Pompeii: The City That Died in Seventeen MinutesEpisode 41:47
The Roofs Began to Break
As meters of pumice accumulate, Pompeii’s houses turn from shelters into traps.
Watch it in the appThis episode needs All Access, from $4.99 a week.
Transcript
Pumice lapilli and ash collapsed several houses' roofs.
Main explosive phase began October 24th, 79, near noon.
Column reached 15 miles, or 25 kilometers.
Early in eruption, pumice lapilli buried Pompeii. A tense hush gives way to motion and sound.
Eruption buried Pompeii under pumice lapilli and later ash. At the threshold, uncertainty gathers in the lampglow.
Pompeii's pumice and ash reached 10 feet, or 3 meters deep.
A heavy hush gathers beneath fallen beams and plaster.
The scene narrows into a wash of shadow.
In one damaged room, a family eyeballs the ceiling. The house still stands, but its protection has become temporary.
Pompeii lay 6 miles, or 10 kilometers from the vent. The eruption buried nearby Roman towns and destroyed Pompeii.
Pyroclastic deposits preserved Pompeii's buildings, streets, artifacts. Beneath the ruin, silence gathers around the scene.
A pyroclastic density current: ground-hugging gas-particle flow from eruption-column collapse.
Above, the world narrows into a veil of shadow.
Pompeii's pyroclastic current lasted 17 minutes. Researchers concluded inhaling its suspended ash could be lethal.
The current reached people who had not escaped Pompeii. At Casa di Stabianus, evidence shows flow entering a house.
J. J. Winckelmann incorrectly concluded Pompeiians could flee in time.
But collapsed roofs changed survival geometry in Pompeii's houses. A doorway could remain visible and still be impossible to use.
Inside Casa di Stabianus, the current found a way through the collapsed roof.
Where it leaves off
And after the roofs collapsed, a pyroclastic current found openings into Casa di Stabianus.
Sources
- The impact of pyroclastic density currents duration on humans: the case of the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Ancient DNA challenges prevailing interpretations of the Pompeii plaster casts - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Pompeii's Living Statues: Ancient Roman Lives Stolen from Deathpress.umich.edusecondary
The whole series is in the app.
Download on the App StoreAll Access is $4.99 a week, $14.99 a month or $39.99 a year. The annual plan starts with three days free.