1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,960 Speaker 1: It's interesting Pompeii was nothing but ruins after the eruption 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: of Mount Vesuvius almost two thousand years ago. But there's 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,320 Speaker 1: a lot more to the story. How did these people 4 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: living everyday lives wind up almost instantly locked in stone 5 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: when the volcano hit? What were their pre volcano lives 6 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: like and how did they use social media to leave 7 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 1: us their memoirs. I'm Patty Steele, gone in just a 8 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: few hours, but some of their stories survive, proving they 9 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: were just like us. That's next on the backstory. We're 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: back with the backstory. Imagine your life in sunny Italy 11 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: two thousand years ago. Maybe it's a life of luxury 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: or perhaps slavery. In seventy nine a d. Pompeii was 13 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: a rich and beautiful city of around twenty to thirty 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: thousand people. They all wanted the same things we do. 15 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: They wanted to be successful, They loved great food, art, leisure, 16 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: time and entertainment, and they loved one another. We know 17 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: all this because they left behind a rich recorded history. 18 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: Their Instagram, snapchats and posts were graffiti. A lot of 19 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: it survived the destruction of the city in the volcanic 20 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Ancient graffiti was all over the 21 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: place in Pompeii, on the walls of temples, tombs, bars, 22 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: public spaces, even inside homes. Pretty much nothing was off 23 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 1: limits when it came to posting their thoughts. It's how 24 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 1: people communicated. We see graffiti that celebrates the birth of 25 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: a new baby or wishes a happy birthday to someone. 26 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: There's graffiti offering services and making political statements. There's an 27 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: elaborate description of a party throne for a very wealthy 28 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: young guy coming of age. It was a week long 29 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: party with a dinner for almost seven thousand of his 30 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: closest friends, a week filled with feasting, drinking, and gladiator battles. 31 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: That's a lot to describe in a bunch of graffiti, right, 32 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: But again, it was their social media. They were just 33 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: like Gus course, minus the gladiator petals. To spread their messages, 34 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: they used a piece of charcoal or more often a 35 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: stylus or nail, which was used to scratch the graffiti 36 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: into walls. People would leave messages inside someone's home when 37 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: they came to visit. Imagine that, and even messages of 38 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: love were left and answered on public walls, so that 39 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: everybody could see them. One of the message threads found 40 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: started with Prima sends many greetings to Secundas. Secundas was delighted. 41 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: He answers back. Secundas too, greets his Prima everywhere. I 42 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: ask Mistress that you love me. And then he writes 43 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: again twice, saying both times Secundis greets his Prima. Secundas 44 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: Secundis greets his Prima. He definitely had the hats for Prima. 45 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: But all of this and so much more was buried 46 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: by Vesuvius. So it's August twenty fourth, seventy nine AD. 47 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: You hear a rumbling in the distance, and you feel 48 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: the earth tremble, just little bit at first, but you 49 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: don't panic. You live just about thirteen miles from Mount Vesuvius, 50 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: the massive volcano south of Naples, Italy. You've seen the 51 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: smoke and felt the rumbles before, and all the teachers 52 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: and other big shots tell everybody there's nothing to worry about. 53 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 1: Maybe you're working in the marketplace, maybe you're a slave 54 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: in a rich person's house, or you're a sex worker 55 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: in one of the many brothels in town. Maybe you're 56 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: done with work and relaxing at a local tavern, or 57 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: in the public baths, or if you were rich, you 58 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: could be enjoying your garden or gossiping in the spectacular 59 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: private thermal baths built for the upper class. But pretty 60 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: soon the sky darkens even more. You look up you 61 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: see flocks of birds headed away from the mountain. Soon 62 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: a light coating of ash begins to fall. Now the 63 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: hot ash and small amounts of heated pumice start pouring 64 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: out of Vesuvius, and you realize this isn't going to 65 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: be good. It becomes incredibly dark. You can barely see 66 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: where you're going. People around you panic and begin to run. 67 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: Some head south, a deadly choice. Others head for the sea, 68 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: hoping to get picked up by a boat, and some 69 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: head north toward Naples, which turns out to be a 70 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: good decision, or simply luck at the draw, since the 71 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: path of destruction happened to head south. For some, whether 72 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: you're a slave or disabled, or just don't have the 73 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: wherewithal to run, you try to hide from the onslaught. 74 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: Within just a few hours, the falling ash has turned 75 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: into red hot falling rocks. Then there are the pyroclastic clouds, 76 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: kind of an avalanche of super hot, toxic gas and 77 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: debris that blows through on a cushion of air at 78 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: speeds of almost five hundred miles an hour with temperatures 79 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: as high as eighteen hundred degrees. It's hell on earth. 80 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,159 Speaker 1: The city is completely buried in ash and rock within hours. 81 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 1: People that try to hide in their houses are buried 82 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: in the hot ash, many of them sitting with family 83 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,919 Speaker 1: or coworkers, some lying down, some running Because of the 84 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: heat and the ash. Their bodies become frozen in their 85 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 1: death pose, only to be found thousands of years later 86 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 1: in the same pose. They're completely buried, their actual bodies 87 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 1: eventually disintegrate. They leave behind though, a kind of full 88 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,279 Speaker 1: bodied death mask, which later on was filled with plaster 89 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: by those that dug through the rubble, recreating the moment 90 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: of death for the victims. What's amazing is of the 91 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: twenty to thirty thousand people living in Pompeii, only about 92 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: two thousand died, but the city was locked in time 93 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: because of how it was buried, and the survivors didn't 94 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 1: come back. Pompey offered a life of luxury for some 95 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: and poverty and hard work for others, not so very 96 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: different from our world right. The messages they left behind 97 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: give us tremendous insight into their lives and what made 98 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: them human, and into what we have in common with them. 99 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: Hope you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele. Follow or 100 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,159 Speaker 1: subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and 101 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: also feel free to dm me if you have a 102 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty 103 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. 104 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis 105 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. 106 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday 107 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with 108 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:43,840 Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty 109 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening 110 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history 111 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:52,480 Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.