[Music]
[Leonard Nimoy] For an eternity, the volcanic cone of Mount Vesuvius
has dominated the landscape of Southern Italy.
Two thousand years ago, it would shape history.
At that time, Rome was an old-powerful empire.
Pompeii was one of its most prosperous provincial towns, thriving at the foot of Vesuvius.
(Explosion noise)
Suddenly, a terrible explosion shook the earth and Vesuvius entered the annals of history
as one of the most devastating volcanic disasters ever recorded.
The people ran for their lives. Some took cover in their homes. Others tried fleeing to the nearby sea.
But thousands would not escape.
In a matter of hours, homes, buildings and the people themselves were covered
by a thick layer of volcanic ash and débris.
Everything was entombed and forgotten, to lie in undiscovered silence for centuries.
Archeologists discovered the hollow cavities which the decayed bodies left behind.
These were used as molds to produce eerie plaster casts of the victims.
And the once vital inhabitants of ancient Pompeii now lie here, distorted in agony, exactly where they fell.
What secrets did the people leave behind?
What misteries are entombed with them?
A journey into the ancient past to a city frozen in time.
(Pompeii: Buried Alive)
(Act I)
(The Mountain Speaks)
[Music]
[Nimoy] Today, two million people live around the foot of Mount Vesuvius near Naples, in Southern Italy.
The inhabitants of modern-day Pompeii are very much aware of the constant threat
posed by this still active volcano.
Farmers tend fruitful fields where, just a few feet below, lie the remains of an ancient civilization.
Sprawling over 160 acres, the layout of ancient Pompeii is much like that of any modern city.
Unequal among historical sites for its remarkable state of preservation,
Pompeii is a unique showcase of ancient art and architecture.
There is an abundance of original mosaics and frescoes,
some as vivid as though they were created yesterday.
The city offers archaeologists a once in an lifetime opportunity to explore the mysteries
of those who once inhabited the Roman World.
(The Roman Empire 79 C.E.)
[Nimoy] During the 1st century of the Common Era, Rome was a powerful empire,
straddling Europe and the Near East, from Britain to Egypt.
(Map of Italy, with Rome and Pompeii marked)
[Nimoy] Pompeii was a thriving commercial center with a population of 20,000.
Then, these streets leading to the city's forum were bustling with farmers and merchants from afar,
trading produce and merchandise.
Many of the local citizens were wealthy, enjoying a relatively affluent and placid way of life.
Mount Vesuvius always loomed in the background.
But as far as the people were concerned, it was just another mountain, a good place to cultivate vines.
[Haraldur Sigurdsson - Professor of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island] The Romans living in the area were not aware of the fact that the mountain was a volcano.
For example, the most famous of these Romans was Pliny the Elder, who was a great historian and a writer.
And he described many volcanoes in Italy, but he never mentioned Vesuvius as a volcano.
[Nimoy] The 24th of August, in the year 79, was an ordinary Summer's day,
with the people of Pompeii uneventfully going about their daily business.
The slight rumbling sounds coming from Vesuvius in the early morning were largely ignored.
[Ann Koloski-Ostrow - Assistant Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis University] People proceeded as if everything was normal.
Women at home were probably getting their children ready for short siestas,
slaves were bustling about the kitchen, getting everything ready for what would be
the evening hours at home.
Men were thinking about spending an afternoon at the public baths, but the rumbling didn't stop.
[Music]
[Nimoy] Suddenly, around 12 noon, a deafening explosion shook the entire city.
The people watched, horrified, as Vesuvius erupted.
Pillars of black volcanic ash
and of red-hot magma spewed miles high into the sky.
Then, a torrent of suffocating ash fell upon the city, followed by complete darkness.
[Music]
At the same time, stones hailed down from heaven.
Gradually, Pompeii became buried in white pellets of solidified ash.
[James L. Franklin, Jr. - Professor of Classical Studies, Stanford University] They hadn't seen an eruption before,
so I don't think that they had any idea - true idea - of what they were encountering.
They must have been really terrified, however, with the addition of the eruption to the earthquake.
And I suspect it took a lot of them an awfully long time to figure out
that they were actually going to be buried by these pellets.
[Nimoy] Two men whose names have come down to us from their time were witness to the inferno:
Pliny the Elder, an admiral in the Roman Navy, died, attempting to rescue victims.
His nephew, Pliny the Younger, wrote the only eye-witness report to have survived the disaster.
