Pompeii survivors: evidence and controversy

[guy]

 

Steven Tuck, professor of Classics at Miami University, Ohio feels most people from Pompeii and Herculaneum survived that fateful eruption of Vesuvius AD 79. He presents convincing evidence that they settled elsewhere in the region.

 

Quote

“Public infrastructure projects that sprung up about this time, likely to accommodate the sudden influx of refugees, also provided clues about resettlement, Tuck said. That's because between 15,000 and 20,000 people lived in Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the majority of them survived Vesuvius’s catastrophic eruption.”

“One of the survivors, a man named Cornelius Fuscus later died in what the Romans called Asia (what is now Romania) on a military campaign. ‘They put up an inscription to him there," Tuck told Live Science. "They said he was from the colony of Pompeii, then he lived in Naples and then he joined the army.’”

 

 

https://www.livescience.com/amp/64854-where-pompeii-refugees-fled.html

 

Although only 1500 bones and plaster casts of victims have been found, I feel the death toll was many thousands more.

I will present my rebuttal in a follow up post.

 

 

Edited January 28 by guy

[guy]

Here is my counter argument that many thousands more died than believed, if not most the inhabitants:

First, a little background information:

There was a large earthquake in the region 17 years earlier in AD 62, devastating both Pompeii and Herculaneum. The ever-growing population, however, seemed to have little concern about a potential disaster, actively enjoying a diversified and thriving economy.

Several days before that fateful eruption in AD 79, there had even been several small earthquakes, increasing in frequency as the days went on. Romans in this region, however, had become accustomed to such seismic activity and probably took little heed of these warnings.

Now, a few thoughts:

Although only 1500 bodies have been found in Pompeii and Herculaneum, this is probably an underestimation of the number of deaths. (There were probably 15-20,000 residents in the two cities.) Many thousands more of residents could’ve been pulverized by the explosive force of the eruption or vaporized by the later pyroclastic flow, leaving little or no remains to be examined or accounted for. The bones and plaster cast remains of those who died may have been just a small fraction of the total number of people who died from the eruption. The extreme temperatures of rocks and gas inside pyroclastic flows is estimated to be between 200°C and 700°C (390-1300°F). These would be unfavorable conditions to find identifiable remains.

A more recent, but less powerful eruption of Vesuvius in 1631 resulted in more than 3000 (maybe more than six thousand) deaths. Several days before the destructive eruption, there had been increased seismic activity similar to the eruption of AD 79. I assume by the 1600s the people were aware of the dangers of Vesuvius. It’s hard to believe that fewer people would have died during the more powerful eruption of AD 79.

Even the modern eruption in Mount St. Helens, Washington in 1980 resulted in 57 deaths (of whom fourteen were never found). This modern eruption occurred in a more sparsely populated area. Also, there were two months of prior volcanic activity in the area, modern warning systems, and faster transportation to escape. Despite these advantages, the death toll was surprisingly high.

The evidence that Professor Tuck presented in the above article, although interesting, is certainly not definitive. Noting, for example, that the inscription of the legionnaire Cornelius Fuscus was from Pompeii does not mean he survived the eruption of AD 79. He could have been on military campaign elsewhere or on vacation in Rome on that fateful day. Also, one would expect the inscription would have mentioned the fact that he survived one of the great cataclysms of the age.

Herculaneum, although a couple miles closer to Vesuvius than Pompeii, had escaped the initial eruption’s ash and pumice fall because of prevailing winds. One would expect that all the inhabitants of Herculaneum would have had time to escape after witnessing and escaping this initial explosion. The archaeological evidence proves otherwise.

Few historians take into account the probable tsunami that would typically be an aftermath of an eruption of this nature. (The eruption of Vesuvius in 1631 was followed by a Tsunami, for example.) This would further add to the deaths by drowning of escaping residents. Their bodies would be lost forever.

Finally, only 3/4 of Pompeii and less than 1/3 of Herculaneum have been excavated so far. Who knows what future excavations in Pompeii and Herculaneum will reveal.

I believe many thousands more died as a result of Vesuvius in AD 79 than the mere 1500 victims whose remains we have found almost two thousand years later.

Professor Tuck is as knowledgeable on Roman archaeology (especially from Pompeii) as anyone else in academia. (He also has some great lectures on "GreatCourses.") That said, I will (perhaps foolishly) challenge his conclusions.

Edited October 11, 2021 by guy