Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:09,200
With the eruptionof Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
2
00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:12,160
began a story that hasn't receivedmuch attention so far.
3
00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,120
From the disaster that destroyed Pompeii,
4
00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:20,000
new possibilities arose.
5
00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:25,400
Crisis prevention.
6
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:27,040
Fertile soils.
7
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:28,800
Architectural innovations.
8
00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,680
All of which were to benefitfuture generations.
9
00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:48,480
The Gulf of Naples.
10
00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,160
For many people, a place of longing.
11
00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:53,960
Life is good at Mount Vesuvius.
12
00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,320
The climate is mild,and the soil is fertile.
13
00:00:57,880 --> 00:00:59,640
And the food is just delicious.
14
00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,480
Already in ancient times, this climatefirst attracted Greek colonists,
15
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:09,960
then the Roman jet-set.
16
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,200
The rich and super-richbuilt their beach villas here.
17
00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,360
And along the way they profitfrom the agricultural produce.
18
00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:22,760
What the Romans didn't know:
19
00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,080
They were building on a powder keg.
20
00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,840
When an eruption of Vesuviusdestroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum,
21
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:31,800
the Roman world was shell-shocked.
22
00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,600
Archaeologist Ersilia d'Ambrosiogoes on a search for clues.
23
00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,040
What happened after the catastrophe?
24
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,800
Eyewitness accountstell of the fatal eruption.
25
00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:55,760
The later fate of the region howeveris lesser known.
26
00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:08,880
What makes the soil at the Gulfso incredibly fertile is volcanic earth.
27
00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:13,400
Nevertheless, the volcano is the mostdangerous enemy of the people here.
28
00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,680
Since time immemorial,nothing had happened.
29
00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:22,160
Vesuvius lay peaceful for 2,000 years.
30
00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,680
Hence the fact that the volcanocan turn a lush, blooming landscape
31
00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:28,480
into a kind of moonscapein a matter of hours
32
00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,000
must have been felt even more dramaticto the Gulf residents.
33
00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,880
Pompeii was buried completelyunder volcanic ash.
34
00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,480
This sudden deathwas to turn the city into myth.
35
00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,560
Why does Pompeii remain so present
in the collective memory?
36
00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:56,960
Why did Pompeii become a myth?
37
00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:00,520
And why do millions of people
still visit the city today,
38
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,560
so many years after its demise
and its rediscovery?
39
00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:11,680
Because Pompeii is a snapshotof the Roman past?
40
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,440
{\an8}You could use a comparison
to explain this.
41
00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,680
{\an8}Pompeii is a little bit
like the ancient heroes.
42
00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:29,160
{\an8}The saying goes,
"Who is loved by the Gods, dies young."
43
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,840
{\an8}Basically, that is the destiny
that befell Pompeii.
44
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:35,120
Because it disappeared so quickly,
45
00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:37,160
the city became immortal.
46
00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:52,960
The eruption lasted for several hours.
47
00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:55,120
In his letters,
48
00:03:55,200 --> 00:04:00,000
Pliny the Younger emphatically describesthe fear and helplessness of the people.
49
00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:13,280
An enormous explosion happenedbetween 10 and 11 a.m.
50
00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:17,600
that tore open the ground of the craterand blew up the volcanic chimney.
51
00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:27,480
At first, the volcanoonly catapulted lethal stones.
52
00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:31,880
Later on, gas clouds caused the deathby asphyxiation of many people in Pompeii,
53
00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,560
Herculaneum, and the whole region.
54
00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:42,200
Buildings were completely overwhelmed.
55
00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,480
Peoples' livelihoods were destroyed.
56
00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:51,680
Massimo Osanna isthe director of the archaeological site.
57
00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,120
He knows the history of Pompeiibefore and after the eruption.
58
00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,360
Ersilia meets himat the Forum of the old Roman city.
59
00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,880
Like the rest of the city, this square was
60
00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:15,720
completely buried after the eruption
in 79 AD.
61
00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,680
What measures were applied here,
right after the catastrophe,
62
00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,120
by the imperial administration
63
00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,880
and, above all, the then Emperor Titus?
64
00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:32,640
Poor Titus had to handle this catastrophe
only months after assuming office.
65
00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:35,160
It was a crucial test for him right away,
66
00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,040
which he passed with flying colors,
I have to admit.
67
00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,240
He appointed a commission
for the rebuilding of Campania
68
00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,000
that assessed the situation immediately,
69
00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:47,120
of course,
rendering largely negative results.
70
00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,560
They quickly found
that rebuilding anything
71
00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:51,760
in Pompeii and Herculaneum was impossible,
72
00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:54,080
because the cities were completely buried.
73
00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:58,360
The commission, however, probably
applied measures regarding public places,
74
00:05:58,440 --> 00:05:59,840
in particular the forum.
75
00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,680
It looked as if it had been plundered
when it was excavated in the 19th century.
76
00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:07,280
There was no marble left embellishing
the building, no bronze statues,
77
00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:11,840
there were only the foundations,
without any marble coating or statues.
78
00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,560
Clearly, the commission got involved,
because it was a public place,
79
00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,680
so anything that could be saved,
would be saved.
80
00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,280
The bronze was probably melted,
the marble reused.
81
00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:24,640
Public property was recycled.
82
00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:35,600
Titus only succeeded his father Vespasianin June 79 AD.
83
00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,840
The new emperorproved a brilliant crisis manager,
84
00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,800
somewhat surprisingfor his contemporaries.