*"On Mount Vesuvius, broad sheets of fire and leaping flames' blazed at several points,*
*their bright glare, emphasized by the darkness of the night.*
*The buildings were now shaking with violent shocks and seemed to be swaying to and fro,*
*as if they were torn from their foundations.*
*Outside, on the other hand, there was the danger of falling pumice stones. It was a choice of fears."*
[Koloski-Ostrow] Some huddled in corners, collecting their belongings with them there,
and thought: "We'll wait it out, it will stop." But it didn't stop.
And 17 hours later, it was still raining ashes, and many of the roofs of the town had collapsed
from the weight of these ashes, some people then were trapped in their cellars,
others were trapped in their homes, and many others still were trapped as they tried to flee the city.
[Nimoy] Pliny the Elder did not grasp the severity of the situation until it was already too late:
*"My uncle decided to go down to the shore and investigate the possibility of an escape by the sea.*
*The flames and smell of sulfur drove the others to take flight.*
*And he stood, leaning on two slaves, and then, suddenly collapsed,*
*I imagine because of the dense fumes stifled his breathing and choked him."*
[Nimoy] Pliny the Younger also describes his own death-defying escape:
*"You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, the shouting of men.*
*Then ashes began to fall again, this time in heavy showers.*
*We rose from time to time and shook them off.*
*Otherwise, we would have been buried and crushed beneath.*
*I derived some poor consolation in my belief that the whole world was dying with me, and I with it."*
[Nimoy] As the night wore on, thousands would perish.
(Act II)
(The Death Of Herculaneum)
[Nimoy] Death and destruction rained down from the sky for an entire day and night.
As Pompeii riled in agony, (Map of Italy with Rome, Vesuvius and Pompeii)
another town, lay in the direct path of the volcano's fury, nine miles away,
neighboring Herculaneum was a seaside resort for the Roman rich and famous.
But even fame and wealth would not save the inhabitants, that terrible night.
As Vesuvius erupted, Herculaneum was entombed in a layer of ash 40-feet thick.
Today, beneath the rubble and debris, pieces of carbonized wood can still be seen.
Such evidence enables volcanologists to reconstruct the city's final moments.
Even complete window shutters and doors are preserved.
Artifacts like these reveal that Herculaneum's destruction was very different from that of Pompeii.
[Sigurdsson] We know that around midnight, the style of the eruption changed dramatically.
Instead of a very high eruption column, all of a sudden, the ash and pumice comes out of the crater
as a flow, a glowing avalanche, a dust cloud that is moving like a nuclear blast
in all directions from the crater at a velocity of 100 to 200 miles per hour.
And within minutes, this cloud would have reached Herculaneum.
And this cloud is hot enough to carbonize wood and to melt glass.
Obviously, it is lethal.
[Nimoy] At Herculaneum's public baths, this marble washing bowl now stands below the window,
where it once stood in ancient times.
But when the bath was excavated, the bowl was found hurled across the room.
Its impression can still be seen imprinted on the solidified volcanic magma.
[Sigurdsson] The Vesuvius' eruption in 79 A.D. was one of the largest volcanic explosions in history.
In terms of the energy, the amount of energy involved, it is much larger than any nuclear explosion
that has been set off on the earth.
[Nimoy] One of the great mysteries of Herculaneum is the absence of human skeletal remains in the town.
The houses and streets seemed to be deserted.
What happened to the people?
Did they know something that their neighbors in Pompeii did not?
Were they forewarned of the disaster, and had time to escape?
Archaeologists always thought so, until a grisly discovery was made.
[Koloski-Ostrow] More recent excavations, right at the sea shore of Herculaneum,
have brought a much grimmer and sadder result to our understanding of this mystery.
Upwards of a hundred victims have been found, and some of them are so well-preserved
and give us such poignant details of those tragic final moments,
that we can say quite a bit about their stories and what happened to them at the end of the city.
[Nimoy] This was the first time we ever come face to face
with human remains from the ancient Roman world.
As it was a Roman custom to always cremate their dead,
the other thing of the skeletons at Herculaneum and Pompeii was a rare discovery.
This was once a soldier, found face down, watching the sand, his sword still with him.
[Joseph J. Deiss - Professor of Classics, University of Florida] It's an extraordinary find, because no other Roman soldier has ever been discovered anywhere.
And he was wearing, he had his sword belt, he had his money belt, he had three gold coins,
and he was all prepared to be rescued. And it never happened.
[Nimoy] Physical anthropologists examined the skeletons in detail.
Through their work, we've gained a new insight into the lives of these long-lost people.
[Koloski-Ostrow] In one of the chambers, I met a family of twelve victims.
