By
Viewed
85,697
Please choose the correct answer for each question below:
Questions: 0/215
Correct: 0
Translate:
Welcome to Pompeii,
a city frozen in time
and a fascination for
archaeologists and tourists.
2000 years ago, a volcanic
eruption destroyed the city.
It was a tragedy for the people back then.
But lucky for archaeologists today,
the ancient city has been
preserved like a time capsule.
Excavations started here
almost 300 years ago.
And there is a long way to go.
I'll take you to the amphitheater,
one of the largest in the Roman Empire.
We'll see plaster casts of people
who died in the volcanic eruption.
We'll visit a beautiful villa
that has just been excavated.
And we'll even see a former brothel.
Today we're going to find out
what's left, how was life here
and why so many people got trapped here.
And I'm going to give you
some tips in case you visit.
Good to know: Pompeii is always crowded,
especially at the main
entrance, the Porta Marina.
You can avoid the crowds by
using one of the two side entrances
like the one at Piazza Anfiteatro.
As the name suggests, you can
easily reach the amphitheater from here.
Gladiators once battled in this huge complex.
This is crazy here.
20,000 people as a live audience.
It was a massive show!
In the year 59, there was a huge fight here
between the inhabitants
of Pompeii and another city.
Because of that, gladiator
fights were forbidden for 10 years.
But the citizens of Pompeii
had other means of entertainment.
There were two theatres,
one large and one small.
Tragedies, comedies and
pantomimes were performed here.
It was a wealthy city with
amazing temples and palaces,
villas and thermal baths.
Today, Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The site is huge, you can spend
several hours — or even days here!
Pompeii was home to
between 10,000 and 20,000 people.
A beautiful location on the Gulf of Naples
on the Mediterranean and an ideal climate.
The soil was fertile at
the foot of the Vesuvius.
But no one knew
what was about to happen.
And we are just arriving to one of
the most moving places of Pompeii,
known as "The Garden of the Fugitives."
In this garden you can
see casts of people who died
trying to escape the volcano's wrath.
During excavations, archaeologists
often find voids left by decomposed bodies.
These voids are preserved in the
solidified volcanic ash and pumice
that buried the city.
It all started with the
ground shaking in the early morning.
And around noon, a huge
column of gas, ash and molten rock
shot up from the Vesuvius.
Try to imagine this: airplanes today
reach an altitude of 10 kilometers,
but the eruption of this
volcano reached 30 kilometers high!
Pumice stones rained over Pompeii.
Many residents fled the city.
Others looked for shelter in their homes.
The stones were small and light,
but they left a huge mess behind.
And things were getting worse.
People couldn't open the doors,
the roofs were collapsing,
and the houses became a trap.
The next day, the final blow came.
Toxic clouds of gas and ash,
known as pyroclastic flows
swept over the city.
They reached temperatures
estimated to be over 300°C,
suffocating anyone still alive.
Nearly a 20-hour nightmare!
After that, all that was left was
a desert of ashes, rocks and mud.
Pompeii fell into oblivion.
For 1,700 years, the city laid
dormant under several layers of earth.
Pompeii was rediscovered in the 18th century
and now attracts millions of visitors a year.
Around 13,000 rooms have been excavated.
But a third of the city
has still not been uncovered.
I meet archaeologist Sophie Hay.
And these are the new excavations
that we've been doing
over the last two years.
So this is all the brand new material
that's coming out of the ground and
telling new stories
about the people of Pompeii.
All this roof you can see, that's
covering everything they found.
This is pretty exciting to be here.
What does it mean for you
to be here and work here?
I'm an archaeologist at heart and
this has to be one of the biggest
privileges of my life has
been watching this all unfold.
I come here every day because I now
take photographs for the press and so
I've had to come here as part of my
job to watch the volcanic material
slowly coming down.
And watching these amazing
frescoes emerge from the ground.
It's a dream job for me
as an archaeologist who is in love with Pompeii.
One of the most recent excavations
is the villa of an important man.
We don't know who he was.
But we do know he was very wealthy.
So we will enter into the
first room that they excavated.
Oh my god!
Is the correct reaction.
This room is staggering.
You have to imagine that when
they started excavating this
two years ago, it was completely
covered to the height of this roof.
So this is completely unseen, unknown.
And slowly as they peel away
the layers of pumice and ash,
this amazing banqueting hall
was kind of revealed very slowly.
