Herculaneum: A Fate Worse Than Pompeii | Vesuvius Uncovered | Real History
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2022
- Pompeii, the lost Roman city buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, has long been a source of fascination to archaeologists. But its sister city Herculaneum, buried in the same eruption but to a much greater depth than Pompeii, reveals far more detail of how the Romans lived. For many years the city appeared to have been abandoned and it was assumed the inhabitants had managed to escape in the hours before Herculaneum was engulfed by the volcano.
Then in the 1980s a macabre discovery was made. Burrowing through the volcanic mud, archaeologists found hundreds of bodies huddled pitifully together. Vesuvius is still active and is on course to erupt again. The lure of its rich volcanic soil and the delights of the Bay of Naples have attracted a far greater population than lived there in Roman times. And while civil servants at the Vesuvius observatory express confidence that there will be ample warning and time to evacuate the surrounding population, many geologists disagree. Evidence from an eruption in 4000 BC reveals that the volcano is capable of destroying Naples, a cataclysm far greater than that of 79 AD. If that were to happen today it could engulf 3 million people. On that scale, in an area where motorway traffic jams are a fact of daily life, present evacuation plans are completely inadequate.
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No, it's better than Netflix for history, yall arn't shoehorning people of color for *the message* into history where they wouldn't of been.
I missed shows like this! I'm glad I stumbled across this Channel! New Sub.!
😊😊😊😊
netflix turns everything into toxic garbage because of social agendas!
@@SolusChristusyou either pay or watch adverts. Maybe ask your Mummy
I had the privilege of living in Naples Italy from 1970 thru 1976........been to both Pompeii and Herculaneum as well as walking down in the mouth of Vesuvius. I was born in 1963. Awesome experiences. Then I went to Athens Greece where i finished high school in 1981. So was there from 76 to 81. I could see Mt. Vesuvius from my bedroom window when I lived in Naples.
very cool.
@@sunshinehoward9649 and how very cool. Have a great day everyone
You probably have nightmares about the volcano erupting again, Naples suffering the same fate as Pompeii.
@@scotthayes4135 No. No nightmares....but It was said....I could errupt again at any time.
And were supposed to believe you? Sorry pal… it’s a touching story, but i call b.s.
The fact that they've uncovered a room that was just being painted when Vesuvius erupted and that they also found the paint is absolutely incredible. The whole area was frozen in time.
Truly stunning
Sodom and Gomorrah got their punishment too for rejecting the one true God of creation
@@sojourn777 oh you are ridiculous
@@sojourn777 haha
@@sojourn777this has nothing to do with anything like that. This was just a pair of normal settlements not a den of sin
Pompeii gets all the attention. Many people have never heard of Herculaneum, yet what it suffered was simply horrible.
Herculaneum was hit even worse than Pompeii.
Even in the most elementary earth science books the demise of Herculaneum is mentioned right along with Pompeii as well as St. Pierre on Martinique in 1902 and the effect of Krakatoa on the coasts of Java and Sumatra in 1883. All classic introductory examples of volcanic destruction.
@@TeePole59 Herculaneum suffered, IMO, worse. They were subject to instant disintegration. Even their brains were boiled away.
Pyroclastic surge and flow can move much faster than even a bullet train can travel. When a volcano ejects its guts 10 miles into the sky, that matter can pick up speed as it comes back down, and now rolling over the downward slope of the volcano, can be moving as fast as 100+ MPH. It's light and fast, because it's superheated dust, ash, silt, and sand. The particles are like a very fine glass/sand material, powderized to the point where it will get in the lungs of humans and animals, and even if it doesn't kill you quickly, it will still kill you surely. It behaves more like a plasma than it does a cloud, sometimes even with thunderstorms inside of it! You can't hide from it in a tree, a ditch, or behind a wall. You also cannot hide from it on the water because pyroclastic flow will move over water with even less resistance than it will move over land. If I had to choose between the sweet meteor of death or a pyroclastic surge? I suppose I would choose whichever one would allow me to not die in the massive traffic jam trying to escape the city. Y'know, an alien abduction, even with experiments being performed on humans, that might be the better way to go after all, lol! 😅😳
Or I could read the title they posted instead of your redundant comment.
I always wanted to become an archeologist as a child but my life took me in another direction. I love watching shows like this. Brings back the passion I had as a child to learn about the hidden worlds of the past.
Passions never die..its never to late to chase you're dreams and become what you have always dreamed of! Go for Gold! It is never ever too late!!! Also, there are all kinds of volunteer jobs on site when they needs hands to help out on things, it at least could get you on a dig site of all things..hey you never know!
me too
Bram Stoker didn't write Dracula until he's in his fifties man ,go for it
Same. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to study archaeology and ancient history as a career. Such a fascinating pursuit.
Same. I learn so much and it's amazing to see all these places I can never afford to go and see myself. 😢
If you look at an 2023 aerial map of the land around Vesuvius, it is crowded with towns and cities. Pyroclastic volcanoes can erupt on a dime with little or no warning. Getting all those millions of inhabitants out of the area including the 600,000 directly within the 10m radius danger zone would be very difficult. Amazing that 2000 years ago, the ancient Romans had aqueducts bringing water to towns and villages, where it was further distributed. Sewers running below the towns back then, baths (the same systems were built by the Romans in Britannia) all advanced infrastructure while there are regions of the world without sewage disposal and running water that still exist today...
