An Ancient Worlds Newsletter



VOLUME II - ISSUE VI
Id. Feb.

Page 1 | Page 2 Articles POMPEII - PART II The Second Letter It is now, in his second letter to Tacitus, that he begins to describe the second phase of the eruption, the Peléan phase where material flowed down the sides of the of the volcano as fast moving avalanches of gas and dust, called pyroclastic flow (pyroclasts are rock fragments formed by a volcanic explosion or ejected from a volanic vent). The term Peléan comes from the eruption of Mount Pelée on the island of Martinque where the phenomenon was first documented. The Peléan phase brought a much more damaging eruption, in the form of high temperature avalanches of dust and gas hugging the ground at high velocity. There are several terms to describe the various aspects of this type of eruption and the two broad categories as defined by Sigurdsson are: Pyroclastic Flow: A hot, chaotic avalanche of pumice, ash, and gasses. Pyroclastic flows can move at high speeds along the ground and pass over substantial objects. Their distribution is strongly controlled by topography. Pyroclastic Surge: A turbulent cloud of volcanic ash and hot gasses, which hugs the ground and travels at speeds often exceeding 100 km per hour. Surge deposits are more widely distributed than pyroclastic flow deposits though not as widespread as air fall pumice layers. Both aspects described above are extremely rare and have only recently been documented. Sigurdsson has analyzed the data as well as the soil surveys. Pyroclasts are identified in the geologic strata as thin, black layers. The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD is unique in that there are no less than six such layers indicating that there was at least six pyroclastic surges. The fourth and fifth such flows reached Pompei and it is here, in this level that we see the majority of the victims. This discovery forced scientists to revise their theory regarding the cause of death. Earlier, they had surmised that most of the victims died as a result of the falling ash and suffocated. The sixth and last pyroclastic surge was the strongest and the most far reaching, reaching areas far outside of Pompeii and, as a result, in Sigurdsson's opinion, it is possible the death toll from the eruption is far greater than originally surmised. Pliny's uncle's friend had stayed close and he again encourages them to leave. Pliny and his mother are understandably reluctant to leave the area without some word about Pliny's situation and hesitate. Their friend choses to look to his own safety and leaves. It is now that the most terrifying moments of the eruption come: Soon afterwards the cloud sank down to earth and covered the sea; it had already blotted out Capri and hidden the promontory of Misenum from sight. Then my mother implored, entreated and commanded me to escape as best I could - a young man might escape whereas she was old and slow and could die in peace as long as she had not been the cause of my death too. I refused to save myself wihout her and grasping her hand forced her to quicken her pace. She gave in reluctantly, blaming herself for delaying me. I looked round; a dense black cloud was coming up behind us, spreading over the earth like a flood. "Let us leave the road while we can still see," I said, "Or we shall be knocked down and trampled underfoot in the dark by the crowd behind." We had scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a closed room. You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore. There were people, too, who added to the real perils by inventing fictitious dangers; some reported that part of Misenum had collapsed or another part was on fire, and though their tales were false they found others to believe them. A gleam of light returned, but we took this to be a warning of the approaching flames rather than daylight. However, the flames remained some distance off; then darkness came once more and 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 their weight. I could boast that not a groan or cry of fear escaped me in these perils, had I not derived some poor consolation in my mortal lot from the belief that the whole world was dying with me and I with it. At last the darkness thinned and dispersed into smoke or cloud; then there was genuine daylight, and the sun actually shown out, but yellowish as it is during an eclipse. We were terrified to see everything changed, buried deep in ashes like snowdrifts. We returned to Misenum where we attended our physical needs as best we could, and then spent an anxious night alternating between hope and fear. Fear predominated, for the earthquakes went on, and several hysterical individuals made their own and other people's calamities seem ludicrous in comparison with their frightful predictions. But even then, in spite of the dangers we had been through and were still expecting, my mother and I had had still no intention of leaving until we had news of my uncle. The Legacy Pompeii remained buried under a layer of pumice and ash 19 to 23 feet deep until it was rediscovered in the 16th century by architect Domenico Fontana. The city's sudden burial served to protect it from vandalism, looting and the destructive effects of weather. Herculaneum was discovered in 1709 and excavations there began in 1738 with work beginning in Pompeii ten years later. The work at these sites in the mid 18th century marked the start of modern archaeology. Although a quarter of Pompeii remains unexcavated, it affords a wealth of information about everday life in Roman times for researchers and visitors alike. The