Section I (Core Study): Cities of Vesuvius - Pompeii and Herculaneum

10 dot points across 10 inquiry questions, in syllabus order. Each dot point has a focused answer, with exam-style questions and worked answers where available.

What evidence remains for everyday life in Pompeii and Herculaneum?

Everyday life in Pompeii and Herculaneum, including leisure activities, food, housing, water supply and sanitation, and the evidence from frescoes, archaeology, and inscriptions

Everyday life: Roman housing (domus, insulae, villas), food (thermopolia, carbonised remains, Herculaneum's sewer evidence), leisure (baths, the AD 59 amphitheatre riot, theatres), water supply (the Castellum Aquae), and the verdicts of Wallace-Hadrill and Mary Beard.

12 min read →

How have Pompeii and Herculaneum been investigated and interpreted from 1748 to today?

Investigating and interpreting the sources from Pompeii and Herculaneum, including the history of excavation from 1748, the methodologies of Fiorelli, Maiuri, and Wallace-Hadrill, conservation issues, and ethical debates about display

Investigation and interpretation. From Alcubierre and the 1748 Pompeii excavations to Fiorelli's body casts and regio system, Maiuri at Herculaneum, the Anglo-American Conservation Project under Wallace-Hadrill, conservation crises, and the ethics of displaying human remains.

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How did local political life operate in Pompeii and Herculaneum?

Local political life in Pompeii and Herculaneum, including magistracies, the decurional council, electoral campaigns, and the evidence from electoral programmata

Local political life. The duoviri and aediles, the decurional council, the AD 79 election campaign and its electoral programmata, the named candidates and their supporters, and the verdicts of Mouritsen and Cooley.

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What is the evidence for religion in Pompeii and Herculaneum?

Religion in Pompeii and Herculaneum, including Roman state cult, the imperial cult, household religion (the lararium), death and burial practices (the Street of Tombs), and foreign cults including Isis, Dionysus/Bacchus, the Capitoline Triad, and Sabazius

Religion. The Capitoline Triad, the imperial cult and Eumachia, household lararia, the Street of Tombs, the Temple of Isis, Dionysus and the Villa of the Mysteries frieze, Sabazius, and the verdicts of Beard and Cooley.

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What evidence does the archaeology reveal about the economy of Pompeii and Herculaneum?

The economy of Pompeii and Herculaneum, including trade, commerce, industries, occupations, and the archaeological and inscriptional evidence for them

Economy of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Wine and garum production, the wool and baking industries, the rental economy of the Praedia of Julia Felix, and the port role linking both cities to Mediterranean trade.

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What happened in the AD 79 eruption and what does the evidence reveal?

The eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD 79 and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, including the literary evidence (Pliny the Younger), the volcanological evidence, the human evidence (body casts and skeletons), and the date controversy

AD 79 eruption. Pliny the Younger's letters, the volcanological reconstruction by Sigurdsson, the body casts and skeletons, the August vs October date debate, and the verdicts of Beard and Lazer.

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What is the geographical and historical context of Pompeii and Herculaneum?

The geographical setting and physical environment of Pompeii and Herculaneum, including the Bay of Naples, the role of Mt Vesuvius, the natural features, resources, and the historical development of the two cities from Oscan settlement to Roman colony

Geographical and historical context of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Bay of Naples, Mt Vesuvius, the development of the two cities, the Samnite and Roman colonisation, and the long history of investigation since 1748.

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What do the public and private buildings reveal about urban life in Pompeii and Herculaneum?

The public buildings of Pompeii and Herculaneum, including the Forum and its surrounding temples, basilica, macellum and Eumachia building, the public baths (Stabian, Forum, the unfinished Central Baths, and the Suburban Baths at Herculaneum), the amphitheatre of c. 70 BC, the theatres and the palaestra, and the private buildings, including the atrium-peristyle domus (e.g. the House of the Faun and the House of the Vettii), insulae and upper-floor apartments, and the Villa of the Mysteries and Villa of Papyri, and what they reveal about urban life

Public and private buildings. The Forum precinct (basilica, macellum, Eumachia building), the four bath complexes, the amphitheatre and theatres, the atrium-peristyle domus, insulae, and the Villas of the Mysteries and Papyri, read through Zanker and Wallace-Hadrill.

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How did the social structure of Pompeii and Herculaneum operate, and what evidence remains?

The social structure of Pompeii and Herculaneum, including men, women, freedmen, and slaves, with archaeological, inscriptional, and skeletal evidence

Social structure. Free-born elite and ordinary citizens, freedmen including the Vettii and Augustales, slaves, women's status and evidence (Eumachia, Julia Felix), and patron-client relations, with the verdicts of Wallace-Hadrill and Cooley.

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What ethical issues arise from the study, display and ownership of Pompeii, Herculaneum and their human remains?

The ethical issues in the study, conservation, display and ownership of the sites and the human remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum, including the display of body casts and skeletons, tourism pressure versus conservation, looting and the antiquities trade, ownership questions, and responsible reconstruction and virtual display

Ethics, display and ownership. Lazer's critique of casts as "objects", tourism pressure versus conservation, the 2010 Schola Armaturarum collapse, looting and the antiquities trade, and the ownership debate between the Italian state and international scholarship.

12 min read →