We find a young woman, probably about 14, clutching very closely a baby of 7 months in her arms
trying to protect this child from the inevitable death that is soon to come.
[Nimoy] At first, it seemed that this was the baby's older sister.
Then, investigations pointed to a more poignant and tragic story.
[Koloski-Ostrow] The baby is very likely an aristocratic baby,
it had in its ear a gold earring with a small pearl on it,
whereas the bones of the 14-year old girl are bones that show
she has done far heavier labor than a girl of her age do.
She's not well-nourished, her teeth are in poor condition, she very likely had a difficult,
not to say, a terrible life.
[Nimoy] The conclusion was that this is the skeleton of an overworked slave girl.
One of her duties may have been to protect and tend the baby.
Her life style stood in stark contrast to that of the more affluent citizens of the town.
The gleaming white teeth of some remains indicate healthy nutrition, at least for most of the population.
[Deiss] This is the only find of Roman bodies, the only important find ever made.
So, for the first time, we can find what Romans were really like,
not just the way they look from statues and frescoes.
[Nimoy] Perhaps the most moving example to survive Pompeii's fearful night of destruction
are these silent forms.
After what must have been a terrible death, bodies decomposed, leaving eerie cavities
within the hardened volcanic ash.
These are casts made by archaeologists after filling the hollow spaces with plaster of Paris,
forever preserving the forms of the victims, exactly as they were caught at the moment of death.
This man was wearing a wide belt identifying his status as a slave.
All slaves had to wear a heavy belt inscribed with the name and title of their owner.
Two thousand years after death, the people of Pompeii still tell a haunting, yet silent tale.
Can we ever understand the destruction of an entire community, on such an unprecedented scale?
(Act III)
(In the Shadow of Vesuvius)
[Nimoy] The eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 is comparable to the drama of Mount St Helen's
in the State of Washington in 1980.
In both cases, volcanic ash was hurled high into the air, followed by a devastating explosion.
But the eruption of Vesuvius was 3 times more powerful than that of Mount St Helen's.
In just a few hours, two prosperous cities disappeared from the face of the earth,
taking with them the great works and accomplishments of their inhabitants.
Where ash and lava once covered the cities, grass and vines slowly took possession of the land.
Gradually, the place faded from memory.
More than 1,500 years would pass before Herculaneum would be rediscovered.
It was totally by accident.
In 1709, two monks were sinking a well, when they inadvertently struck the marble floor
of an ancient theater.
[John J. Dobbins - Associate Professor of Archaeology, University of Virgina] Pompei was also discovered by accident.
The digging of a canal actually produced part of the city, and it became clear that there was something there,
and during the early days, excavation was not an archaeological enterprise,
but was really a treasure-hunting activity, in order to provide objects for the royal collection.
[Nimoy] During the 17th and 18th centuries, kings from Vienna and Spain ruled Naples.
To provide their courts with classical statues, Roman gold and silver, they ordered excavations of the ruins.
Plundering the area in search of ancient bounty, treasure-hunters secretly sank
numerous shafts and tunnels, many of them still visible today.
It was only in 1861 that orderly scientific excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum began,
and have continued unabated ever since.
(Man chattering while typing on keyboard)
[Nimoy] Today, cutting-edge computer technology is used by John Dobbins at the University of Virginia
to rebuild ancient Pompeii.
In binary building blocks, he's reconstructing, a 3-dimensional computer images,
a series of public buildings from the city's forum.
[Dobbins] There is not evidence of a colony, in front of the sanctuary of the end of Augustus
So this seems to have been just an open area at the...
[Nimoy] Modern technology provides unique new tools in the search to unravel
the ancient mysteries of Pompeii and of its inhabitants.
[Dobbins] In many ways, Pompeii, more than any other city in the classical world, demystifies ancient life.
because it puts the modern viewer in close proximity with all of those aspects.
There is an immediacy, it's possible to connect with Pompeii, because it is preserved well,
the buildings are tri-dimensional, they are taller than we are.
You can go into those houses and have a feeling that the people have just gone away.
and that you're stumbling into someone's house.
[Nimoy] Once inside their homes, a search for their belongings brings us closer to the people who once lived here.
Walking these silent passages, we brush with phantoms from a long gone civilization.
Complete dwellings can be explored, allowing the visitor to vividly travel backwards in time.
Even the frescoes and the mosaics seem to harbor a life of their own.
Ancient technology and plumbing laid bare, revealing a remarkably advanced piping system
for distributing water.