85
00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,160
{\an8}Before he became emperor
he wasn't terribly popular.
86
00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,000
{\an8}He was known for his cruelty,
his arbitrariness.
87
00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:53,440
{\an8}ANCIENT HISTORIAN
88
00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,800
{\an8}He was seen as a charlatan,
a bit like a little boy,
89
00:06:58,120 --> 00:06:59,800
{\an8}and the people gossiped about
90
00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,240
his alleged affair with a Jewish princess
91
00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:04,200
called Berenice.
92
00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,920
This was a bit similar
to Marc Anthony and Cleopatra.
93
00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,240
This association worried the people.
94
00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,560
But his reputation changed completely
when he became emperor
95
00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,040
and handled the eruption
of Vesuvius very well,
96
00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:22,400
as well as a big fire in Rome.
97
00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:37,600
Firstly, Titus ordered all vital suppliesto reach survivors in the area.
98
00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,320
Food, clothes, medical supplies.
99
00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,640
Soon, the rebuilding ofthe Roman road network was started.
100
00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,920
After the eruption,masses of mud had buried the roads,
101
00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:53,640
raised the ground leveland moved the coastline by 2 km.
102
00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:03,320
The reconstruction of the infrastructurewas the top priority for the Romans.
103
00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:09,000
Reconstructing a Roman road shows us,however, how laborious this work is.
104
00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:15,280
Back then, imperial curatorsassessed the possibilities.
105
00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:16,680
Just excavate
106
00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,320
or build new roads?
107
00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,840
The Roman historian Suetonius told us
108
00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,040
that Titus not only proved himselfan assertive statesman,
109
00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:31,000
but he also helped his subjectslike a loving father.
110
00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,280
However, he had close tiesto the region around Mount Vesuvius.
111
00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:40,640
The imperial family used to spendthe summer in their country villas here.
112
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,520
In order to consolethe survivors personally
113
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,760
and to find out aboutthe progress of his measures,
114
00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:52,160
Titus visited the regiononly months after the eruption.
115
00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:57,280
He even contributed to the relief effortout of his own pocket.
116
00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:03,000
It was to be the biggest private donationin the long history of the Roman Empire.
117
00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:07,720
The Roman state provided the manpowerand logistics for the reconstruction.
118
00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:11,880
Its army worked like a reliable machine,not only during war times.
119
00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:17,960
{\an8}They were organized brilliantly.
120
00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,560
{\an8}They didn't start at one point
and finish at another.
121
00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:21,880
{\an8}ARCHAEOLOGIST
122
00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:23,880
{\an8}There were countless construction sites,
123
00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,600
{\an8}all working on small portions
and joining them in the end,
124
00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:29,600
{\an8}hence increasing the speed.
125
00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:33,360
So the Romans built a big road
in a short period of time,
126
00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,280
in months, maybe a few years.
127
00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,120
However, the reconstruction
128
00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,440
of the road networkand the most important infrastructure
129
00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:49,280
was only fully completedunder Emperor Hadrian,
130
00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:51,160
some 55 years later.
131
00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:00,440
The eruption also caused the publicadministration and courts to collapse.
132
00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:05,760
The emperor immediately triedto counteract chaos and lawlessness.
133
00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:08,640
Above all,land tenures had to be sorted out.
134
00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:15,680
The proprietors had to know where theirland ended and the neighbor's started.
135
00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:26,760
All boundary markers had gone,
136
00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:30,040
because Pompeii was buried
under six meters of ash and stones,
137
00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,160
Herculaneum
under 20 meters of volcanic slag.
138
00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,720
So they didn't know anymore
which plot of land was whose.
139
00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,080
Titus and his envoys began
to allocate the land from scratch.
140
00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,320
As soon as people know
which plot is theirs,
141
00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:51,800
they can start working it, growing plants,
going back to using it again.
142
00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,560
From that point on, thingswere looking up again around Vesuvius.
143
00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:03,960
At the National Archaeology Museumin Naples,
144
00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:07,480
Ersilia d'Ambrosiomeets Ferdinando De Simone.
145
00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:12,800
She wants to know about the traditionalagriculture of the ancient region
146
00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:17,240
and understand which conditionsthe reconstruction faced.
147
00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:30,640
They meet in frontof the famous Bacchus fresco.
148
00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:32,920
from the Casa del Centenario.
149
00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:37,720
It connects the God of winedirectly to Vesuvius.
150
00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,960
Wine, the production of wine
was Pompeii's main business.
151
00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:51,480
As today, back then
it was very difficult to know
152
00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:54,160
whether it was going to be
a good or bad vintage
153
00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:56,960
and how nature could be controlled.
154
00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:00,440
Until a few decades ago,
people relied on the saints,
155
00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:02,200
in ancient times on gods.
156
00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:12,080
Agriculture, wine in particular,
was the economic driver.
157
00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:15,640
Hence, it was exported from Pompeii
to the whole empire?
158
00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:21,200
Yes, to the whole empire.
159
00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:25,040
And if we think
about the first century AD
160
00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,960
we see a very progressive Roman economy
in all of Campania.
161
00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:31,360
The whole area around the volcano
162
00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,760
was easily able to source grain and oil
from other regions
163
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,520
and focus on wine production itself.
164
00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:38,800
We have to imagine
165
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:44,080
that two thirds of Vesuvius were covered
in vineyards, according to the sources.
166
00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:49,440
The wine from Campania was very well-known
and could be exported everywhere.
