Pompeii and vesuvius

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Transcript of Pompeii and vesuvius

Page 1: Pompeii and vesuvius
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These are the These are the ruinsruins of the of the Roman cityRoman city of of PompeiiPompeii..

Pompeii was a busy Roman city that Pompeii was a busy Roman city that was built near to the was built near to the volcanovolcano mountain, mountain, Mount VesuviusMount Vesuvius..

In the In the year A.D. 79year A.D. 79 Mount Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius eruptederupted and and buried Pompeiiburied Pompeii and many and many of its of its Roman citizensRoman citizens under a under a 9 metre9 metre thick thick layer of burning hot ashlayer of burning hot ash..

The remains of Pompeii have been The remains of Pompeii have been excavatedexcavated (dug out) by (dug out) by archaeologistsarchaeologists to show us what the to show us what the Roman cityRoman city originally looked like, originally looked like, 2000 years ago2000 years ago, , and how Romans lived their lives.and how Romans lived their lives.

ArchaeologistsArchaeologists also discovered some also discovered some surprising things – that you will see surprising things – that you will see later.later.

What can you see in these pictures of What can you see in these pictures of Pompeii today?Pompeii today?

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PompeiiPompeii was an important and busy was an important and busy Roman city 2000 years agoRoman city 2000 years ago..

It is located It is located 200 kilometres south of 200 kilometres south of Rome, in the Rome, in the Bay of NaplesBay of Naples on the on the coast of the coast of the Tyrrhenian SeaTyrrhenian Sea..

On this map of On this map of EuropeEurope you can see you can see ItalyItaly..

On this map of On this map of ItalyItaly you can see you can see PompeiiPompeii..

On this map of On this map of ItalyItaly you can see the you can see the Bay of NaplesBay of Naples..

On this map of the On this map of the Bay of NaplesBay of Naples you you can see can see PompeiiPompeii..

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In In AD 79AD 79 PompeiiPompeii was a was a beautifulbeautiful city. city.

Its Its grand public buildings, the Temple, grand public buildings, the Temple, the Forum were built of carved stonethe Forum were built of carved stone..

Its Its shops and housesshops and houses were built of were built of concreteconcrete. It had . It had paved streetspaved streets with with pavements, pavements, running water and gardensrunning water and gardens..

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The The streetsstreets of of PompeiiPompeii would have been would have been thriving with Romans shoppingthriving with Romans shopping, , buyingbuying fishfish,, fruit fruit and and vegetablesvegetables, , meatmeat, , breadbread, , clothesclothes and and household itemshousehold items. .

Some would be going to the Some would be going to the TempleTemple to to pray to their pray to their Roman GodsRoman Gods, or on their , or on their way to the way to the ForumForum to hear the to hear the SenatorsSenators and and CouncillorsCouncillors discuss news they had discuss news they had heard from heard from RomeRome and talk about how to and talk about how to run their city of Pompeiirun their city of Pompeii..

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Wealthy RomansWealthy Romans lived in beautiful lived in beautiful houseshouses with with richly decoratedrichly decorated and and painted wallspainted walls and and lovely gardenslovely gardens with with poolspools and and fountainsfountains. These wealthy . These wealthy Pompeii citizens would have had many Pompeii citizens would have had many servantsservants to to look after themlook after them and their and their houses.houses.

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The city even had its own The city even had its own AmphitheatreAmphitheatre where the citizens of where the citizens of PompeiiPompeii would go, in the would go, in the afternoonsafternoons and and eveningsevenings, to , to watch playswatch plays about about Greek and Roman GodsGreek and Roman Gods and about and about famous Greeks and Romansfamous Greeks and Romans..

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But all of this busy living by the But all of this busy living by the Roman citizens of Roman citizens of PompeiiPompeii in in AD 79AD 79, , was done in the was done in the shadowshadow of of Mount Mount VesuviusVesuvius. The . The mountain volcanomountain volcano had had not eruptednot erupted for so long ( for so long (hundreds of hundreds of yearsyears) that the ) that the Romans did not know Romans did not know that it was a volcanothat it was a volcano..

The people of The people of PompeiiPompeii grew crops and grew crops and fruitfruit on the on the slopes of the mountainslopes of the mountain because the because the soils was very good for soils was very good for growing plantsgrowing plants..

