Bodies of man and his slave unearthed from ashes at Pompeii
Source: AP
By FRANCES D'EMILIO
ROME (AP) Skeletal remains of what are believed to have been a rich man and his male slave attempting to escape death from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago have been discovered in Pompeii, officials at the archaeological park in Italy said Saturday.
Parts of the skulls and bones of the two men were found during excavation of the ruins from what was once an elegant villa with a panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea on the outskirts of the ancient Roman city destroyed by the volcano eruption in 79 A.D. Its the same area where a stable with the remains of three harnessed horses were excavated in 2017.
Pompeii officials said the men apparently escaped the initial fall of ash from Mount Vesuvius then succumbed to a powerful volcanic blast that took place the next morning. The later blast apparently invaded the area from many points, surrounding and burying the victims in ash, Pompeii officials said in a statement.
The remains of the two victims, lying next to each other on their backs, were found in a layer of gray ash at least 2 meters (6.5 feet) deep, they said.
The casts of what are believed to have been a rich man and his male slave fleeing the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago, are seen in what was an elegant villa on the outskirts of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii destroyed by the eruption in 79 A.D., where they were discovered during recents excavations, Pompeii archaeological park officials said Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. (Parco Archeologico di Pompei via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-volcanic-eruptions-37e83ba403c7bbd871c6c33c57c0a051
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Archae
(46,327 posts)The bodies, except for the bones usually rot away quickly.
What you are seeing is plaster, poured into the hollow of the packed ash, preserves the shape of the bodies rather well.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Still, a haunting image, much like the shadows of people on walls that the atomic bombs burned in
at Hiroshima.
leftofthestorm
(938 posts)iluvtennis
(19,858 posts)sinkingfeeling
(51,457 posts)getagrip_already
(14,750 posts)And forced the slave to take him shopping.
Otherwise the slave dude would have been safe far, far, away.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)learning latin using the Cambridge Latin textbook, that was part diary from some members of a family that survived.
The son, Quintus, and perhaps a slave, happened to be out riding horses that day and were lucky to have ridden in the direction that did
not get the terrible rain of ash and stones...
They had kept a diary, and continued noting in it after moving away from the region.
We actually found that family's villa, on a back street, recently excavated, away from the usual tourist areas. Their family name, in
mosaic over their door, read "Caecilius"
Amazing connection to the distant past and that terrible calamity .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Caecilius_Iucundus
ret5hd
(20,491 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)... before they were covered and preserved. This is all very grim... but it's still fascinating to see that this moment in time was captured and preserved for so long. Amazing.