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Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics Podcast
Pompeii

Pompeii

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics vor 4 Jahren

Why are ripe pomegranates and squashed grapes key archaeological finds from Pompeii?

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It seems that classical scholars are wrong about the date of the
volcanic eruption that destroyed the ancient city of Pompeii
almost two thousand years ago. It's taken a few ripe pomegranates
and some squashed grapes, carbonised by pyroclastic flow, to
change our minds about this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The
eruption was definitely in the year 79, but the month? Most
written sources mistakenly suggest it was August but if you know
your fruit, you will know that pomegranates and grapes ripen in
the autumn in Italy. So the presence of these fruit in the
remains of the city suggest the eruption must have taken place
later in the year.

Natalie draws on the blisteringly dramatic account of the
disaster by Pliny the Younger, writing to his friend, the
historian Tacitus. She talks to archaeologist Dr Sophie Hay, who
has spent nineteen years living and working in Italy and is a
leading expert on the site. There are poignant details: many
bodies discovered there were carrying keys, because people
expected to be able to return to their homes once the eruption
had subsided. Others had pillows wrapped around their heads to
protect them from the pumice and lava raining down on them as
they tried to escape.

‘Rock star mythologist’ and reformed stand-up Natalie Haynes is
obsessed with the ancient world. She explores key stories from
ancient Rome and Greece that still have resonance today. They
might be biographical, topographical, mythological or epic, but
they are always hilarious, magical and tragic, mystifying and
revelatory. And they tell us more about ourselves now than seems
possible of stories from a couple of thousand years ago.

With guests Dr Sophie Hay and Professor Llewelyn Morgan

Producer Mary Ward-Lowery