Frequently, there are warnings. At least of eruptions. Actual pyroclastic flows themselves, you are right, can't be predicted.
But even White Island was giving off signs.
The hard part is that government officials are so afraid to call an evacuation and then have nothing happen. Sigh ...
"If you look at an 2023 aerial map of the land around Vesuvius, it is crowded with towns and cities" sometimes Humanity doesnt learn its lesson or forgets the lesson after 2000 years i guess
W
Amazing
@@metallicarabbit abit like how there's a city built on the fault line in missouri that went off with a quake over a 9.0 over 200 years back. ya people just forget, they even mined all over that region and built towns over the old mines so.. ya.
We visited both Pompeii and Herculaneum last year. Both were amazing places to visit but honestly, I thought Herculaneum was much more interesting and, as a visitor, you were much closer to the actual artifacts and frescos than at Pompeii. An excellent place to visit if you travel to the Naples area. (Our kids loved giving attention to the few cats that roamed through the restored areas and called them 2000 year old cats)
That’s so cute!
😅😅😅👏👏
Yup, also the cats at the Temple of Apollo.
We did it last year for Valentine's Day, started at Rome, stayed a block away from the Trevi.
We didn't stay in Naples, though, but Sorrento, which was fantastic.
Then was Athens, and last was Istanbul.
Aw, no videos?
Check ours, it was fantastic, and more than a year later, still trying to catch up on editing everything lol
I can only dream of such a trip. I wanna see the 2000 y.o. cats SO BAD! lol
As a person born and raised in Herculaneum, I had a lot of nightmares during my childhood of a new eruption, I left for the UK when I was 18, now 22 years later I sometimes still get nightmares.
Even though I am likely not related to any of the victims, It is always too heart-breaking to see documentaries like these, but I am very glad that for once people are talking about Herculaneum, since whenever I tell people nobody seems to know anything besides Pompeii.
Yeah it got fucked up worse than Pompeii. I think it was the first excavated so it was more remembered. Plus Pompeii was a wealthy city, and the villas were fairly well preserved romanticizing Pompeii even more. Giving a very rare glimpse into the lives of every day wealthy Pompeii residents. The bodies that were cast were also romanticized.
not at all surprising. i live in an earthquake zone and it leaves me anxious...
How can you be born and raised in Herculaneum?, it's an ancient city in ruins.
@@Djr67 A new city with the same name was build on top of the ancient one, and nobody knew about the ruins until the excavation in the 70's if I am not mistaken. Because of the modern buildings most of the ancient city will remain a mystery because you cannot simply remove its people and houses.
@@mauropaneART ok cheers thank you, I didn't know that.
"The lessons of Herculaneum are too terrifying to ignore." Yet they ARE being ignored...
I agree with you. I'm 40 miles from my home volcano mt tahoma. Some call it rainier. You can't outrun a lahar.
15:03 this is why you don’t wanna leave animals tied up or in cages during hurricanes with no chance to escape. So many people lock pets up in crates or tied up only to return and find their drowned pets, who could’ve otherwise gotten on a higher shelf, escaped through a broken window, etc. Dogs and cats can do nothing if left stuck in a crate, but watch the water level rise, as they’re pushed up against the top bars of the crate, and then covered by water. A gruesome visual but one all pet owners should know of. If you have to leave them home, let them be able to escape. Don’t tie up or crate them.
Those poor animals must have been so terrified.
The people had no idea they wouldn't be back. But yeah, I don't like when people crate their pets during the day. What if you have a house fire? Poor animal has zero chance of escaping.
Oh damn.... I'll never do that. Just thinking about it, ugh this is gruesome and so, so sad.
So!
@druidriley3163 as a responder to single family fires...even when animals are not caged or tied up they may not make it. They (like small children) hide when they are scared and in small hard to reach places.
Herculaneum sounds like it would be an element on the periodic table
Vulcanium? Very dangerous when combined with Herculaneum.
Pyroclastic Flow is a great band name also.
@@999theeagle Didn't they open up for Nirvana and Jane's Addiction in '92?
Adnauseum...😂
The site director is a cool guy. you can tell he is extremely passionate about discovering and preserving this ancient site and he’s good at bringing that enthusiasm to others.
Been to historical sites with way better directors…. He is passionate, but tbh I wasn’t impressed. His style isn’t cool either, he dress like nerd
@@macysondheim Oh ok, guess I stand corrected. Glad the Internet spoke up and was able to disabuse me of my opinion.
@Macy Sondheim you're in several comments just shitting on anyone and everyone.
I hope you have the day you deserve.
@@willo7734 your reply took me out 😭 lmao
I guess Pompeii and Herculaneum aren't just like any other ancient site. A lot of Roman cities were either destroyed in wars or earthquakes, looted for building materials, built over or outright given up. Pompeii and Herculaneum are literally frozen in time, not only well preserved, but also full with everyday items and even food. The room painting scene is a great testament to that. I also want to go there so badly.
One sight in Pompei's ruins that touched me as a child was a small dog still chained in it's place.