remarkable preservations of the commercial buildings, the homes, the art, the architecture and even the people themselves, present the modern world with an unprecedented and unparallelled look at the details of life in an ancient Roman town. Sources: The Letters of the Younger Pliny, translated by Betty Radice, Penguin Books, 1969 Melting the Earth: The History of Ideas on Volcanic Eruptions, Haraldur Sigurdsson, Oxford University Press, 1999 Roman People: Second Edition, Robert B. Kedric, Mayfield Publishing Company, 1993 Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean, Charles Freeman, Oxford University Press, 1996 The Oxford History of the Classical World, Edited by John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, Oswyn Murray, Oxford University Press, 1986 Graphic courtesy of M. Houk and is copyrighted. The volcano is suffering acute indigestion because of its most recent and unsuccessful sacrifice Cornellia Cornelius BOOK REVIEW The Greeks. Jean-Pierre Vernant (editor), The University of Chicago Press 1995 The Byzantines. Guglielmo Cavallo (editor), The University of Chicago Press 1997 The Egyptians. Sergio Donadoni (editor), The University of Chicago Press 1997 Medieval Callings. Jacques Le Goff (editor), The University of Chicago Press 1996 These four books are part of an Italian social history series. Each contains ten or so long essays by specialists on particular "types" of people, defined by profession, activity, position, or other criteria. This framework is not an an opening for simplistic typological classification, but rather a method for approaching social diversity: the contributors vary in the extent to which they try to describe regional and temporal variation, but all are wary of oversimplification. Some of the essays deal with clearly defined positions ("The Emperor" and "The Pharaoh") or groups with a well-developed sense of identity ("Monks") or in the process of evolving one. Others are studies of groups defined on the basis of external criteria. Where social specialisation is limited, no attempt is made to impose artificial categories: in The Greeks, for example, the essays describe roles rather than separate groups: "War and Peace", "The Citizen", "Becoming an Adult", "Spectator and Listener", "Forms of Sociality", and "The Greeks and their Gods". The focus in most of the essays is on symbolic and ideological systems, on how individuals perceived themselves and were perceived by others, in their relationships to society as a whole and in their allegiances to particular groups. The essays explore nuances in terminology, both modern and contemporary, and the extent to which categories were real or perceived as real. An essay on the Byzantine "Poor", for example, analyses contemporary terms for and attitudes to poverty, its connection with monasticism, and so forth, rather than entering into any kind of economic analysis, while essays on "The Saint" and "The Marginal Man" address Byzantine ideas of sanctity and exclusion. This approach means that many topics are not covered at all: military theory and technology, for example, or theology. Literary and historical evidence is obviously central, but the contributors are wary of too narrow an emphasis on this and many draw on archaeology and evidence from material culture as well. Some of the essays are also closer to traditional social or economic history: "The Peasant and Agriculture", "The City-Dweller and Life in Cities and Towns", and "Women and the Family" (Medieval Callings) and "The Economist" (The Greeks), for example. And a few enter into historiographical territory: "The Saint" contains an explanation of how to read Byzantine saints' lives. Short bibliographies of varying selectivity accompany the essays. One consequence of the European-wide sourcing of contributors is that many of the works listed in these are in languages other than English, which may be a drawback for students. (The translator of Medieval Callings has sensibly supplemented the essays' bibliographies with a list of suggested readings from the literature available in English.) In general the essays are pitched so as to be accessible to those without much background knowledge of the culture in question, to students or the lay reader. They are, however, substantial enough to avoid superficiality and they illuminate aspects of life which remain shadowed in more general social history or in narrowly biographical studies. Where they treat milieux about which I am reasonably knowledgeable (Greece and medieval Europe), I found them thought-provoking and challenging; where they cover less familiar territory (Byzantium and Egypt), I thought they were excellent introductions. Xolotl Huascar

In This Issue EDITORIAL LOVE OF HISTORY AMOR IN ROMA ATHENS AROUND VALENTINE'S ATHENS IN LOVE EGYPT IN THE SEASON OF LOVE MARRIAGE IN BABYLON VANDALISM IN GERMANIA MEANWHILE IN MACHU PICCHU AN AZTEC LEGEND POMPEII BOOK REVIEWS Reporters and Contributors Editor: Maximius Flavius Reporter, Rome: Heraklia Aelius Reporter, Rome: Caeseria Maximus Reporter, Athens: Aphrodite Theocritos Reporter, Athens: Louisa Agis Reporter, Egypt: Onions Hatshepsut Reporter, Egypt: AzureEyes Ramesses Reporter, Babylon: Apiladey Apilsin Reporter, Babylon: Leah Enkidu Reporter, Celtia: Caileadair Morna Reporter, Germania: Thiudareiks Gunthigg Reporter, Machu Picchu: ChanChan Tupac Article: Heraklia Aelius Article: Cornellia Cornelius Book Review: Xolotl Huascar Book Review: Optimus Valerius Acta Graphics: Tobius Tullius Articles, stories and reports for Acta are very welcome. Contact Maximius if you wish to contribute.