167
00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:53,920
CAMPANIA
168
00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:58,720
Amphorae findings prove that the winefrom the Vesuvius was shipped to Greece,
169
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:00,400
Gaul,
170
00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:01,640
Spain,
171
00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:03,080
Britain,
172
00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:04,440
North Africa,
173
00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:08,000
and even India.
174
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:12,000
Above all, it's the region'sexcellent wine that explains
175
00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:14,400
why Titus invested so muchmoney and manpower
176
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:16,720
into the reconstruction efforts.
177
00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,760
Pliny the Eldergushes about the "happy land,
178
00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:24,880
its liquid product famed everywhereand making everyone tipsy".
179
00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:31,480
All self-respecting Romans drank wine,
180
00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:33,440
the elite as well as the poor.
181
00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,880
Wine was produced in all of Italy,
even in all of the empire.
182
00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:39,920
The Romans valued the culinary experience.
183
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:45,240
Sitting together, drinking wine,
conversing, telling stories.
184
00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:47,400
{\an8}Wine and everything connected to it
185
00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:50,800
{\an8}is very significant
for the Roman social life.
186
00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,040
{\an8}The Romans typically produced
187
00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:57,560
{\an8}what we would call fortified wine,
188
00:13:57,640 --> 00:13:59,240
so a very strong wine
189
00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:00,440
not unlike port.
190
00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:03,560
They then diluted it.
191
00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:07,880
I mean, level-headed Romans
would dilute their wine.
192
00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:19,000
It is estimated that ancient Pompeiihad 80 to 95 wineries,
193
00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:21,840
and roughly 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants.
194
00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:26,240
One tavern for approximately 125 people.
195
00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:30,760
An ancient tavernalso served as a food stall.
196
00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,000
Food containers were sunk into the bar.
197
00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:39,080
Customers on the gocould be served a quick snack.
198
00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,880
The Villa of the Mysteries,outside the city walls,
199
00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,360
embodies the wine's importance.
200
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,080
It is one of the biggest villasin Pompeii.
201
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:58,440
Built in the first century before Christ,it contains around 90 rooms.
202
00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:03,000
The wealth of the former ownersis mirrored in the ornate frescoes.
203
00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,960
Romans had an armyof hospitality slaves available.
204
00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,120
Ersilia meetsthe German archaeologist Pia Kastenmeier
205
00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:21,400
who has dedicated her life as a researcherto Pompeii and the Vesuvius region.
206
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,440
The big wall fresco in the tricliniumshows mythological scenes.
207
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,880
This dining room was used bythe Roman elite for lavish celebrations,
208
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,280
where good wine was a staple--
209
00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:38,320
which was produced a few rooms furtherdown, right in the Villa of Mysteries.
210
00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:45,000
In particular in the Vesuvius region,
in Pompeii's hinterland,
211
00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:50,560
almost all villas have this combination
212
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:56,560
of production facilities
and luxurious quarters,
213
00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,480
that were mostly polished up
for the owner,
214
00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:05,800
but also the other part,
for the production-- where slaves,
215
00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:08,680
employees, and free farmers could work.
216
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:10,920
Here in the Villa of the Mysteries
217
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,960
the luxurious part
is particularly beautiful.
218
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:29,120
Elaborate frescoeswere the affluent owners' pride and joy,
219
00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:33,800
because colored frescoes were seenas a status symbol in the ancient Rome.
220
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,160
White walls, in turn,were a sign of poverty.
221
00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:48,720
Frescoes convey messages and tell stories.
222
00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,240
Often, the adventures of the heroesof the ancient world,
223
00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,320
or scenes from divine myths are depicted.
224
00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:01,840
Then and now, owners and their guests areentertained by the mythological motifs,
225
00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:04,119
and encouraged to strike up conversations.
226
00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:08,839
The motifs weren't chosen by chance.
227
00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:10,720
There was a pictorial program.
228
00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:20,800
The frescoes of the Villa also point
to the importance of wine and Dionysus.
229
00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:25,800
In this central picture,
the God Dionysus is shown.
230
00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:27,920
Dionysus is the God of wine,
231
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,960
and in the Vesuvius region
232
00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:35,640
he was one of the significant Gods,
because of what he made.
233
00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:38,880
Even in the small villae rusticae
234
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,720
{\an8}that have less luxury
to show for themselves,
235
00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,560
{\an8}you'll often find Dionysus frescoes,
236
00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:50,080
{\an8}installed exactly in the room
237
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,200
{\an8}where the wine, or rather--
238
00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,760
where the grapes
are transformed into must.
239
00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,240
So he's the divine protector
of the wine industry.
240
00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:11,600
In the Villa, living areas withDionysian frescoes are on the west side.
241
00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:14,440
The owners wanted to have a sea view.
242
00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:17,920
The kitchens and utility roomsare in the south and the east,
243
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,560
in the north the areas for slaves
244
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:22,520
and storage space for produce.
245
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:29,760
In the work area,
246
00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:33,760
20th century archaeologistsfound a large wine press.
247
00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:36,880
Grapes were throwninto a wooden container,
248
00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,360
then the grapes were pressedby turning its levers.
249
00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:49,160
The juice ran into the large tub
250
00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:53,560
and from there via canals into theiconic large terracotta jars
251
00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:55,520
called dolum.
252
00:18:56,360 --> 00:19:00,680
In order to prevent temperature changesthey're sunk into the floor,
253
00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:04,720
giving the wineideal conditions to mature.
254
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,520
However, the wine industry
was already in the process of shifting.