Making it the oldest dog in the world, bs doodle..like a song beta homeland
Herculaneum is the indeed the best preserved, and we have learned so much of these people’s tragic lives. The pregnant mother, still adorned with her jewelry, accompanied by her young ancīlla (slave girl, maiden), waiting at the docks with strangers for rescue that never came.
I have been to Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pompeii is wall to wall basalt. So is Herculaneum. I am amazed of every thing that has been preserved there. These two towns were the places where the most wealthy lived. The finest of Rome could be found here.
Naples doesn't only have to worry about Vesuvius, there is also the Phlegraean Fields (Campi Flegrei ) nearby too which has 24 craters within it and is still active. Personally I would find all that too much volcanism in one area for me to want to live near, especially when you have the evidence of its destruction around you in Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Yup. Gorgeous area, but too scary for me to live near.
@Tlyna1952 well of course that's to be expected all of Italy from Mount Etna too Stromboli is part of what we call the Ring of Fire so of course there's going to be a lot of volcanoes there I'm not surprised there's even a super volcano
If Phlegrean Fields gets angry it's bad, not only for surrounding areas. We could get troubles all over Italy and maybe Europe.
If wood has been preserved at this site, there is a reasonable chance that if a library is found, its scrolls might be readable. How amazing that could be, it could teach us so much! The Bourbons were nothing but criminal looters, looking to enhance the decor of their personal palaces with priceless treasures from the past, to their eternal shame.
everything was vaporized.
They did find a library and they found many many scrolls. All charred. Trying to unroll the scrolls destroys them, but they've developed ingenious ways of reading the charred scrolls, somehow chemically distinguishing between the carbon of the papyrus and the different chemicals of the ink to make out the letters.
You should check out the University of Kentucky’s latest video! They used X-rays and machine learning to digitally unwrap some of the scrolls they found from Herculaneum!
Here is the link if youtube allows it: th-cam.com/video/Z_L1oN8y7Bs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=OJQY9jvLB6B7t3N8
@@janetannerevans2320nah. Things were compressed and preserved in carbon, just like with Pompeii
The Bourbons were products of their time just as we all are. Having been born in 1945 I feel just as much out of time with the wave of Wokeism that is taking over the Western world. The Woke generation finds my generation to be racist and barbaric even when we aren’t. I just wish that the items the Bourbons scavenged could be found today and put into a special museum. Having studied Roman history I always knew of both Pompeii and Herculaneum and wanted to visit them. Unfortunately it was not to be so I am completely indebted to your wonderful channel for such exemplary documentaries.
Does anyone else feel particularly sad for the livestock that got locked into certain death? Poor babies. 😢
I do.
Yeah :/
Certainly. But your heart should be breaking, particularly, for the human life that was lost.
@@nette9836no, the animals.
Absolutely the poor creatures must have sense the danger before humans andd to beterrified ultimately dying a horrendous death.
I got to visit Pompeii and climb Vesuvius when I was 15. Doesn’t even sound real that I got to! One of the most daunting things was seeing Pompeii, then being on the volcano and looking out over Naples etc.
It's estimated between 75 and 92 % of the people escaped Pompeii yet there were still still quite a few deaths. It makes me wonder what the stories of those remaining are.
Your post doesn't make sense.
@@mariakelly90210 why? By "those remaining," I believe she meant those that escaped.
@@mariakelly90210 what part didn't make sense to you?
They say many that stayed were likely slaves are like today during hurricanes some stay thinking its not gonna be that bad
@@canttouchthis6439 there were definitely slaves but there were many wealthy people as well. They died with their wealth on them. It was a good mix of people
Within in the first minute, an absurd claim: that the people of the Bay of Neapolis and Campania didn't know that Vesuvius was an active volcano. They absolutely *did* know, the way the millions of people living in modern Naples still know it. Their soil was enriched because of the calcium rich ash; they had access to hydraulic cement because of it. They simply didn't have any way of assessing the risk. I wish documentaries and popular culture would not perpetuate this claim.
Agree
47:15 : "The irony of working in Herculaneum is that other people's tragedy is our GOOD LUCK" : The truthful words of and archeologist.
Imagine cleaning all the gunk out of one of those statues, you are literally retracing the final strokes of the original artist... 🤯
In the 1980s, National Geographic published a story about the excavation of Herculanium. That’s when i first learned about both Herculanium and Pompeii. I’ve always been fascinated more by the lesser known city.
I remember that issue! I was fascinated too. It's how I learned the city existed.
Me, too! That's exactly where I first heard of Herculaneum.
The last time she erupted, I believe, was in '48. Lava right into the edges of Naples. For a little bit, she was erupting, small ones, every 25 years, or so. Hmmm! St. Helens gave a couple of months of warnings, and no one truly listened. Same type of volcano. With so many people so close to Vesuvius, after watching the destruction and loss of life from St. Helens, the scope of Vesuvius is truly frightening!
I love the history surrounding Mount Vesuvius. When my father was in the navy, he obtained a glass vial of mount Vesuvius ash that had many different layers. After returning home , my father's mother accidentally broke it and all of the layers got mixed up and it had to be discarded. That memory remained with him for many many years.