That's Cassandra and Apollo.
And on the other side
you can see Helen and Paris.
Greek mythology and culture
were very popular with the Romans.
The Roman elite spoke Greek.
Everything in the house seems huge.
Even the staircase!
And one banquet hall was obviously not enough.
There was another one, too.
So these columns inside a
room, they're really rare in Pompeii
because they date back to the
middle of the 1st century BC.
And so most people have got rid
of them because they're out of date
and they want to modernize.
So we don't have very many examples left.
So this is staggering.
And then this amazing fresco behind it,
which is principally painted
with a pigment called cinnabar,
which is one of the most expensive pigments —
the sort of Pompeiian red, if you like.
The host and his guest not only dined together,
they also bathed together in this pool.
This is the changing room of the bath complex.
This is the first room
you'd use to get undressed.
Your slave would help you undress.
And sit on these little
benches to take your sandals off.
There would have been
a shelf around the edge
so you could leave your clothes
and your toiletries.
It's the height of luxury.
You could do this in your home.
Most people have to go to a public
bath house and mix with everybody
else from the town.
But this is the height of luxury
to be able to bathe in your own home.
Fancy.
Excavations started almost 300 years ago.
Why is it taking so long?
Well, thank goodness it has.
Somebody wrote in 1812, who was
working here, that they wanted to
uncover the whole of Pompeii in three years.
And thank goodness they didn't.
Because as time has gone on,
archaeology has developed as a discipline.
It didn't exist when they started digging here.
And when we say "excavating",
they're not really excavating in the 18th century.
They are looting.
They are just tunnelling through,
taking away marbles and statues.
They don't care about the daily life or anything.
So it's really important that we
didn't dig it all, and that we haven't.
Because, let's say in 100 years time,
200 years time, technology will have
changed so much that we
can start asking questions
we can't even think of now.
Things like DNA that we are doing now on skeletons,
we couldn't have even
asked that question 50 years ago.
So part of our responsibility
is to leave a lot of Pompeii
not excavated for future generations.
There are many excavation sites in the world.
What makes Pompeii so special?
Pompeii is so special because it's a town
that absolutely represents the 1st century AD.
And we don't have these all
throughout the Roman Empire.
Because they grow over time,
they get demolished, they get rebuilt.
Because it was covered by
volcano, so this town never changed.
We get to see daily life.
We're not looking at the emperors,
we're not just looking at the elite.
We get to see the lives of the slaves, the barmen
The person working in the launderette.
We get to see the whole
gamut of Roman society here too.
So it's super important, this city.
Guided tours of the current
excavations are sometimes offered.
Take a look at the official Pompeii
website to see when they take place.
But even without the tour,
there's more than enough to see.
The streets along tell a lot of stories.
And look at this.
Even the trollies left some hints.
The carts left the dents, but people
walked on the stones to avoid the
water and waste below.
Nowadays, you'll find
places to fill up your bottle.
There's not a lot of shade, so bring a hat.
There were often long
queues in front of this building.
Guess what it was?
A brothel.
Each of these small rooms had a door
and a mattress on the stone bed.
Most of the women were slaves
who had been trafficked here.
The price for sex was almost
the same as a jug of wine or a meal.
Speaking of meals, most houses didn't have stoves.
People typically bought food outside.
Here there were no tables or chairs,
so this place was kind of an ancient takeaway.
People brought their dishes
and just ate on the sidewalk.
Of course, the rich
citizens didn't need to do that.
They dined in their villas.
One of the most magnificent is
the House of the Vettii brothers.
So we are at one of the largest houses in Pompeii.
And there is a really particular story,
because the brothers here, the owners,
they were rich.
But before that they were slaves.
And one day they were set free,
they start trading and became rich.
The Vettii brothers decorated their
villa with many works of art and murals.
They wanted to show off their
new status as free wealthy citizens.
Our last stop is the Pompeii Forum.
It was the center of
the city 2,000 years ago.
Temples and administrative
buildings line the square.
And there was also a market.
The forum was and is the place to be.
Guys, if you have the chance, just come here.
An amazing place with the volcano behind me.
A bit weird to be here though.
Weird, but wonderful.
You can visit at your
own pace or take a guided tour
to see the highlights in a couple of hours.
Book your ticket online in advance,
especially during high season.
So that was all for today.
Let us know what you think about this place.
Would you like to visit?
Related Songs