255
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:17,520
There was strong competition,
256
00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:19,640
particularly from Gaul and Spain.
257
00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,080
There, high quality wine was produced
258
00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,480
at lower prices.
259
00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:27,680
The eruption in 79 AD
260
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:30,120
destroyed the whole system completely.
261
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,320
The destruction of the city
amounted to the destruction of the brain
262
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,560
that coordinated
production and distribution.
263
00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:44,760
Generally, wine was grownoutside of the city walls.
264
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:50,240
However, old vines were also foundnear the inner-city amphitheater.
265
00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:54,200
Because of its volcanic origins,the soil was fertile.
266
00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:57,440
The river Sarno irrigatedthe plains around Pompeii.
267
00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,760
Ancient rootscan still be detected in the ground.
268
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,680
The Romans were drinking a winecompletely different to ours today.
269
00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:14,800
The taste of ancient Romans
270
00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:19,240
was markedly differentfrom what we eat and drink today.
271
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,320
{\an8}The Romans didn't only
appreciate different grape varieties,
272
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,320
{\an8}but also produced wines
to match the occasion.
273
00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:28,840
{\an8}ARCHAEOLOGIST
274
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:31,640
{\an8}There were lighter wines,
stronger ones, younger ones.
275
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,560
{\an8}Wines of up to 15 years of age.
276
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:40,480
And also wine for slaves, produced
from various grapes preserved in water.
277
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:42,760
They provided calories and energy,
278
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,920
but didn't have the same taste as wine.
279
00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:51,560
Here we've produced mulsum.
280
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,480
Mulsum is an aperitif wine
crafted from must and honey,
281
00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:57,840
with one part honey and four parts must.
282
00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,280
It's sealed in a container
and ferments for a month.
283
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,080
Then you can drink it.
284
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,560
Let's see how it turned out.
285
00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:19,240
-Cheers.
-Cheers.
286
00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:30,800
Well, it's really sweet,
unfamiliar and very sweet.
287
00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,440
-Maybe too sweet for our taste.
-Too sweet.
288
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:36,720
I also taste alcohol,
289
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,040
but I understand why the Romans liked it.
290
00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,960
-Sure, it's tasty, somehow.
-With a starter.
291
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:45,360
We could serve it with a starter.
292
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,480
Not only was wine grown in the region,
293
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:56,720
but also fruit, grain, and olive oilwere important agricultural produce
294
00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,960
that enriched the regionbefore and after the catastrophe.
295
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,640
Findings from excavations in Pompeii show
296
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:08,760
the volcano not onlydestroyed life, but it also gave life,
297
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,040
by making the soil incredibly fertile.
298
00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:18,680
A lab stores organic finds from Pompeii.
299
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,840
Here, Ersilia meets Antonio Stampone.
300
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:29,600
The finds are special because they explain
to us everyday life from 2,000 years ago.
301
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:33,280
It's nice to marvel at the ancient city
and the frescoes in the houses,
302
00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:35,160
but it's also interesting to see
303
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,600
what the people really produced,
what they ate.
304
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,120
And compared to today,
there hasn't been a significant change.
305
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,320
Exactly, a direct insight
on their day-to-day.
306
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,400
This is 2,000 years ago.
307
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:48,720
We've got figs.
308
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:52,800
We've got dates.
309
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:57,280
-Imported, of course.
-They're not local produce.
310
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,160
It tells us about the trade connections
to other countries.
311
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,720
Sure, but also the wealth of the city.
312
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:05,080
Yes.
313
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:07,680
We've got almonds.
314
00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:09,760
Wheat.
315
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:11,880
Spelt.
316
00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,880
Broad beans, plums.
317
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:18,600
So there was a wealth of produce,
just like today,
318
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:21,640
because the Sarno Valley is very fertile.
319
00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:28,840
Yes, and that's another fruit
typical for our region. Pomegranate.
320
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,000
This is the famous garum,
321
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,920
the fish sauce
the Romans were crazy about.
322
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,720
It was produced exclusively
from oily Mediterranean fish.
323
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:41,000
Anchovies,
324
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,520
mackerels, sardines.
325
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,720
They were dried in the sun,
resulting in a sort of pulp.
326
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,840
The Romans were used
to strong seasoning,
327
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,800
intended to cover up
certain flavor components.
328
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:58,080
They didn't have any preservatives,
only salt and honey.
329
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,880
So foods were bound to go bad.
330
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:07,840
And that is, let's say,
331
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,000
an enhancement of garum,
332
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,000
the famous liquid anchovy
sauce from Cetara.
333
00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:19,160
It's also a pretty strong taste,
334
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,440
and also a culinary highlight
of Campania--
335
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:24,560
and it's still being used--
336
00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:27,360
it is the liquid the anchovies give off
337
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,560
when preserved in salt.
338
00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:37,240
The smell really is extreme,
but I know it's a delicacy of Campanian
339
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,040
or even global cuisine.
340
00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:41,000
Even though the smell... Well...
341
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:45,320
-It's a bit extreme.
-A little extreme.
342
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,960
The organic day-to-day findsbeing examined here in the lab
343
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,320
raised another important question.
344
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:59,120
Is 79 AD the correct year, after centuriesof being taken as certain?
345
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:02,520
In his letter, Pliny writes,
346
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,440
"the catastrophe occurred on August 24",
347
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:12,080
but why did the excavators find chestnuts,pomegranates and other autumn fruits?
348
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:18,800
The latest excavations in Pompeii
349
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,200
brought to light a spectacular find
350
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,480
that could answer this questiononce and for all.