She might very well had a reason to accidently break it on purpose. It could've been forbidden to do so. Bringing home those 'Principalities' The Scriptures speak of.
Jsn 🤷🏿♀️
I bet these days you could order one online.
Could of just scooped it up and put it in a new jar....
❤
@@alfredajones6703 No. There is no such prescription against ash from Vesuvius. The woman was simply a careless idiot.
My Dad visited both Pompeii and Herculaneum, we're both history buffs. He said it's literally walking into the history you're learning. How I felt when I visited Colonial Williamsburg, I was just in awe.
Gettysburg is the same😢
@@kaydublin5164 My Dad was there as well. My next history trip is to visit Independence Hall and Piecefield.
The most awesome trip of my life so far
@@TheSpitler812 Where did you visit? You weren't specific.
@@sekichdawn3913 Herculaneum and Pompeii back in December 2021. I was visiting my family in Southern Italy and we we to Pompeii and Herculaneum.
I have visited Pompeii and the Naples area. Driving in Naples on a regular day is a serious challenge. An evacuation of 5+ million people with little warning is unimaginable given the lack of evacuation roads and preparation. The death toll will be epic if this volcano erupts again at the level of the eruption that destroyed the area during the Roman Empire. I pray this never happens in my lifetime.
I agree. I hope it doesn't happen either. Not in my lifetime. If anything, save it for my kids lifetime or my grandkids.. or maybe even my parents.. just stay clear of mine, please.
@@ngrrplz Why do you want to hurt your grandchildren?
I wouldn't mind seeing it happen tbh, it'd be a sight to behold. People living there knowingly take a risk, quite stupid if you ask me, so I wouldn't feel too bad. The Italian government needs to make it illegal to live within a certain radius of it.
Vesuvius has erupted 40 times, I think, since 79 AD, the most recent only 60 years ago, so I doubt it will ever explode like the Pompeii disaster any time soon. Vesuvius hadn't erupted for 1500 years prior to its eruption in 79 AD, so there was way more build up.
I'd be more concerned if Campi flegrei goes up, it's a supervolcano
Herculaneum is so often overshadowed by Pompeii it’s nice to see the other side for a change.
It’s like Titanic getting all the attention and no one having heard of the Brittanic which was much more brutal and destructive. People getting chopped up in the propeller. It’s just like Herculaneum was the worse and most brutal that Pompeii.
I was in Southern Italy a few months ago, and went to Pompeii. Wish I had also had time to visit Herculaneum, but even Pompeii blew my mind seeing the statues, frescoes and structures that were there and then gazing at Mt Vesuvius off in the distance. It has really captured my imagination ever since then.
It makes me think about Mount St Helens, near where I live. It last had a major eruption in 1980 when my parents were kids, and most of the things they've since found under the ash were preserved because of the pyroclastic flow, much like Herculaneum! In particular, they found one of the bumpers of volcanologist David Johnston's camper van buried up on the ridge now called Johnston Ridge that holds the Johnston Observatory. Nobody had been sure exactly where he was except that he was only five miles away from the mountain when it exploded, and the bumper of his van confirmed he was up on the ridge and the last thing he ever saw was probably the big black eruption cloud racing down the mountain towards him. He had been one of the few volcanologists predicting that St Helens would have a lateral eruption and sort of spray its materials out the side instead of a vertical one, and he was correct. As a result of nobody else thinking that, the evacuation zone was not big enough at the time of the eruption and a lot of people who were simply hiking and camping in the area were seriously hurt or killed by the hot gases. There's also a story of a couple who put their baby in a backpack to shield her from the heat and ash while they tried to hike out, and they all survived.
I also remember when Mt. St. Helens blew. Thank you for sharing from your perspective. My husband's family lived in Vancouver at the time. Every story I hear is living history.
@@monicacollins8289 I can tell you what my parents have experienced and told me about many times!
My dad grew up in Mountlake Terrace and was facinated by the volcano's activity, we still have a scrapbook of newspaper articles and pictures he collected at the time! His family was camping somewhere in Eastern WA at the time of the eruption.
My mom was living in Astoria and she had a really good view of the mountain from her bedroom window, and the morning of the eruption she and the other girls she'd been attending a sleepover with were woken up by the entire house shaking and a loud boom! She then watched as it continued to smoke for a long time.
I live in Everett now and visited the monument when it started smoking again in the mid 2000s, but I was a little kid so I don't think I really appreciated it. My family went again in summer 2021. It was a lot of fun and I'm hoping to bring my partner out there this summer!
I live in Seattle Washington and I was 2 when mount saint Helens erupted. Imagine if Seattle was closer to mount saint Helens then the same would happen to Seattle😮
I watched countless documentaries about Mt St Helens, it's absolutely amazing and horrible, what happened. I wasn't born (funnily enough, I was born on Pompei's anniversary an aug. 24th haha, but I'll always remember that man who refused to move. In some documentaries, we can see him a few days prior, him and his cat.
I remember coming home from school and seeing it on the news. I was only in 1st grade but it's not something you can forget. Even though I'm way over in Wisconsin it was terrifying to me that such a thing could happen so suddenly.