In the panic and confusion of the devastating volcanic eruption, everything was left exactly as it was,
including this complete wine shop.
Intact objects of daily life were to be found everywhere.
Even a loaf of ordinary bread, carbonized by the hot gas of the explosion.
[Koloski-Ostrow] Pompeii and Herculaneum become opportunities for us to time-travel
to the ancient world: not just time-travel to a century, or to a period or to a decade,
but in fact, time-travel to one day in the ancient world, to 24 August 79 C.E.
and see the moment in which these people met their deaths.
[Nimoy] Obvious everywhere is the enormous wealth and extravagance of the villas of the well-to-do:
wall paintings and mosaics of exquisite artistry,
decorative cosmetic boxes, complete with delicate instruments, fashioned from wood and ivory,
solid gold jewelry, embellished with expensive gem stones.
All of these objects conjure the ghosts of their owners, recalling a once living, breathing society.
[Dobbins] We actually have some sense of life breathed into those ruins by the writings of Pliny the Younger,
once again, who describes in tremendous detail the pleasures of living in these villas.
They enjoyed their meals, and they enjoyed that in the proximity of their garden,
with fountains playing and the light coming in, the breeze, dining, water
music and all that.
[Nimoy] The extent of the wealth enjoyed by society is not known.
But clearly, only a small fraction of the people lived in plush opulence.
[Franklin] There is an incredible difference
between the wealthy and everybody else, you know, in the Roman world.
There is essentially no middle class. There are only very wealthy people and very poor people.
[Nimoy] The privileged few often spent their time in ornate atriums, lavishly decorated with art works,
but mysteriously, much of the decor is essentially Greek in origin.
Alexander the Great, the Greek warrior emperor, in battle.
This mosaic was found in Pompeii, yet it is an exact copy of a similar work of art made in Greece.
Why? Why does so much of Pompeii and Herculaneum speak so strongly of Greek influence?
[Franklin] The Romans were absolutely overwhelmed, I think, by the Greek World, and then,
the world that follows Alexander the Great,
the Hellenistic world of great sophistication and culture that came to Italy.
The Romans didn't fight it at all, they gave in and said:
"Wow, if it's that good, let's make ten copies."
[Nimoy] Another mosaic reveals a lively scene of street musicians.
A delicate work of extraordinary craftsmanship, it bears the signature of the artist who made it:
"Dioscurides of Samos", in Greece.
[Koloski-Ostrow] The themes of the paintings were frequently adapted from Greek literature.
And we can understand that it's very likely many of the painters were Greek slaves,
were actual Greeks who were brought to Pompeii to do the decoration of these houses.
[Nimoy] Perhaps the most famous of all art works discovered here are these bronze sculptures,
depicting two young wrestlers.
Still in mint condition, the were found in the garden of the Villa dei Papiri, near Herculaneum.
[Dobbins] These are wonderful pieces of art and they will have been done in Greece and shipped over.
There was a major trade in shipping all sorts of statuary over from Greece.
So, that surely, would be Greek.
[Franklin] The Romans never were into statuary and painting.
This came to them from the Greek world.
The Romans got to the Greek world, whether it's here on the bay of Naples or over in Greece, with armies
and practicality, and going in and fighting.
[Nimoy] Most historians conclude that while the Romans were emulating and admiring the Greeks
in art and literature, they themselves were innovative leaders in more practical fields.
The extensive use of the arch and concrete were two of their great contributions to civilization.
Romans conquered the world and built their empire on the mighty power of the sword,
but then reinforced it with massive civil engineering skills.
Little in this world unfolds as we predict.
The people of Pompeii could not have for seen
the contributions they would make to the chain of humanity.
In the first century before the Common Era, the wealthy lounged in luxurious indoor baths,
illuminated by sunlight.
Thanks to an anonymous Roman, who had invented glass windows.
Villas with glass windows would spread throughout the Roman empire and the Mediterranean,
eventually leading to the design of the greenhouse.
In the ensuing centuries, the popularity of the greenhouse would soar,
inspiring interest in harnessing the power of the sun.
This quest would reach bold new types in 1959, when Pioneer IV,
the United States' first solar-powered satellite, was launched into orbit.
An enduring link to the modern world, Pompeii and Herculaneum's architectural marvels still stand,
just as they did two millennia ago.
(Act IV)
(The Oldest Obsession)
[Nimoy] From the ashes of Pompeii, ghostly eyes stare at us across the centuries.
Tantalizing clues can be found here, revealing intimate details
of the relationship between men and women.