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On On 2424thth August AD 79 August AD 79, in the , in the afternoon, afternoon, Mount VesuviusMount Vesuvius eruptederupted with a with a massive explosionmassive explosion that hurled that hurled rockrock, , ashash and and molten lavamolten lava hundreds hundreds of metres into the air.of metres into the air.

LavaLava started to run down the slopes started to run down the slopes of the mountain, of the mountain, destroyingdestroying all the all the fields of crops and fruitfields of crops and fruit that the that the Romans had been growing in the Romans had been growing in the fertile volcanic soilfertile volcanic soil..

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The The lavalava was was flowingflowing down the down the mountainmountain, , destroying all their cropsdestroying all their crops, but , but the the Romans of PompeiiRomans of Pompeii, were , were not really not really worried. worried.

They They carriedcarried on with their on with their everyday everyday businessbusiness, thinking the eruption would , thinking the eruption would not last very long, and the not last very long, and the lavalava would would not reach their citynot reach their city..

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But then, But then, 18 hours after the volcano had 18 hours after the volcano had first eruptedfirst erupted, there was an , there was an enormous enormous explosion, biggerexplosion, bigger than the first. than the first.

It It blew half the side of the mountain offblew half the side of the mountain off and and a a huge cloud of red hot ashhuge cloud of red hot ash, , rockrock and and gasgas, , hurtledhurtled downdown the side of the volcano and the side of the volcano and straight straight over the city of over the city of PompeiiPompeii..

The The citizenscitizens tried to tried to run to escape itrun to escape it, but it , but it was was too fasttoo fast..

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Stone Pine TreeStone Pine Tree PlinyPliny

PlinianPlinian eruption of Mt. Vesuvius eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

An An important Romanimportant Roman who who witnessedwitnessed the the Vesuvius eruptionVesuvius eruption was a was a writerwriter called called PlinyPliny. He tried to . He tried to rescuerescue some of the some of the Pompeii citizensPompeii citizens but he but he himself died from himself died from breathing in the hot ash and gasbreathing in the hot ash and gas. He managed to . He managed to write noteswrite notes about the about the eruptioneruption before he died and he before he died and he described the cloud of ash as like the branches of a described the cloud of ash as like the branches of a Stone Pine treeStone Pine tree..

Because Because PlinyPliny was the was the first personfirst person ever to ever to describedescribe this this type of volcanic type of volcanic eruptioneruption, scientists have named it after him – so we now have , scientists have named it after him – so we now have Plinian eruptions.Plinian eruptions.

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This is how This is how PlinyPliny actually described the eruption of actually described the eruption of VesuviusVesuvius in his letters in his letters which were saved and copied by his son after Pliny’s death.which were saved and copied by his son after Pliny’s death.

I cannot give you a more exact description of its appearance than by I cannot give you a more exact description of its appearance than by comparing to a comparing to a stone pinestone pine tree; for it shot up to a great height in the form of tree; for it shot up to a great height in the form of a tall trunk, which spread out at the top as though into branches. ... a tall trunk, which spread out at the top as though into branches. ... Occasionally it was brighter, occasionally darker and spotted, as it was Occasionally it was brighter, occasionally darker and spotted, as it was either more or less filled with earth and cinders.either more or less filled with earth and cinders.

Animation of Vesuvius eruption on PompeiiAnimation of Vesuvius eruption on Pompeii

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When the side of the mountain blew off, the When the side of the mountain blew off, the citizens of Pompeii could not escape.citizens of Pompeii could not escape.

Red hot ashRed hot ash, , rockrock and and gasgas rushed downrushed down over over the city at a the city at a speed of 400 km per hourspeed of 400 km per hour. This . This rush of hot ash is called a rush of hot ash is called a Pyroclastic FlowPyroclastic Flow..

The citizens of The citizens of PompeiiPompeii and their city were and their city were buried in secondsburied in seconds beneath a beneath a layer of ashlayer of ash and and rocks rocks 9 metres thick9 metres thick..

Animation of Vesuvius eruptionAnimation of Vesuvius eruption

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This This mapmap of the of the Bay of NaplesBay of Naples shows how shows how farfar the the volcanic ashvolcanic ash was was blown by the windblown by the wind and spread and spread across the areaacross the area..