I had the opportunity to visit both Pompeii and Herculaneum and would agree that Herculaneum is better. There are many 2 storey buildings and wooden doors panels shutters etc. The bodies in the boat sheds with burst skulls were a sobering reminder that these were real people who suffered through a horrific tragedy.
A bit of trivia for you.
Pliny the Younger in letters described this eruption. It was the first documented eye witness account of such an eruption. This type of eruption is named a Plinian Eruption.
Pliny the Elder tried to take a boat to rescue people from Pompeii and never returned.
@@lonesparrowYes he did but the wind turned the wrong way and they couldn't go back. Pliny the Elder wasn't a healthy man.
@@sirridesalot6652 The wind didn't turn the wrong way, they just couldn't get close enough to beach at Pompeii or Herculaneum because of the falling pumice hitting the boats (if they didn't shovel them clear, they would have capsized and sunk due to the weight. I doubt they had shovels on board), and the pumice pounding their sails and rigging. They had no choice but to retreat and try somewhere further away.
@@sirridesalot6652 It was a noble attempt. He died a hero IMO.
@@sirridesalot6652it wouldn't matter if you're healthy or not you can be as healthy as anybody but once you get Ash into your lungs regardless of your health it's bad the ash starts to liquefy blocking the airway suffocating you so you can be completely healthy and still die
They're saying that their deaths at Herculaneum would have been instantaneous, the people in Pompeii had a slow cloaking death, if I had a choice between the two I think I'd prefer to go quickly. Not sure how that'd be worse than Pompeii
Well, of course there were a variety of deaths in both places.,,,some probably crushed when roofs fell in due to the extra weight of the ash and pumice, some hit by large falling debris, some on the edges of town likely had initial lung damage, then died days later, some trampled in narrow lanes as collapse blocked the crowd from using other exits out of the town centers, a fire probably broke out at some point, etc.
But agree that if had to choose, a quicker death in Herculaneum would be “better.”
Most of the people in Pompeii were able to get out
I visited both Pompeii and Herculaneum in 2009. I was thoroughly impressed by the amount of restoration throughout both towns. Something I'll never forget.
What impresses me the most about sites like Herculaneum and Pompeii are their states of excellent preservation. It's actually gives a truly astonishing look into what life in Ancient Rome was like. The archaeologist who spend their time trying to preserve these sites have my utmost respect! Although I became aware of Pompeii when I was 7 years of age, it also led me on the path to discover the existence of Herculaneum about 8 years later. I became equally fascinated with both cities. If anyone wishes to learn more about the final moments of both cities, I highly recommend a reenactment/documentary called Pompeii: The Last Day.
I remember watching a reenactment documentary as a kid that sparked my interest, that might just be it !
I cant find the mentioned video...Could you give the link if still here? Thank you
@@Sanela1 I’ll do that right now. Gimme one sec and I’ll edit my comment to include the link.
@@Sanela1 I wasn’t able to get the link because I’m on an IPad. But the name of the channel it’s on is called Evei Rocks.
I first saw those haunting casts on the cover of a national geographic magazine as a very small child and it upset me greatly. For years i couldnt see those images without feeling sick to my stomach. The horror i felt has never left me. Those poor people and animals. None of them deserved that fate.
The best history education on Herculeum and Pompeii I have ever had the privilege to watch. Absolutely staggering information surrounding archaeology, statistics, culture, Mt Vesuvius, its people, their diet, livestock, architects, painters, life in general of AD79. Spectacular and enlightening, and also so tragic. I could not stop watching. Thank you. ❤❤❤
As the Iceland volcanoes in the last 3 years show, the experts can't rely on earthquakes to give warning of imminent eruptions. When the most recent Icelandic eruption was building earthquakes actually stopped shortly before it blew, which was a surprise to the volcanologists. And Vesuvius is not the only volcano in the area - there is a mega-volcano (similar to the one under Yellowstone Park) a short distance down the coast, near Naples. If that blows that would be goodbye to vast areas of the Mediterranean, with no chance of anyone evacuating far enough to survive, plus immense climate change and the world's rotation being knocked off kilter with all that that implies. The 7.9 earthquake off the coast of Japan altered the rotation by 2°, so there's no knowing how much the planet would be effected by a mega-volcano blowing.
Exactly. This will be the biggest cause of climate change. A new ice age more likely than global warming if this occurs.
Campo Flegri? It sounds potentially verydramatic to me!
what amazes about all these towns is the facade that people exposing these towns that just something of history, but i say no, they are a reminder that life on earth can change at any minute.
Years ago i read an article that claimed that most people were evacuated from Herculaneum and only a few died there. Now this video explains how that was before much more extensive evacuations have proven otherwise. Up to now, I had no idea of the tragic gruesome facts.
I visited both Pompeii and Herculaneum... I was overwhelmingly impressed with the quality and the amount of preserved sites throughout Herculaneum. Pompeii was impressive too. But in Herculaneum, I felt that it was a place that was truly frozen in time, so much so that it felt eerie.
I walked the streets of Herculaneum in the spring of 1987. Hardly anyone was there. It was amazing.
I’ve been to both Herculaneum and Pompeii (they’re on the same train line) and if you csn only go to one of the two - pick Herculaneum.
So much more to see!