351
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,480
In 2018, archaeologists uncovered a house
352
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,120
that was being renovatedwhen Vesuvius erupted.
353
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:37,000
A note on the wall
354
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,280
would have been writtenonly days before the catastrophe.
355
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,280
Something extraordinary
came to light here.
356
00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:49,040
This inscription
was probably written by a slave,
357
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,440
maybe as part of the family
that lived in this house.
358
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,400
It was some sort of reminder.
359
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:58,000
A note, it reveals
something extraordinary,
360
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,560
a date: 16 K Nov,
361
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,720
{\an8}meaning 16 days
to the first day of November.
362
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:06,880
{\an8}DIRECTOR ARCHAEOLOGY PARK POMPEII
363
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:10,320
{\an8}And it goes on,
"In olearia proma sum serunt",
364
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:11,840
{\an8}and then it stops.
365
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,640
{\an8}Something was taken
to or from the storage.
366
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:16,440
We'll never know what.
367
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:19,960
But the when is interesting,
because it happened on October 17,
368
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:25,040
many weeks after the alleged date
of the eruption, August 24.
369
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:28,800
NAPLES - HERCULANEUM - POMPEII
370
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,920
During this eruption, the stoneand rain of ash poured towards the South,
371
00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,240
leaving Pompeii and Herculaneum buried,
372
00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:38,680
and the coastlinewas moved towards the sea.
373
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,240
North of the volcano though, peopleand nature got away largely unscathed.
374
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,640
It was easy to fast-track a rebuild here.
375
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:00,880
Archaeologists found an ancient villain this area several years ago.
376
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,720
It soon became clearthat it was part of a huge site.
377
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:07,680
There were wild speculationsabout the owners.
378
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:13,920
In the villa of Somma Vesuviana, Ersiliameets excavation leader Antonio De Simone.
379
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,520
He knows why this,of all villas, is so extraordinary.
380
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,680
People thought that this was
the villa of the Octavians
381
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:31,720
in which Emperor Augustus died.
382
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:40,320
When we started the excavations, there
was nothing to see here, only grassland.
383
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,440
{\an8}Then we discovered
what we're seeing today.
384
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:49,320
{\an8}And we realized that the villa probably
has nothing to do with Augustus' villa.
385
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:50,880
{\an8}ARCHAEOLOGIST
386
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:57,040
But it tells us something about
what was happening in this region.
387
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:03,440
Above all, what happened in Campania
after the year 79,
388
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:07,160
so after the famous eruption
of Mount Vesuvius
389
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,080
and until the Middle Ages.
390
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:18,480
So this is not the Villa of Augustus
wasn't at all bad for research?
391
00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:28,600
Well, we'd all be delighted
to find the Villa of Augustus,
392
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:34,360
but what we see here is a building
from the second century AD.
393
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,680
Changes happened gradually
in the Roman Empire.
394
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:44,640
It slid into crisis and then perished
with the death of Romulus Augustus.
395
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,800
In this last phase,
the villa was restructured
396
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:56,000
and turned from a holiday villa
more and more into a wine production site.
397
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,320
In the second century AD,people in Somma Vesuviana
398
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,440
were producing wineat industrial scale for the time.
399
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:16,880
This showsthat the economy around Vesuvius
400
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,440
had fully recoveredsome decades after the catastrophe.
401
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,280
The soil had even become more fertile.
402
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,200
Archaeological finds show
403
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,040
that the presses squeezed out100,000 liters of must per year.
404
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:35,000
They passed through a sophisticated system
405
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:40,160
of canals to ferment in the doliumthat were buried in the ground.
406
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,840
The god Dionysus watched over winemakingin Somma Vesuviana, too.
407
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:52,600
Statues and frescoes attest to the factthat the economic wealth of the region
408
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,320
was used for the creationof works of art, too.
409
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:06,280
Clearly, only a part of this buildinghas been excavated, it was much bigger.
410
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,160
The building could beas big as 20,000 square meters.
411
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,040
That kind of sizeis no surprise for villas
412
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,320
neither before the eruption nor after.
413
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:25,200
So far, we've only excavated2,500 square meters.
414
00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,320
That would be onlya tenth of the suspected size.
415
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:40,760
Towards the end of the first century AD,Emperor Domitian made life difficult
416
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:44,240
for the vintners in Gaul and Spain,
417
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:48,600
to give the faltering wine industryin Campania a helping hand.
418
00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:04,480
The vineyard in Somma Vesuviana is one ofmany examples for large wine production.
419
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:09,120
Researchers think there were othervillas near here with the same function.
420
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,960
Ancient authors told of prosperinglandscapes after the eruption.
421
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:18,680
{\an8}Cassius Dio is a historian
422
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:22,120
{\an8}who lived roughly 120 years
after the eruption,
423
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,920
{\an8}in the late second
and early third century AD.
424
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,000
{\an8}He told about the Vesuvius eruption
425
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,520
{\an8}and said that in his day,
120 years later,
426
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:34,760
there were plants and vines
on the slopes of the mountain again.
427
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:38,480
So at that time the region experienced
an economic boom again.
428
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:52,320
And Vesuvius itself contributedto this economic resurgence.
429
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:59,320
Because of the eruption of 79 AD,the soil became even more fertile.
430
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,480
That's how the volcano gave the regionhigher yields in the long term.
431
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:13,640
Our image of this eruptionhas been shaped by clichés.