AshAsh completely completely buriedburied the cities of the cities of PompeiiPompeii and and HerculaneumHerculaneum. .

The town of The town of StabiaeStabiae was was not not buried so heavilyburied so heavily, but it was the , but it was the placeplace where where Pliny diedPliny died after after breathingbreathing in the in the ash and gasash and gas from from the volcano.the volcano.

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ArchaeologistsArchaeologists discovered discovered PompeiiPompeii in in 17481748, and the whole city was finally , and the whole city was finally dug out of the thick layer of ash and soil in 1997dug out of the thick layer of ash and soil in 1997, nearly , nearly 2000 years later2000 years later. . This photo shows that many of the This photo shows that many of the city’s buildings survived being buried.city’s buildings survived being buried. This is because so many of them were This is because so many of them were made of stone or concretemade of stone or concrete. Only . Only wooden buildings or wooden parts of buildings were burnt away by the hot wooden buildings or wooden parts of buildings were burnt away by the hot ash in AD 79.ash in AD 79.

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We can now see the We can now see the RomanRoman streetsstreets and and statuesstatues of of PompeiiPompeii that were that were buriedburied 2000 years ago2000 years ago..

We can see the We can see the AmphitheatreAmphitheatre as it was in as it was in Roman Roman timestimes now uncovered from the ash and mud. now uncovered from the ash and mud.

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But But archaeologistsarchaeologists also also discovereddiscovered a a surprisesurprise – the – the imprintsimprints of of bodiesbodies in the in the volcanic ashvolcanic ash..

These were the These were the citizens of Pompeiicitizens of Pompeii who had who had been been buried by the burning hot ash in AD 79buried by the burning hot ash in AD 79..

The The archaeologistsarchaeologists made made plaster castsplaster casts of the of the body imprintsbody imprints and that is what we are looking and that is what we are looking at now.at now.

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Roman people lie where they died from the ash Roman people lie where they died from the ash and gases, buried under the thick ash.and gases, buried under the thick ash.

A dog lies on its back having suffocated from A dog lies on its back having suffocated from breathing in the hot ash.breathing in the hot ash.

A man’s body lies where he fell over, buried A man’s body lies where he fell over, buried beneath the hot volcanic ash.beneath the hot volcanic ash.

Archaeologists were shocked when they Archaeologists were shocked when they discovered these body imprints.discovered these body imprints.

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ArchaeologistsArchaeologists also found many also found many beautiful beautiful RomanRoman things that had been things that had been preservedpreserved by the by the volcanic ashvolcanic ash..

PaintingsPaintings on the walls of houses show a Roman on the walls of houses show a Roman man and his wife, a man and his wife, a Roman God (Bacchus)Roman God (Bacchus) and a and a fawn, and fawn, and paintingspaintings of Romans doing different of Romans doing different activities.activities.

These These paintingspaintings told the told the archaeologistsarchaeologists a lot a lot about how the about how the Romans lived 2000 years agoRomans lived 2000 years ago..

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This helped the This helped the archaeologistsarchaeologists work out what work out what PompeiiPompeii must have been really must have been really like like in Roman timesin Roman times – these – these 2 pictures2 pictures show the same thing: show the same thing: The Temple of ApolloThe Temple of Apollo in Pompeii in Pompeii;;

the picture on the the picture on the leftleft shows the shows the temple as it is nowtemple as it is now – –

the picture on the the picture on the rightright shows what the shows what the temple would have looked like in temple would have looked like in Roman timesRoman times, showing the , showing the same statue exactly as it wassame statue exactly as it was; that ; that statue has not statue has not moved for 2000 yearsmoved for 2000 years..

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Though the eruption of Though the eruption of Mount Mount VesuviusVesuvius in in AD 79AD 79 was a was a tragedytragedy for the citizens of for the citizens of PompeiiPompeii, , because the city and its people because the city and its people were were kept so wellkept so well by the by the volcanic volcanic ashash, , archaeologistsarchaeologists have used it to have used it to help help us understandus understand a lot more a lot more about about how Roman people lived how Roman people lived over 2000 years agoover 2000 years ago..