Pompeii eruption date revised

[guy]

We have visited Pompeii’s Regio V before, but this is an older reassessment of the historical information from an earlier excavation at another site at Pompeii.

 

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”The inscription reinforces other evidence that scholars believe point to an October rather than August event: charred autumn fruit, bodies with bulky, warm clothing, wood-burning braziers, wine from the harvest in sealed jars, and a coin that was probably not issued until September A.D. 79. Historians blame confusion over the date on potential errors made in translations and transcriptions in Pliny’s famous letter. “

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2020/07/pompeiis-most-recent-finds-reveal-new-clues-to-citys-destruction/amp  

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The problem I have with this “discovery” is the lack of photographic evidence of this later coin (which would necessarily be during the reign of Titus after Vespasian’s death in June AD79).

This bit of evidence, however, supports the October date:

“ The writing, discovered on the wall of a villa during a new series of excavations in the Regio V, reports the date of 17th October (16th day before the Calends of November), which supports the theory that the eruption happened a week later, on the 24th of October 79 AD.  As Massimo Osanna, head of Pompeii Archaeological Site stated 'the charcoal, is extremely fragile and evanescent so it could not last a long time […] it is more than likely that it was written in 79 AD shortly before the eruption itself'.“

https://www.leisure-italy.com/news/news-pompeii/eruption-mt-vesuvius/

Edited August 27, 2021 by guy

[guy]

I am currently undecided about the date. In the GreatCoursePlus course "Pompeii: Daily Life in an Ancient Roman City," Professor Tuck mentions that many unused amphorae were unearthed at a winery in Pompeii. Since wine harvesting typically occurs between August and October, it is unusual that so many unused amphorae would be found so late in the harvest season. This provides support for an earlier, August eruption.

Professor Tuck mentions that these amphorae were left in-situ after discovery at nearby Boscoreale which was also devastated by Vesuvius. These amporae were stacked, prepared, and ready for use, presumably for the fall harvest of AD 79. These intact and unused amphorae would possibly support the earlier eruption.

Edited August 13 by guy