Embedded Files
recent NOVA TV show (one hour), "Pompeii's Secret Underworld"
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/pompeiis-secret-underworld/
Pliny's Two Letters, eyewitness account of the Vesuvius eruption of 79 C.E.:
https://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~gabi/sio15/lectures/volcanoes/pliny.html
The New Yorker on the Two Pliny's, uncle & nephew, and the eruption:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/02/17/the-terror-and-the-fascination-of-pompei
To view a PDF of the New Yorker article, click this link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YutrZkEg4lottXVRz-Il82YBJQmT4dS_/view?usp=sharing
MONTY PYTHON answering the question: "What have the Romans ever done for us?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ
MONTY PYTHON, "Life of Brian," who scribbles "Romans go home" (100 times!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdqXT9k-050
Fellini's "Satyricon" (1970): Dinner with ex-slave Trimalchio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpMakUEn4hs
Pompeii, a brief intro:
Pompeii, a longer intro-- "National Geographic"
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/pompeii
If the beauty and intrigue of the sites give you the urge for beautiful volumes in addition to Beard's, here are two richly illustrated & very intelligent books:
Joanne Berry, The Complete Pompeii (Thames & Hudson 2007: paperback, available new for under $20 -- a true bargain)
Paul Roberts, Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum (Oxford U. & British Museum Presses 2013: especially lavish illustrations and intelligent text: available in "used-good," "used-like new" for under $30 at Amazon -- another bargain!)
Official Pompeii Archaeological Park websites: there are two! (how to visit, history of Pompeii & of the excavavations, much more)
http://pompeiisites.org/en/pompeii-map/
https://www.pompeionline.net/en/archaeological-park-of-pompeii/history-of-pompeii
Official Herculaneum Archaeological Park site (as for Pompeii above: how to visit, etc. -- BUT: only in Italian)
https://ercolano.beniculturali.it/eventi-e-news/
Allied Bombing of Pompeii, August-September 1943 (160+ bombs, many unexploded ones still to be found!)
WHAT'S NEW AT POMPEII & HERCULANEUM? Recent surprises: Survivors rebuilding their lives (Sept./Oct. 2023!); Major new excavation at "Via di Nola" (July 2023); Male skeleton on Herculaneum beach, & two adult males at Pompeii (= master & slave?); SLAVE QUARTERS (unique!); Snack Bar; Chariot; Sheep Mowing Pompeii's grass; Dog-robot guards; Pompeii in color; Tortoise egg; Gender bending; DNA analysis; stolen frescoes returned; Greek drama proven for Pompeii stages for first time; first-ever Pompeian embalmed & partly mummified body; twenty-one-year-old American's revelation (thru AI) of first word ("purple," in Greek) of hypothetical still buried Greco-Roman library (unique in the ancient world!) at Herculaneum; ancient ( & huge) drainage tunnels to be put back into use; was there a dark side to viewing blood sports on Pompeian kids' psychology? new evidence about survivors of the eruption; "biggest ever" private bathing complex; "longest ever" Pompeian tomb inscription discovered (2017): coming-of-age party: 1000's of guests at the banquet, many hundreds of gladiators! male brain vitrified in "unique process...the only such occurrence on Earth"! (2-27-2025); date of the 79 eruption: August 24? October 24? at Ostia (Rome's own "Pompeii"): discovery of oldest Mikveh in Italy (at Ostia near Rome: Jewish Ritual Bath); where did many thousands of survivors go? the "magic" of Pompeii's lasting concrete in the (MIT!) news again (Dec. 2025): "hot-mixing," "self-healing"; a brand-new "Villa of the Mysteries"?
New book (2024): John Brewer, "Volcanic: Vesuvius in the Age of Revolutions" (Yale U. Press)
review of Brewer: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/04/18/the-volcano-lovers-mount-vesuvius/
"What's New" (good overview):
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/new-treasures-pompeii-180972829/
(a superbly color-illustrated account of "new treasures" -- and of misfortunes from WW II bombing, Mafia, and incompetence!)