Both are very cool though
What’s scary is that there are many more people living there in the neighbourhood of Vesuvius now than there was in AD 79 - What happened to those poor people in AD 79 was incredibly poignant and tragic but I’m so grateful for the fascinating lessons and warnings they’ve given us about their lives and what overtook them.
It’s fascinating that Herculaneum had tremendous social mobility for the era, even for slaves. If I remember correctly, most or a substantial minority of the wealthiest citizens of the town had once been brought there as a slave.
I read the same. Most folks there were freed slaves.
@@druidriley3163 And their local court system permitted slaves some limited rights, one of which was that they had the right to sue for their freedom if they had evidence that the conditions of them becoming freed had been met but were still not being honored by their master.
@@TheNightWatcher1385 Interesting that the Romans were starting to have slave protection laws.
I wonder where they all came from.
@@tacidian7573 There’s evidence that Herculaneum was a hub for newly freed or escaped slaves due to the town having a more fair meritocracy and having less stigma torwards slaves or freedmen.
I lived in Pisa for 3 years in the early 80s. When we went to Herculaneum they had just found the boat houses full of skeletons and we could see the excavations going on, but didn’t know what they were excavating. It’s a place I hope to one day visit again.
For something to be so old, 79 a.d.....seeing the mosaic art and paint still in tact is amazing in itself and the columns / statues that still stand made of granite/limestone just shows how advanced they were just in art and craftsmanship.
This is one of the most captivating and haunting documentaries I’ve ever seen. Very well made.
Wild to see the frescos being painted and abandoned, with the little chubby cherubs.
From that to contorted digits, boiling brains, and exploding skulls. This program is wildly thorough
It was just another day until Vesuvius blew. If it happens again, it won't be pretty.
My father who lived in St. Louis Missouri in 1930's - 1940's recalls how the outhouse toilet emptied directly into the the sewer. The sewer also collected rain water runoff and all the waste water from the household (laundry, bathing, dishes, general washing, cooking and waste food) was poured down the outhouse toilet to be carried down to the Mississippi River. No different than the sewers of Herculaneum.
It's amazing - when something works, it can be a year old or 2000 years old, as long as it does it's job !
I get so excited when any new video regarding Pompeii or Herculaneum gets uploaded! I legit can't get enough!
Same!
They couldnt outrun the fallout?.....so what do you mean some survived ? No ....there were no survivors.
How incredible. We had a "Pompeii" exhibit here in San Francisco (Legion of Honor Museum) / artifacts were very interesting to see - and grateful they brought them all the way here to the West Coast of California. My husband is Northern Italian, and I have friends who grew up in Naples. It is a beautiful area there - I hope 2 visit someday. Thank you for posting this🕶♥️
As for evacuation plans, ask the residents of Maui (August 8, 2023) how that works. Roads were choked with cars and people jumped into the ocean to escape the fire; some died in their cars.
....yeah, but in Lahaina the police purposely blocked people in to die, and the globalists used DEW to incinerate the town and it's people. Warfare.
honestly pompeii always fascinated me, I didnt even know this existed, i think it may have me more excited than Pompeii
Pompeii wasn't the only town/village around Vesuvius. Herculaneum, Oplontis and I think Nola and Stabiae also got hit.
@@druidriley3163 honestly I hadn't heard of any of the others until this
So sad, yet so beautiful. Thank you for this wonderful Documentary.
The day Herculaneum and Pompeii were destroyed is the day that Vespasian (the Roman general along with son Titus conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD) the Emperor of Rome dedicated the finishing of the Colosseum from gold from the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. It is interesting that efforts were made to cover this up and new dates were put over the original dates, but the original dedication dates can still be read.
So it was not 79 AD?
@@darylhoskins5696 It was originally dedicated on the same day that Pompeii was destroyed in 79 AD. The date was changed to 80 AD.
@@mdb1239 gotcha Thanx!
@@mdb1239 Evidence: Trust me bro 🤡
@@corporateturtle6005 What i remember is that it was in a Biblical Archeology Review magazine from about 15 years ago. They had images showing the faint writing on the dedication plaque underneath the redone writing. Someone decided it was wise to change the date to 80 AD instead of 79 AD.
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I don't have the energy to try to find it. So take it for what's it's worth.
There is an excellent book written for school aged children about Herculaneum, The Secrets of Vesuvius, by Sara Bisel. It is a great starting point with plenty of photographs and illustrations.
No thanks, I’m not going to teach these lies and nonsense pseudo-history to my children. None of this “volcano eruption” bogus has ever been proven.
@@macysondheim Volcanic eruptions have never been proven ?
Oh dear, you're both rude and dumb.
What an absolute tragic combination.
We’ll be there in October. I have no doubt the visit will remain in my memory forever.
Enjoy. Watch the weather. Wear good shoes. The paving is uneven. I was there in early April a few years back. POURING rain. I remember huddling under the Porta Marina gate, with cold rain water sluicing over the tops of my feet.
I was there in 2018 we went to Pompeii and took a bus to Vesuvius. You can climb up the mountain on a trail and look inside the volcano.
