In the Shadow of Vesuvius

today's episode of the history guide brought to you by nordvpn take control of your internet today in 79 a.d the volcano vesuvius erupted bearing the nearby city of pompei and killing nearly a thousand of its inhabitants buried under pumas and ash from the eruption the city and those former inhabitants lay virtually undisturbed until large-scale efforts began to unearth the city starting in the 18th century and while the burial and rediscovery of pompeii is very well known and the subject of art and literature and even film much less well known was the burial of the two nearby cities of stabiae and herculaneum two sites that have long languished in the shadow of their more famous sister it is history that deserves to be remembered and talk about a disaster what happens when hackers get a hold of your data that will make you erupt history deserves to be remembered but that doesn't mean that you want pirates remembering your browser history take control of your internet today with 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service and a 30 day money back guarantee so go to nordvpn.com the history guy and get that screaming deal of a two-year plan at a huge discount plus four additional months for free the roman empire in the first century was near to its greatest extent in power stretching over close to five million kilometers by the end of the century stretching from modern scotland to phoenicia encompassing the entire shoreline of the mediterranean the first roman emperor augustus stabilized the empire after a century of civil war a period of peace interrupted only by the death of nero and the year of the four emperors in 6869 followed this period is generally considered one of peace and prosperity for the romans part of the empire's golden age of pax romana it was also a period of remarkable peace for the mountain vesuvius the name vesuvius is the one used at the time of the late roman republic and early roman empire sources although the etymology of the name is not known for certain numerous languages were spoken in the region in the preceding centuries including greek latin etruscan and others some theories suggest the name comes from the greek and means something like unquenchable while another theory from the greek suggests the name comes from the words meaning hurling violence for other indo-european roots it has been suggested to mean shine or the one who lightens whatever the etymology the volcano has been forming in its present location for roughly the last 25 000 years core sampling and radiometric dating suggest the volcano's been active for tens of thousands of years periodically erupting and bearing the surrounding countryside one such eruption around 3 800 years ago buried several bronze age settlements which have since been discovered preserved under the same kind of pyroclastic ash that would later bury pompeii based on scientific study it's believed that it had several smaller eruptions after that with the last happening perhaps in 217 bc that year there were reports of the sun being dimmed by a haze or fog historian plutarch mentioned that the sky was a fire near naples that year and the epic poem punica mentions that vesuvius produced flames like the ones produced by mount aetna that year although those sources were written hundreds of years later if accurate the volcano remained dormant for nearly 300 years before its famous eruption in 79 a.d despite the long period of dormancy the romans do seem to have been aware about the possibility of vesuvius being volcanic the greek historian strabo who died in the year 24 describes the ash colored summit and wrote that one might infer that at earlier times this district was on fire and had craters of fire but that its fuel had been quenched he also speculated that the ash from earlier eruptions might be why the mountain had become a bountiful slope for vineyards as was mount aetna though strabo and other writers described ancient fires and eruptions plenty the elder who published the first ten books of his naturalist historia only two years before the famous eruption does not despite its modern fame pompei was not a particularly important roman city and neither was herculaneum more important the region were the cities of naples and putili as well as the naval base at missium or the city of kumi which was the first greek colony on the italian mainland pompei was the older and larger of the two with archaeological evidence showing a large defensive wall encompassing older settlements around the 6th century bc herculaneum seems to have coalesced around two centuries later pompei was also larger with a population somewhere between 10 and 12 000 at the time of the eruption while herculaneum was smaller with a population around 4 000 and less than a third of the acreage of pompeii both had fought against rome in the social war or the war of the allies at the beginning of the first century bc and surrendered to become a part of the roman republic the resort town of stabia was according to pune the elder built after the social wars as a wealthy retreat filled with fabulous villas by 79 a.d both cities were fairly wealthy with herculaneum appearing to be the wealthier as a retreat for wealthy romans there were other retreats nearby such as the seaside resort of stabiae further south living in nearby mycenum was gaius plinius secundus known to history as plenty the elder as well as his nephew known as pliny the younger the elder pliny is best known for his literary works most notably the surviving natural history plenty served in the roman army as was customary for men of the equestrian rank and was popular among higher officers for his love of literature he served in the fighting against some germanic tribes in his youth and climbing the ranks pliny left the service and wrote a number of works under the reign of nero while he practiced law the death of nero brought on the crisis of the year four emperors in 69 a.d final emperor of the year was vespasian who began the 27-year flavian dynasty vespasian seems to have trusted plenty already and plenty was quickly assigned important procurator positions through the empire he returned to rome sometime in 75 or 76 and was given command of the imperial fleet at mycenum the fleet at mycena was the senior fleet of the roman navy founded by augustus airport at mycenae was called the portis julius and was the first harbor specifically constructed to be a naval base for the western roman fleet plenty lived there with his sister and her son now known as puny the younger the exact date of the vesuvius eruption in 79 is uncertain as copies of the younger pliny's letters discovered during the middle ages mentioned a number of dates as of 2021 the most likely date is thought to be in the fall probably in late october the romans had become accustomed to minor tremors in the region and that became more common in the days preceding the eruption the younger plenty said they were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in campania at about 1 pm the day of the eruption the younger writes that his mother desired the elder pliny to observe a cloud of a very unusual size and shape a cloud from vesuvius as they would labor learned described by the young man by liking it to that of