432
00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:23,040
Popular imagination has lava flowing down,
433
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:25,480
burying everything and everyone.
434
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:27,200
That's not how it was.
435
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:31,360
Pompeii was buried under six meters of ash
that poured down.
436
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,440
Herculaneum was burnt down
by pyroclastic flows
437
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:38,760
and swallowed up by a mudslide.
438
00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:51,280
In order to assess the dangerof the volcano properly,
439
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:55,120
Ersilia talksto volcanologist Mauro Di Vito.
440
00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,120
She meets him on Vesuvius.
441
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:15,160
This volcano changes between
short phases with strong eruptions,
442
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:19,440
and long resting periods
in which it works slower.
443
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,640
A danger is on the one hand
the very intensive eruptions,
444
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:26,320
{\an8}on the other hand also
445
00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:29,480
{\an8}the fact that this region has been
populated densely for millennia.
446
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:30,920
{\an8}VOLCANOLOGIST
447
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,600
{\an8}Catastrophes like the one in Pompeii
therefore have occurred repeatedly.
448
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,760
As regards
the devastating eruption in 79 AD,
449
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:46,760
what kind of scale are we talking
in terms of danger and destruction?
450
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:55,640
In that context, I'd like to quote
Pliny the Younger's letter.
451
00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:01,400
He watched the eruption
from 40 km away in Cape Miseno.
452
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:07,800
He described a huge cloud
above the volcano, the famous pine,
453
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:13,480
with a height of 30 km.
This cloud extends, becomes wider
454
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:18,040
and is driven on by the wind.
Its rain carries pumice and ash.
455
00:34:18,159 --> 00:34:22,040
This mass covers an area
of thousands of square kilometers,
456
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:23,880
with devastating consequences.
457
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:32,480
But the most dangerous part
is the ascent of the cloud.
458
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,920
If the cloud isn't stable, it collapses
459
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:39,080
and can generate pyroclastic flows.
460
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:43,480
Those are parts of this cloud,
gases and scorching hot particles,
461
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:45,400
which, at high speeds,
462
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:49,320
plunge down the slopes
of the volcano like a hurricane.
463
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,040
We call that velocity pressure.
464
00:34:52,199 --> 00:34:54,239
It's virtually impossible to survive that.
465
00:34:55,719 --> 00:35:00,280
Just a dangerous as the pyroclastic flows
are the resulting cracks in the volcano
466
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:02,960
after emptying its magma chamber.
467
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:06,360
Those cracks
can let in water into the volcano.
468
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:08,640
The water doesn't cool down
the magma though,
469
00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:11,400
it rather increases its explosiveness.
470
00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:21,680
So there's basically no chance to escape
after an eruption like that in 79 AD?
471
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:26,000
Unless there's an evacuation plan,
but the Romans didn't have one, of course.
472
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:33,360
Not only the Romans didn't have one.
473
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,120
The people in 1631 had none either,
474
00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:40,080
when at least 5,000 people
died after an eruption.
475
00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:45,200
And maybe that was the moment when
it was decided to monitor the volcano.
476
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,240
In 1841,the first volcanological institute...
477
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:55,360
ROYAL VESUVIAN OBSERVATORY
478
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,320
...worldwide was founded near Vesuvius.
479
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,080
King Ferdinand II of Napleswanted to offer
480
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:06,000
his subjects the kind of protectionthat their ancient ancestors didn't have.
481
00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:19,040
He fostered scienceand the construction of instruments
482
00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:23,960
that could predict an eruption of the onlyseemingly peaceful volcano early enough.
483
00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:28,280
A catastrophe like the one of 79 AD,
484
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:33,640
that took so many lives and requiredtremendous reconstruction efforts
485
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:35,640
shall not repeat itself.
486
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:47,440
The first mechanical instruments formeasuring earth movements were developed.
487
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:50,800
The beginning of modern seismography.
488
00:36:55,760 --> 00:37:00,200
But even the best monitoring techniquedoesn't provide 100% security.
489
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,720
The region's main problemis its population density.
490
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:14,080
More than three million peoplelive in Greater Naples today.
491
00:37:14,720 --> 00:37:19,840
It's roughly ten times as denselypopulated as other regions in Italy.
492
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:22,400
VESUVIUS
493
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:25,360
Vesuvius isn't the only uncertainty factorin the region.
494
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,200
The island of Ischiais a volcanic remnant, too.
495
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:33,880
Almost half of the city of Naples has beenbuilt into the crater of a huge volcano,
496
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,280
the Phlegraean Fields.
497
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,120
Amidst the Phlegraean Fieldsis the modern observatory,
498
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:50,920
monitoring all volcanic activityin the Gulf of Naples.
499
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:56,920
Dozens of screens show the volcanologistsearth movements and temperature charts
500
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,880
that provide dataon the volcanoes' activities.
501
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:11,680
Today, an eruption can be predictedroughly a month in advance.
502
00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:16,520
The people of Pompeii could have beenwarned by the multiple earthquakes
503
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,840
that had beset the regionsince the year 62 AD.
504
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:22,040
But unaware of the fact
505
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:26,920
that the activity was triggeredby Vesuvius, and heralded a catastrophe
506
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:29,200
the eruption took them by surprise.
507
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,360
Some people must have managed to escape.
508
00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:39,080
Many fled to the shore
in the hope of being rescued by boats,
509
00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:41,280
and some were,
510
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:42,800
but many others weren't.
511
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:44,200
They died.
512
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:45,320
Suffocated.
