2.0 Nature of Sources

The range of available sources

Text Chapter "The archaeological record"

pp. 63-77

The range of available sources, both written and archaeological, including ancient writers, official inscriptions, graffiti, wall paintings, statues, mosaics, human and animal remains.

There are photographs of sources on the relevant pages of this site.

Past HSC Question - 2011

Using Sources F and G and your own knowledge, explain how examples of graffiti contribute to our understanding of life in Pompeii and Herculaneum. (6 marks)

Source F: A graffito from the ‘Street of Abundance’, Pompeii

• I beg you to elect Cn. Helvius Sabinus aedile, worthy of public office. Maria asks this.

Source G: A graffito from the ‘House of the Gladiators’, Pompeii

• 28 July, Florus won at Nuceria; 15 August, won at Herculaneum.

Written and archaeological sources, including ancient writers, official inscriptions, graffiti, wall paintings, statues, mosaics, human and animal remains.

Find an example from Pompeii and an example from Herculaneum of each type of source.

Written:

• ancient writers

• official inscriptions

• public notices

• graffiti

Archaeological:

• buildings (houses, shops, public buildings for entertainment, religion, politics)

• other structures (walls, gates, towers, streets)

• tombs (Via dei Sepolcri and Necropolis of Porta di Nucera)

• wall paintings

• statues

• mosaics

• other household objects

• human and animal remains

Use your notes from the video "Life and Death in Herculaneum" narrated by Andrew Wallace Hadrill for this section.

You can download my notes from the bottom of this page.

Interpreting the evidence

To assess the evidence, use the questions to ask of sources that you covered early in Year 11.

For archaeological sources:

What is it?

In what context was it found?

Can it be accurately dated?

How does its condition affect its interpretation?

Is it reliable and/or useful in providing evidence about the past?

For written sources:

What type of written source is it?

Who wrote it and when?

What was the writer's purpose?

Who was the intended audience?

Is it reliable?

Is it useful in providing evidence about the period?

This is particularly useful for the next dot point.

The nature of sources and evidence

a. The range of available sources

Literary Sources:

• Pliny the Younger:

  • Two letters , written 25 yrs after the eruption, to Historian Tacitus, describing the events that took place, his Uncle’s death, and his personal reaction to the eruption.

  • Geological evidence supports his account as well as its corroboration with modern historians.

  • However accounts are limited to Misenum and Stabiae rather than Pompeii and Herculaneum

  • He himself acknowledges his limitations as he states “for it is one thing to write a letter, another to write history.”

• Vitruvius

  • 1^st Century Architect, Manual on Architecture “Of Architecture”

  • Limitations: 27 AD, his depiction of Greek and Roman houses did not always correspond to archeological evidence

  • Bias towards some paintings as he didn’t like the contemporary styles

  • Writes mostly about houses: “the houses of bankers and farmers of the revenue should be more spacious and imposing and safe from burglars”

  • “Advocates and professors of rhetoric should be housed with distinction, and in sufficient space to accommodate their audiences”

• Pliny the Elder

  • 37 books in his “Natural History”

  • He is deemed reliable as he is the only ancient writer to cite his sources

  • Limitations: his work is known to be contradictory, uncritical and uneven.

  • Writes descriptions of the Campania region: “A region bessed by fortune” “warm springs” “shellfish” “Gods of wine and grain” “fine harvest” “nowhere do olives produce more oil”

• Cassius Dio

  • Writes in his “History of Rome”

  • Details of the eruption: “all the while an inconceivable quantity of ash was being blown out; it covered both sea and land and filled all the air” “people fled, some from their houses into the streets, others from outside indoors”

• Martial

  • A poet, writes in his “Epigram”

  • Details the effects of the eruption: “It all lies buried by flames and mournful ash”

• Strabo

  • Writes about Geographical issues in his “Geography”

  • “This area appears to have been on fire”

• Seneca

  • Writes in his “Naturales Questiones”

  • Describes the Earthquake in 62 AD “That devastated Campania” and “a flock of 600 sheep perished”