a pine tree specifically a stone pine common in the region as it shot up to great height in the form of a very tall tree trunk which spread itself out to the top into his sort of branches pliny writes that his uncle ever the researcher thought the cloud was worth investigation the elder ordered a boat and invited his nephew along but the younger plenty declined as he had worked to do but even then things were becoming more serious before he could leave a message reached the villa from one of his friends across the bay earnestly entreating him to sail to her plenty ordered the fleet out to sea intending to help not only his friend but the several other towns which lay thickly strewn along that beautiful coast the scene changed quickly as the fleet sailed across the bay in response to the eruption the sea had retreated from the shoreline and cinders which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approached fell into the ships together with pumice stones and black pieces of burning rock and vast fragments which rolled down the mountain obstructed all the shore instead of turning back the elder plenty said fortune favors the bold and ordered ship to go to stabili where a senator was then staying the sky grew dark it was now day everywhere else but there a deeper darkness prevailed than the thickest night and broad flame shot out in several places from mount vesuvius until the houses rocked from side to side with frequent and violent concussions they could not escape the harbor as the wind blew towards the shore and the waves were high while the rest of the party looked for an escape the elder plenty fell down dead his nephew later speculated that he had suffocated as he had always had a weak throat exacerbated by his weight which made his breathing heavy stubby eye where plenty of the elder died lies about nine miles south along the coast from vesuvius at that distance the city received only much less ash than pompeii a thick covering of tephra fragmented material ejected from the eruption was in turn covered with several centimeters of ash a very different fade awaited herculaneum only four miles from the volcano summit the initial eruption and cloud that plenty describes fell mostly to the south initially blanketing pompeii but missing herculaneum completely as it was upwind but after the initial phase of the eruption another phase occurred which was characterized by a pyroclastic surge a surge of hot gases and molten rock light enough to float over hillsides the first surge hit herculaneum going 100 miles an hour and was so hot up to 480 degrees fahrenheit that it instantly would have killed everyone exposed while most of the city seems to have already evacuated 300 bodies were found crowded into a sheltered section of the city now called the boat houses so they had no marine function there was no safety to be found there in the houses where the heat and gases would have killed anyone remaining the eruption alternated between the outgassing observed by plenty and pyroclastic surges caused by the weight of the ejected material falling back to earth with a total of six pyroclastic surges bearing herculaneum under nearly 70 feet of stone and ash some structures were severely damaged in places so quickly that the lower parts of the walls were destroyed while the upper walls still remained intact the heat was so intense and the surge is so fast that herculaneum in the nearby town of uplantis which also took the brunt of the surges that wooden objects were carbonized and have survived the surges reached as far as mycenum 20 miles away across the bay and the stone and ash pushed back the shoreline a full 400 yards like herculaneum most of the residents of pompei were likely able to escape the city before it was buried modern scholarship indicates that there too the people who remained in the city died of exposure to heat and not suffocation pompeii a little less than seven miles from the volcano summit was also buried in layers of ash and rock but to a depth of about 20 feet some of the survivors must have returned to collect their belongings and they meet an aftermath those that could find their houses or would brave the ash thick skies there's plenty of evidence of post-eruption disturbance however recovering valuables in pompeii the city was not entirely buried and the tops of buildings were easily made out further eruptions in the following centuries would bury all of the affected cities even more deeply only stebia seems to have been seriously repopulated shortly after the eruption with one source referring to stebia reborn over the centuries that followed some must have come across the remains of the cities or duck into them with wells there's evidence of medieval grave robbery and an aqueduct discovered at least part of pompeii in 1592. some statues recovered from herculaneum by prince of lorraine in 1709 but the city was officially discovered in the 18th century by workers building a palace for charles de bourbon the king of naples and later king of spain beverly workers extensively tunneled through the city taking things of value and damaging or destroying things that were not in an effort to preserve the value of that was was being pulled out pompei was officially identified in 1763 though excavation had already begun vesuvius has continued to be active in the modern age and many minor eruptions following a more significant one in 1631 provided the inspiration for paintings throughout the 1800s continued to erupt in the 20th century including in 1944 when it destroyed numerous american aircraft in the region all four cities herculaneum oblontis stabiae and of course pompei are now partially excavated pompeii most spectacularly but the other three sites are important in their own right it's showing off different well-preserved parts of ancient roman life the body of pliny the elder was recovered a few days after the eruption was described as looking more like a man asleep than a man dead plenty the younger's description of the eruption was so valuable so scientifically accurate that those kinds of eruptions where they're characterized by large columns of volcanic debris and gases that are shot straight up into the stratosphere are now called plinian eruptions early archaeology and robbing of the sites damaged all of them though they are now largely well taken care of and conservation efforts at herculaneum in particular have been called a textbook case of successful archaeological conservation it's really just a quirk of history the pompei has received the most attention even though it wasn't the only city that was destroyed and its ruins buried and preserved in the volcanic ash but these other cities so much more forgotten each have their own story to tell every bit is as impressive as tragic and as beautiful as that of pompeii i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions email box check out our webpage at thehistoryguy.net and of course we're on facebook instagram and twitter you can book a special message from the history guy on cameo and check out our merchandise teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 77,410

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: f0Qc00wtizw

Length: 14min 23sec (863 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 22 2021