Survivors of the 79 C.E. eruption rebuilding their lives (Sept.-Oct., 2023!), atop the ruins (on "back side"of Vesuvius), & around Naples Bay:
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/526-2309/letter-from/11661-vesuvius-dark-side
Newly launched major excavation beside "Via di Nola" (July 20, 2023):
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66226417 (= article)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjGsJ1awG94 (= video)
Two new skeletal finds: a man on Herculaneum beach; a pair (master & slave?) at Pompeii:
Slave Quarters (a first at Pompeii!):
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/06/discovery-of-pompeii-slaves-room-sheds-rare-light-on-real-roman-life (update: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/aug/20/bedroom-used-by-slaves-found-by-archaeologists-near-pompeii)
Fast food joint:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/fast-food-joint-pompeii-served-snails-fish-and-wine-new-finds-suggest-180976651/ (3 minutes, incl. mellifluous only-in-Italian video)
Earliest Neapolitan "Pizza" (?) (June 27, 2023)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/world/europe/pizza-mural-pompeii.html
Chariot:
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/453-2201/digs/10208-digs-italy-pompeii-chariot
Sheep as Lawn Mowers at Pompeii:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/world/europe/pompeii-sheep-mount-vesuvius.html
Robot-Dogs as Guards:
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/dog-robot-guards-pompeii-1234623374/
Pompeii in Color:
https://www.pompeiiincolor.com
Tortoise egg:
https://www.archaeology.org/news/10653-2200627-pompeii-tortoise-egg
Gender Bending (all = frescoes from Naples Archaeological Museum):
https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/columns/excavating-ancient-expressions-gender-1234630220/
DNA (family relationships? Eastern Meditereranean & North African provenance for Pompeians?)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/science/pompeii-vesuvius-dna-archaeology.html?searchResultPosition=2 (May 26, 2022)
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/ancient-dna-challenges-stories-told-about-pompeii-victims (Nov. 7, 2024)
https://www.wsj.com/science/archaeology/pompeii-victims-archaeology-dna-86a7444e (Dec. 24, 2024)
https://archaeology.org/issues/march-april-2025/digs-discoveries/pompeii-friend-group/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/nov/07/identity-of-casts-of-victims-at-pompeii-not-all-they-seem-research-suggests (Nov. 7, 2024)
Stolen Frescoes Returned:
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/frescoes-returned-to-pompeii-1234593429/
Greek drama at Pompeii, & first ever "mummy" (partial) at Pompeii:
Library (one alphabetic letter!) revealed on Herculaneum manuscript:
https://scrollprize.org/firstletters
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/10/17/herculaneum-scrolls-contest-translated-deciphered/
Drainage tunnels come back into use:
Children's drawings at Pompeii: effects of witnessing blood sports on 5-7-year-olds' mental health? Aggressive behavior?
https://www.pompeionline.net/en/news/389-pompeii-house-of-the-chaste-lovers (in the section "Rooms & Discoveries," paragraphs 6 & 7: modern Naples shrinks at work!). (June 25, 2024)
https://pompeiisites.org/wp-content/uploads/13-def_E-Journal-Casa-del-Cenacolo.pdf (5-28-24)
tens of thousands of survivors! -- where did they go? (no migrant "camps," no tent cities?):
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/science/archaeology-vesuvius-pompeii.html?searchResultPosition=1
brand-new book: Steven Tuck, Escape from Pompeii: The Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius and Its Survivors (Oxford U. Press 2025)
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/escape-from-pompeii-9780197678220?q=Tuck&lang=en&cc=us
newly excavated "Biggest ever" private bathing complex (in private house: Jan. 1 & 17, 2025):
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15zgvnvk4do
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/world/europe/italy-archaeology-pompeii-spa.html
longest ever tomb inscription: coming-of-age party (for a 15-to-17-year old): banquet for many thousands, with hundreds of gladiators (http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/48236)
male brain vitrified in "unique process........the only such occurrence on Earth"! (2-27-2025)
PRO: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-88894-5
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/science/vesuvius-pompeii-volcano-brain.html
CON: https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/27/science/vesuvius-brain-glass-study/index.html
date of Vesuvius' 79 C.E. eruption: summer (Aug. 24) or autumn (Oct. 24)? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/science/volcano-vesuvius-pompeii.html
Jewish ritual bath ("Mikveh") discovered at harbor city of Ostia ("Rome's Pompeii"), 15 miles from Rome
https://archaeology.org/news/2025/03/14/jewish-ritual-bath-excavated-in-roman-ostia/
tens of thousands of survivors! -- where did they go?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/science/archaeology-vesuvius-pompeii.html?searchResultPosition=1
brand-new book: Steven Tuck, Escape from Pompeii: The Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius and Its Survivors (Oxford U. Press 2025)
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/escape-from-pompeii-9780197678220?q=Tuck&lang=en&cc=us
the "magic" of Pompeii's lasting concrete, in December 2025 (MIT!) news: "hot-mixing," "self-healing"
https://news.mit.edu/2025/pompeii-offers-insights-ancient-roman-building-technology-1209
a second, newly revealed "Villa of the Mysteries" (= "House of the Thiasos")
"Pompeii's House of Dionysian Delights": https://archaeology.org/issues/march-april-2026/features/pompeiis-house-of-dionysian-delights/
Mary Beard videos:
"Life & Death in a Roman Town" (59 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnIY6AE4m6E
"Pompeii: New Secrets Revealed" (59 minutes)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4cme2h
“Busting Myths & Unearthing Secrets: the Real People of Pompeii (2016: very short article with good 1-minute video, an ad for the "New Secrets" above)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/entries/177393f4-907e-455e-bfb8-3ec947f1a71f
Pompeii's Showiest Family (the Valentes) 2 1/2 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4fDo1-2v5Q
Pompeii: The Art of Reconstruction (live in 2008, at London's Architectural Assoc. School of Architecture: with some audience pushback), 88 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLv2LI6Y8U
Who Were the Citizens of Ancient Rome? (on Empire as a whole; 59 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teSs_AJ6P88
Mary Beard also does a mean tour of the Roman Forum in the center of Rome (photo only! 2-22-2019):
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