513
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,560
By all the ash that came pouring down.
514
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:50,960
Pliny the Younger,
in his report on the eruption,
515
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,560
told of his uncle, Pliny the Elder,
516
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:55,960
who commanded a fleet--
517
00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:59,960
"It was probably sent down
by Emperor Titus to save the people.
518
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:03,600
This rescue effort shows
that Titus reacted quickly.
519
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,520
The people sensedthat the region was somewhat eerie.
520
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:15,320
Stuff of legends.
521
00:39:18,240 --> 00:39:21,560
The Roman poet Virgil believedthe entrance to the underworld
522
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:25,560
to be in Lago d'Averno,a crater lake in the Gulf of Naples.
523
00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:28,840
According to ancient myth,menacing giants
524
00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,560
lived in the cratersof the Phlegraean Fields.
525
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:37,440
Sulfurous vapors brought oraclepriestesses and priests into ecstasy.
526
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,240
The landscape has also changed over time.
527
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:53,960
Vesuvius now has two summits,
528
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:57,280
before the eruption in 79 AD,it had only one.
529
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:10,120
Treasures that were buriedunder the debris and ash of Mount Vesuvius
530
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:13,360
are now kept safe in Naples'National Museum of Archaeology,
531
00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:16,840
among them a prized treasurefrom the House of Menander.
532
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:29,160
A complete dinner service, consistingof 118 silver pieces, weighing 24 kg.
533
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:35,960
The cups, plates, and bowlsare ornately decorated with animal heads
534
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:37,480
or olive leaves,
535
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:42,680
but also with mythological scenesabout Hercules or Dionysus.
536
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:56,360
The owners of the house were rich Romanpatricians with close ties to the emperor.
537
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:06,920
Quintus Pompeiuswas related to Nero's second wife.
538
00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:12,440
The silver treasure was excavatedin the basement of the house in 1930.
539
00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:16,600
The wealthy ownersprobably hid it away there.
540
00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:19,840
As they used to spendmost of their time in the capital
541
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:23,840
they wanted to keep their riches safeduring their absence.
542
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:27,240
Other basement finds included a chest
543
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,720
with gold and silver coinsand a jewelry casket.
544
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:36,680
Another find, though, is more interestingfor life after the catastrophe.
545
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:43,280
Several corpses were found here.
546
00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:45,080
It's peculiar that next to them,
547
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:48,640
tools like spades
and a lantern were found,
548
00:41:48,720 --> 00:41:51,480
ideally suited for a break-in.
549
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:57,920
We can assume that they returned right
after the catastrophe to rob the houses.
550
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:06,240
The thieves had a good instinct
551
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:10,720
as the House of the Menanderwas one of the richest in Pompeii.
552
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,640
It comprised 1,830 square meters
553
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:19,280
and was embellished elaboratelywith artistic frescoes and mosaics.
554
00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:26,160
It was built under Greek reignin the third century BC,
555
00:42:26,240 --> 00:42:28,800
before Romanswere able to gain a foothold here.
556
00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:35,160
The thieves knew the area well,
557
00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:37,960
aware which housewould offer plenty of booty.
558
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:40,320
They were perfectly organized.
559
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,440
On the wall of one house
a graffito was found
560
00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:50,040
that says "already robbed,
we were here already".
561
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:04,400
After the eruption, robbery and lootingwere on the rise in the Vesuvius Valley.
562
00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:10,560
The looters enriched themselvesin the abandoned villas and cities.
563
00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:19,120
The houses of the rich in Pompeiibecame their prime target.
564
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:24,240
The House of Menander, for example,stretched over nearly a whole block.
565
00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:27,960
Clearly, a robbery would be worth it here.
566
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:31,480
The thieves weren't onlylooking for gold and silver,
567
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:35,440
but also for valuable statues,frescoes and marble pillars.
568
00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:46,320
The riches of Pompeii,
the decorations, the interior,
569
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:51,200
have surely always been an invitation
for thieves, in ancient days and now.
570
00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:54,640
Illegal excavations
are still a plague now
571
00:43:54,720 --> 00:43:56,840
so that authorities
keep having to fight it.
572
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:12,920
In order to combat these robbers,the authorities set up a special unit.
573
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:18,520
There have always been particularlymany illegal excavations around Vesuvius.
574
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:24,720
The excavation site in Pompeiiis fully monitored,
575
00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:28,800
but the surrounding area is too bigto keep an eye on it all.
576
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:31,760
Opportunity knocks for pottery diggers.
577
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:37,680
In Civita Giuliana, the carabinierifound a massive illegal excavation.
578
00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:47,680
In the beginning of the 20th century,archaeologists found ancient remnants,
579
00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:50,040
but stopped excavating soon after.
580
00:44:50,720 --> 00:44:54,600
The results were even published in 1994.
581
00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:58,680
Did the thieves take noteof the site because of that?
582
00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:07,400
As the investigative authority, we knew
of the robbers' activity here for years.
583
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,960
{\an8}Hence, we asked
the Council of Antiquities
584
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:14,200
{\an8}to carry out emergency excavations.
585
00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:16,880
{\an8}PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
OF TORRE ANNUNZIATA
586
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:21,760
{\an8}Those excavations didn't only give us
important scientific, historic,
587
00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:25,480
cultural, and archaeological insights,
588
00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:27,320
but also helped the investigators
589
00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:30,800
to find clues
for identifying the culprits.
590
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:43,360
The investigators do not know, however,what exactly the thieves took.
