How do you piece together what life was like in Pompeii?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, I'm Flora Lichtman and you are listening to Science Friday. Okay, pack your bags because we are headed to Pompeii, the ancient Roman city that was frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
How does Pompeii’s preservation let archaeologists reconstruct everyday Roman life?
While Pompeii is known for its disastrous ending, for archaeologists, what came before that is maybe even more interesting. Because before Pompeii was covered in ash, it was a city where people lived, worked, and made a life. My next guest has spent a lot of time trying to get to know the ordinary people who faced this extraordinary disaster, using artifacts to piece together what life in this Roman city was like 2,000 years ago. Dr. Jess Venner is an archaeobotanist and author of the book, The Lost Voices of Pompeii. Hey, Jess, welcome to Science Friday and thanks for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Can't wait to talk about Pompeii. Me too. And I think our listeners will feel the same way, which gets to my first question, which is why do you think we have this endless fascination with Pompeii?
Yeah, Pompeii has a way of helping us to connect with people 2000 years ago. It is altogether ordinary. It was a very ordinary town made extraordinary by its preservation. And what it gives us is a very unique insight into how specific people lived. And we can know their names, where they lived, what they used to do as a job, even about their family and friends. And so we're able to connect on a different level with people in the Roman Empire. Is that different from other Roman cities? It is to an extent because of the level of preservation of Pompeii. It was destroyed in AD 79, potentially the autumn we think now. I want to get back to that, by the way. Yes, we do need to talk about that. Ongoing debate.
But a lot of the material there was preserved perfectly. And so we have whole villas. With frescoes, we've got mosaics, we've got items coming out that are belonging to ordinary people also. Bakeries, shops, everything you can imagine that would be in a Roman town, it's there.
And you can walk through it, I guess, in a way that you can't, you know, in Rome, where you also have like a pizza hut. Not pizza hut, because it's Rome.
Yeah.
Which ordinary Pompeii residents did Jess Venner choose to profile and why?
Yes, the local equivalent. Exactly. Exactly that. You can walk through it today and it is absolutely massive. I mean, anyone preparing to go that hasn't gone, be prepared because this is exhausting and it is large. But yes, you can walk through the streets. You can go into the houses and the shops and the baths and everything. even the brothel. And you can really experience these places. And some of them are easier to imagine than others. Some are just ruins. Some of the ones I recreate in my books, but other ones are really vividly beautiful, just as they were when they were buried in AD 79.
Who were you interested in profiling in your book? And why did you choose them?
Yeah, so my research extends back about 12 years now professionally into Pompeii. And so I've come to know a certain amount of people very, very well. While I was doing my PhD, I studied urban agriculture, but also domestic architecture. And so there were certain people that I kept picking out where I kept thinking, do you know what? They've got some really good stories and they're really normal people. I could see myself in them. And so every time I'd go to Pompeii, I think last year I went about nine times, I would look in their houses or their places of work and think, I can almost see them walking around and they need to tell their stories. And that's why I wrote Lost Voices of Pompeii. Tell us about one of your favorites.
I'm sure it's hard to choose.
They're like your children at this point.
They are.
What was garum and why was Aulus Umbricius Gaurus important to Pompeii’s economy?
And it changes every time someone asks me. Today, it is probably Aulus Umbrichius Gaurus, who was essentially the Heinz Ketchup CEO of Pompeii. He was very famous for his fish sauce, or garum. And he sent his garum across the empire. We actually found bottles even in Britain. So he is very important. Pliny the Elder, who was a writer at the time, talks about how famous Pompeii is for its fish sauce.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:04–0:19
2
How does Pompeii’s preservation let archaeologists reconstruct everyday Roman life?
0:19–2:17
3
Which ordinary Pompeii residents did Jess Venner choose to profile and why?
2:17–3:41
4
What was garum and why was Aulus Umbricius Gaurus important to Pompeii’s economy?
3:41–4:48
5
How do artifacts like fish scales and perfume bottles help recreate Pompeian routines?
4:48–8:02
6
Why is there debate about the exact date of Vesuvius’s eruption (August vs. October)?
8:02–12:48
7
What botanical evidence (the “pomegranate problem”) suggests a different eruption season?
12:48–21:05
8
How many people survived the eruption and what do we know about Pompeii’s aftermath?
21:05–22:00
Speakers
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