@@craigthescott5074 SO wanted to do that, but again it was very cloudy and rainy. They closed the trail.
how was it
I heard that the volcano under Mt. Ranier in Washington has the same characteristics as this one. In fact the city of Tacoma is built right on top of a giant lahar from a pyro plastic flow the last time it erupted. 💀
Could you imagine these ancient Civilizations in there glory days i bet that would be a sight to behold absolutely amazing stunning and beautiful but very rough life aswell
I remember learning about Herculaneum a long time ago and then I forgot about it, but right near the end where they mentioned the arches I felt like I just got historical whiplash because I was like "oh shit I forgot about this this is how they all died"
Thank you for this wonderfully informative video ! I had never heard of Herculaneum and it's tragic fate, much less the amazing work involved in the recovery and preservation of this marvelous town. Now I do know, thanks to this video and channel .
😢😢😢😢😅😊😢
😢😅😊😢😢
What you don't know could fill a warehouse
This is an amazing story. In fact it's one of the most famous volcanic events in history. Sadly so can happen again. God bless the people that live there. ❤
12:12 - The point where the painter said, "I quit!" and ran for the door.
I can’t believe how close people live to that volcano? Look at Mt Saint Helen’s, yes they knew it was going to erupt but they were taken by surprised on how big it did blow. We heard the explosion in Vancouver BC. I want to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum but with my luck the mountain will erupt when I’m there.
I think about it too, what if it decides to go off when I'm actually there? 😅
Truly one of the most spectacular episodes of Herculaneum I have ever viewed. Informative. Compelling. Terrifying. This is a major and serious film venture. Wildly successful and unforgettable. Thank you gentlemen
It's amazing that after 3 days of raining "fire and brimstone" there were still so many people still in the city. They didn't get the hell out of there before the volcano erupted! Instead, I guess they stayed and prayed, and probably sacrificed a bunch of animals.
The sheer enthusiasm in this man’s voice and motions.
Been here many times, it's absolutely mind blowing in the boat houses, those skeletons of those people haunts me every time I walk past them. I love the place and Pompeii, but I don't know how I feel about those bodies being left out like that....
Way back in the early 90's i was in the navy and my unit pulled into Naples, we explored Naples quite a bit and went to Rome, wish i would have had time to see some of this too. We could see Vesuvius from where we were moored though.
Aw man, those poor animals that were trapped. 😢
It would have been better to release them and let them take their chances but maybe the owners thought they’d be safer inside. 😢
Aw man, those poor humans that were trapped.
@@Emsev100Aw man, they all were trapped 😢
The more people there are, the more catastrophic any event will be.
As the reason why there are no film movies about Herculaneum. Because there was no one left to tell the story.
Wonderful documentary! Imagine that 17 years before Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, there was a huge earthquake. Afterwards nothing, until the destruction of these two beautiful cities. I think the 6M Italians who live in this region believe in living life, that death is inevitable, so enjoy the fabulous food and culture that took thousands of years to create. What a way to live!
Basically, yes.
makes me wonder if there's a boat or boats under the water. if they were being evacuated, surely the pyroclastic cloud could have caught up with the ships.
They were hoping for evacuation. It didn't happen. Some boats are probably buried somewhere. Depends on how far people were able to row or sail to get away. Pliny made it to Stabiae and even that was buried.
Some boats made it, but there was also rough waves and stuff falling from above, so some wouldn't come back.
400 to 500 degree gases would not have killed them instantly, it would have been fast true but not instant, more like 1 to 2 minutes of horrible agony prior to death, the feeling of their lungs burning and nasal passages burning would have been what they endured prior to passing out from lack of O2.
Hopefully the thermal shock knocked them out and they were unaware as they asphyxiated.
How do u know?
I'm certain 1000's of people from Herculaneum and Pompeii made it to safety. I want to hear their stories too.
Typed my comment before I read any, mine after yours.
If only. I wonder if anyone recorded their story aside from Pliney the Younger? Not that I've seen
@@ljb8157 me either, but I've never looked very hard.
The penises on statues were always short so the men could say, mine is bigger than that.
Perhaps many left in boats. The others were waiting for the boats return? Sad and terrifying. Still we live by volcanoes.
I hiked up Mount Vesuvius in 2022 and visited Pompeii. I was on a trip with my Boyfriends family and it was all planned by his Aunt, which I appreciate, but I'd love to go back and visit Herculaneum. The food there was like no other. So rich and full of flavor.
Even if the inhabitants DID notice warming signs of eruption, they had no form evacuation that could have gotten them away from the danger zone. They were doomed.
Those murals in that room where the painters were working are absolute beautiful
And imagine being in the midst f WWII and then a damn volcano erupts and destroys your home🤦
The Roman god Vulcan was a fire god of molten metal and metallurgy. A violent god. The Romans knew what Volcanoes were and what they were capable of.
Ships?
@@qwave1322 The Romans were also travellers and were surrounded by many vocanoes in the Mediterranean. Quite possibly they tried to puzzle out the gods message when he became active!
@@qwave1322they did, but they didn't know THAT was a volcano.
It didn't even look like that, it became like we know it today after this eruption.
30 seconds in STOP. The day Vesuvius blew was not like any other day. The earthquakes had been going on for weeks. Vesuvius had puffs of ash several times before the big explosion. It was not a normal sunny lovely summer day. AUGH.
