. JAMES L. FRANKLIN, JR.:
Well-born women at Pompeii, the matrona of
these grand houses at Pompeii, wielded their power
very much within the realm of the private household,
at dinner parties and among the family. They certainly would in
no way even want a career. It would be unheard of. When we are talking about
women's liberation today, we often talk about
the ability of a woman to go out and build a career. A Roman woman simply
wouldn't want to do that. [somber music] NARRATOR: As Pompeii
and Herculaneum slowly yielded their treasures
to the modern world, what did the artifacts
reveal about the workings of ancient Roman society? In confronting the
city's rich aristocrats, we may envy them for their
flamboyant lifestyle. Yet there is a dark
side to the story. The city's opulent habits were
founded upon huge reserves of human labor,
and this, in turn, required a constant
provision of slaves. [energetic music] As the Roman Empire
marched in triumph across conquered territory, it
consumed vast human resources, absorbing slaves as
the spoils of war. ANN KOLOSKI-OSTROW: All
the time, capturing cities meant killing the men and
taking into slavery the women and children of the
town and bringing them wholesale into Rome. They came from Egypt. They came from Greece. They came from Tunisia. They were cut-- there was as
much a slave trade as there was a trade in cloth, in wine, and
in other articles of produce. NARRATOR: In this
massive structure, many a slave saw his
last moments on earth. Together with many prisoners
of war and convicted criminals, death would come violently,
as victims were forced to compete in the arena. [birds chirping] Known as the gladiator
games they took place here in a massive amphitheater
which accommodated up to 20,000 spectators. All of Pompeii's
population would gather to enjoy the bloody
spectacle of people fighting for their lives. [dramatic music] One of the most popular
forms of entertainment was the fight-to-death contest. A heavily armed gladiator
wearing a bronze helmet and shield, bearing
only a short sword, would be pitched against a
completely naked opponent equipped with a long
spear and a net. It was brutal, a
source of cheap thrills for the bloodthirsty audience. This was an
institutionalized violence, as are many institutionalized
acts of what we would call violence in our own society-- executions and wars. And yet, we consider
that those, you know, are appropriate under
certain circumstances. NARRATOR: Most slaves
were kept not as fighters, but as servants. Large villas had up to 50
slaves eternally embroiled in the hustle-bustle
of household service. JAMES L. FRANKLIN, JR.:
There are so many slaves in Roman antiquity
and in Pompeii in particular because that
was a way to keep alive. The wealthy needed a
whole household of slaves because there was no middle
class, no industry the way we have it. So they couldn't
go to the tailor. There essentially
were no tailors. You had to have a dressmaker,
a tailor, a shoemaker, all of that on your personal staff. NARRATOR: To better understand
the people of Pompeii, it is important to remember that
2,000 years ago, the law was supreme. Civic responsibility was
taken very seriously. Sometimes these concepts drove
people apart, including fathers and their sons. JAMES L. FRANKLIN,
JR.: The father has complete legal power. He could kill any
of his children at any time for disobedience. And there are great
episodes, particularly in early Roman
history, which makes one wonder about the
veracity of them, of fathers doing exactly that. A consul orders his son not
to engage the enemy in battle. The son engages the enemy in
battle and has a great success. And he comes back,
and his father kills him because the
father had told him not to engage the enemy. And there's nothing that
can be said about it. He's-- that's his
right as a father. NARRATOR: Although today,
we subscribe to laws and virtues similar to
those of the Pompeiians, they held their own
beliefs about the sanctity of human life. They don't have this sacred
feeling for life the way we do. I'm sure each of them
had it for his own life. But when it came to life in
general, well, people die. There were so many
poor people that you see death all of the time. [solemn music] NARRATOR: Their attitudes
on death and justice seem foreign to us today. Roman values were
quite different from the Judeo-Christian
tradition that was being introduced to the
Western world at that time. There is no text or book
or Bible with a set of morals that the Romans follow. Religion to the Romans
is very much a ritual. And without that
moral superstructure, without a text or a set of
religious rules and regulations that you're following
in some way, it makes society much freer
in terms of what's allowed. NARRATOR: In the years since
79, when Pompeii and Herculaneum meet their doom, Vesuvius has
erupted more than 70 times. ANNOUNCER: Vesuvius once
again strikes terror into the surrounding
Italian countryside. A giant wall of lava, in
some places 30 feet high, surges irresistibly forward
through field and farm. NARRATOR: In 1944, as Italy
reeled from the closing phases of World War II,
Vesuvius erupted again. But unlike the eruption that
devastated Pompeii, this time, the volcano spewed deadly
molten lava as well as ash. The flow moved at a
swift 12 feet per minute, destroying entire towns
and villages in its path. [explosions rumbling] [eerie music] The worst eruption
occurred in 1631, when 18,000 lost their lives. ANNOUNCER: Vesuvius,
unpredictable and unconquerable, has had its way. [peaceful music] NARRATOR: Today, the
mountain is silent once again, its anger long
vented, and Vesuvius broods like a great sentinel
above the landscape. At its feet lie only
the ruins and remains of a once-proud Roman heritage
in which many mysteries yet prevail. In one dreadful
night, the volcano entombed an entire
ancient community. But in spite of the
evidence that lives here, it is difficult to comprehend a
society so remote from our own. The people of Pompeii may
continue to remain a mystery to us for all time. [dramatic music]