591
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:48,600
Colored breaking edges suggest thatthe walls were decorated with frescoes.
592
00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:52,000
There must have been furniturein the villa, too.
593
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:57,640
Whatever isn't sold off is oftendestroyed in amateur excavations.
594
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:07,520
In order to prevent the worst,archaeologists are called to the rescue.
595
00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:11,560
They find a house altarfrom times before the eruption
596
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:14,520
as well as a tombfrom the century after it.
597
00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:23,000
The involvement of professionalarchaeologists in the summer of 2017
598
00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:26,000
fortunately rescued many treasures.
599
00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:32,000
Of course, they don't use the door,
but drill through the walls
600
00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:37,240
to get from one room to another,
destroying ancient items in the process.
601
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:40,800
{\an8}Luckily, their tunnel went through
the stone only on one side
602
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:42,440
{\an8}so that the horses weren't harmed.
603
00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:44,240
{\an8}DIRECTOR GENERAL
OF THE POMPEII ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK
604
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:47,480
{\an8}Those were breeding horses
that were probably used for parades,
605
00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:51,960
for military activities
for representation purposes.
606
00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:58,080
It's unique that they were in full gear
when the volcano erupted.
607
00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:05,880
Were the horses to be used to flee,
608
00:47:05,960 --> 00:47:09,200
along with a cartof the residents' belongings?
609
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:11,600
We only know that flight
610
00:47:11,720 --> 00:47:16,280
offered the only chance of survivalin the face of the devastating eruption.
611
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:31,880
{\an8}They tried to rescue as many people
as possible, of course,
612
00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:34,280
{\an8}and probably take them to Naples
613
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:37,600
{\an8}where there used to be a district
called Herculanese,
614
00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:40,440
{\an8}suggesting they were resettled there.
615
00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:43,880
Inscriptions also tell us
616
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:48,680
that further survivors
went to other provinces in Italy.
617
00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:56,800
After the catastrophe in 79 AD,
618
00:47:56,920 --> 00:48:00,120
the region tookseveral decades to recover.
619
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:05,280
Thanks to Titus' decisive interventionthe crisis was overcome,
620
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:07,600
and life could start anew.
621
00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:11,840
But as cities,Pompeii and Herculaneum were lost forever.
622
00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:17,840
Yet they live on as tourist hot spotsor archaeological research sites.
623
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:26,840
Architectural historianGabriella Cianciolo
624
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:30,560
has focused her research onPompeii's afterlife in our modern cities.
625
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:38,800
Ersilia wants to know from her wherewe encounter Pompeii today in our lives.
626
00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:44,440
Pompeii is everywhere.
627
00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:50,040
Not only here in Naples, because
we're nearby, but in all of Europe.
628
00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:54,880
We encounter it in different forms,
from porcelain to urban planning.
629
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:57,720
This, for example, is a building
630
00:48:57,800 --> 00:49:00,320
that we'd never associate with Pompeii.
631
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:06,280
It's iron architecture that we associate
with modernity, not with Pompeii.
632
00:49:06,360 --> 00:49:10,840
But these shapes, too,
conceal Pompeii. How?
633
00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:13,320
19th century architects
634
00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:17,280
who had new materials like iron
and cast iron at their disposal
635
00:49:17,360 --> 00:49:21,320
{\an8}found a perfect model
in the Pompeiian murals.
636
00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:22,920
{\an8}ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN
637
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:24,720
{\an8}The thin, airy, intricate shapes
638
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:28,440
{\an8}remind us exactly of Pompeii's paintings.
639
00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:37,120
19th century architectsread the Pompeii frescoes
640
00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:40,040
like architectural drawings.
641
00:49:40,920 --> 00:49:45,440
There are no models yetfor the new material at their disposal.
642
00:49:45,720 --> 00:49:49,320
Hence, they're inspiredby the Pompeiian paintings
643
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:55,040
and turn into real architecture what wereonly ancient figments of the imagination.
644
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:03,400
Iron buildings are characteristicfor many modern cities the world over.
645
00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:09,640
Buildings from the 19th century
like libraries, markets,
646
00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:11,720
this bandstand here
647
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:14,920
became a successful architectural model
in France, Denmark,
648
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:17,280
England, and Italy.
649
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:25,720
Hence, centuries after the end of Pompeii
650
00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:28,680
the fantastic architecture
in the frescoes became real.
651
00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:33,280
In ancient time, it wasn't practical or
feasible and was seen only as decoration.
652
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:39,400
Gottfried Semper said,
653
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:44,160
"The murals of Pompeii show
that the Romans used iron and wood."
654
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:48,800
According to him, the paintings
were real architectural models.
655
00:50:55,160 --> 00:50:58,080
Pompeii lives on in the cities of today,
656
00:50:58,560 --> 00:51:01,440
particularly in people's minds.
657
00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:05,880
The city has becomethe epitome of Ancient Rome.
658
00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:14,760
But Pompeii also tellsa story of great modernity.
659
00:51:18,880 --> 00:51:23,520
Titus reactedto the devastating catastrophe in 79 AD
660
00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:25,720
like a crisis manager of today
661
00:51:26,240 --> 00:51:29,760
and immediately coordinateda rescue mission
662
00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:33,640
that ensured a new livelihoodfor the survivors
663
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:37,560
and facilitatedthe economic restart in the region.
664
00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:45,000
The Roman Emperor created the foundationsfor a prosperous Vesuvius region
665
00:51:45,240 --> 00:51:47,680
that continues to flourish today.
60254
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.