Supposedly both Herculaneum and Pompeii were not as populated as the normally would have been for the reason
Where did you find out about the puffs several times before the explosion?
@@wakeupamerica2824 normal volcano behavior
@@kjpcgaming9296 and you know for sure they saw it that way back then?
You are so right.
I’m always amazed at the things they uncover - each item with a story that is so fascinating, preserved rather well given how much time has passed.
Archaeology is one of those dream jobs I wish I could magically have lol, but alas that ship has long sailed for me with careers, but I admire anyone that dedicates their time to such.
I went to both Pompeii and Herculaneum when i stayed in Naples. Its worth seeing both.
Very different experiences but both very interesting.
Superb👌 Thanks for sharing 👍
Growing up all i ever wanted to be was an archeologist but i had my son at 21 and life just went on. I would have loved to have worked at Pompeii or in egypt. Or Herculaneum. In the early 90s i used to go around to different abandoned places and see what i could find and id always say i wish there was a title for what i was doing along with a job to go with it. 20 years later its called being an urban explorer and ppl make goid money at it making TH-cam videos! How my 20 year old heart now at 42 sang with happiness.
Building a city close to a active volcano is ludicrous.if you can’t learn from past mistakes then history will repeat itself.
What's ludicrous is to be in fear of something that 99% of time its Dormant
The soil and food that sprouts from it make it worth the risk.
Wow 🤩. Great presentation 🙌🏼
People aren't ignoring the risk, they just learn to live with it, and they know they risk losing it all if it erupts.
Love how the narrator says that, "...all of this (referring to Naples) could be buried by Vesuvius." The scriptwriter needed to substitute "could" with "will;" it's inevitable that, sometime in the future, the area around Naples will be wiped out by Vesuvius or the Campi Flegrei. Such is the cycle of the Earth.
Is there really no other way to prevent this from happenning? I mean, they can try drilling at the side of volcano and draw out the magma inside before it erupts. Can something like that be done?
@@subliminalfalllenangel2108 That’s a good question. I, honestly, seriously doubt it. We're talking about colossal forces at work, here, with infinite little factors which could stymie our tiny efforts, efforts which could, quite frankly, make the situation worse. Think about it; we're talking about finding a way to drain a kilometers-wide and kilometers-deep magma chamber, which is under incredible pressure, like a human doctor drains a cyst. Cysts, much like that magma chamber, are also under incredible pressure; once a small relief or weak point is made in the skin with a needle or scalpel, the cyst erupts. I think the same thing would happen here. Couple that with the addition of massive amounts of seawater (in the case of the Campi Flegrei), and you've got a massive steam explosion on TOP of the eruption.
If you have a God or Gods to whom you pray, that's about the only thing which might stop it, but I don't think it would do much good; the Universe in general, and the Earth in particular, don't really care about our pleas for mercy when they have to clear their throats.
@@subliminalfalllenangel2108 lol definitely not. what you are talking about is trying to control a force greater that multiple nukes. when it evenutally erupts again it will take anything remotely close with it.
Great production all around. Thoroughly enjoyed and shared with friends. Thanks. 👍🏼
Imagine digging under Herculaneum and finding an even older civilization.
I was taught about Pompeii fairly young but never heard about Herculaneum. For any ancient civilization i learned about as a kid it was kind of weird because the teachers would go from “oh look how smart they were” to “ oh but they were still stupid and savage”… the education system in the states needs to be revamped.
Speak for yourself. I never had a teacher say they were "stupid and savage", only that they didn't have the technology to know what the magnitude of the disaster would be, which is true. Sorry your crappy school made you dumb and bitter.
Thanks again for your attention to detail.
Real history is simply never too much! I love this channel, big cheers for the lads maintaining it!
Thanks for the fantastic video
I hope those poor people didn't suffer. It's horrifying what happened to them.
Linda they suffered horribly
@@davidmoser3535 did you not listen to this? they died instantly.
It’s horrifying how many people even today would think the boat huts were the best place to hide. 😢
@@davidmoser3535not everyone died instantly volcanoes have more than just one deadly weapon at their disposal besides lava they have poisonous gases Ash which is little pieces of rock literally Sharp and yes the most deadly besides the lava pyroclastic flows the poisonous gases would have started choking the residents and animals at first along with the ash getting into their lungs and liquefying finally followed by the pyroclastic flows which would have ended it for them so yes they would have suffered at the beginning of the eruption
Man, some people are too scared to offend nowadays. "The people who first explored Pompeii and Herculaneum didn't obviouslu have the same morals that we do if we were exploring the city today, but for their time they were interested in the art."
Grave robbers. We call them grave robbers. They stole the art from graves to decorate their palaces.
Yes, they were robbers, but also they didn't have the culture we have today.
It's not trying to not offend, it's putting them in the context they were living in.
36:03 Whoa, that’s cool!!! Loving this video. Educational, and fun. Thank you.
Great video. Thank you.
I've never heard of Herculaneum glad I found this documentary
Haha Google the Brittanic. It’s forgotten in history because of the Titanic. It’s fate was far worse that the Titanic and it’s as forgotten as Herculaneum.