A lady of the house holding a stylus and writing tablet,
indicating that she is literate and well-educated.
Though long gone, we even know the names of some of these people: Terentius Neo, wife of the town baker;
[Franklin] I would say that they are obviously a loving couple.
They have that quality that Roman marriages are always looking for:
a husband and wife who actually get along and spend their lives together.
Many Romans find true love in their lives, and when you read Roman tombstones, Roman inscriptions,
you find that expressed over and over:
"To my incredibly sweet wife, who lived with me without an argument for forty years."
[Nimoy] This captivating portrait was discovered in a mansion once owned by a woman
we know only as Julia Felix.
Could this be her? An independent, rich woman of property?
From evidence that has transcended the centuries, we know that most women lived in a subdued
and restricted life style, deeply secluded within the privacy of their home.
Those who belonged to an aristocratic family, living in one of the lavish villas,
would also be responsible for running the day to day affairs of the house and would manage the slaves.
But in spite of what we know, the true status of women in ancient Rome still remains a mystery.
[Dobbins] Women in the Roman world were not on the same power with men,
they didn't have the same rights to hold office, they could not vote.
[Franklin] Well-born women at Pompeii, the matrons of these grand houses at Pompeii,
wielded their power very much within the realm of the private household,
at dinner parties and among the family.
They certainly would in no way even want a career.
It would be unheard of. When we are talking about women's liberation today,
we often talk about the ability of a woman to go out and build a career.
A Roman woman simply wouldn't want to do that.
[Nimoy] But one career for women did flourish: the so-called oldest profession in the world.
In the center of Pompeii stands a very conspicuous house: the town's main brothel.
Six small darkly lit rooms greet the visitor, each one with its own stone bed.
These would have been covered by fine blankets and furs.
But how do we know what activity really took place in these rooms?
The paintings on the walls reveal it all, in graphic detail.
[Koloski-Ostrow] We mustn't over-glamorize the institution, however.
The young women were captured slaves, who worked for a pimp,
no doubt were often abused and underfed, and brutally treated.
Yet it was an accepted part of society and any number of Roman gentlemen from all levels of society
would have felt free to use the services that were offered there.
[Nimoy] Paintings which would be termed pornographic today
were not restricted to the Roman brothel.
They're found in many private homes of distinguished citizens.
In the entrance hall to the house of the well-established family named Vettii,
the visitor is greeted by this explicit painting.
Excavators also found a remarkable collection of novel wind chimes, replete with their original bells.
These winged phalluses were used as decorations in the home,
were suspended from columns in the garden.
[Koloski-Ostrow] It shocks us, it makes us wonder about the morality of these people.
Clearly, this particular figure and many representations of the nude phallus
found throughout the city, were there as good luck symbols, as symbols of fertility,
symbols to shed fertile children and opportunity on a household, not as objects of perversion.
[Franklin] We really do find ourselves in a completely different world here,
than the ancients did, I supposed. Because many ancient cults are flagrantly orgiastic,
involve sexuality, and it is used for religious expression.
That really got removed from religion, at least as I understand it, but largely through Christianity.
[Nimoy] Barely discernible fertility symbols can still be found on many walls in and around Pompeii.
[Franklin] When, for example, the site was being excavated in the 18th-19th century,
and the excavators took hatchets to these and destroyed them,
because they were obscene beyond belief,
it tells you a great deal more about yourself, I mean, than it does about the objects, I mean
we all know that there are phalluses in this world.
Sexuality was an ordinary daily part of every Roman's life, the way it is of most of our lives,
though we don't like to talk about it openly.
And the idea that you would be hiding sexuality in any way, to an ancient Roman, would just -
would seem absurd.
[Nimoy] What might seem outrageous today was considered perfectly normal 20 centuries ago.
(Act V)
(Roman Life Roman Death)
[Nimoy] As Pompeii and Herculaneum slowly yielded their treasures to the modern world,
what did the artifacts reveal about the workings of ancient Roman society?
In confronting the cities' rich aristocrats, we may envy them for their flamboyant life style.
Yet there is a dark side to the story.
The cities' opulent habits were founded upon huge reserves of human labor.
And this, in turn, required a constant provision of slaves .
As the Roman Empire marched in triumph across conquered territory,
it consumed vast human resources, absorbing slaves as the spoils of war.
[Koloski-Ostrow] All the time, capturing cities meant killing the men
and taking into slavery the women and children of the town, and bringing them wholesale into Rome.
They came from Egypt, they came from Greece, they came from Tunisia.
They would - it was as much a slave trade as there was a trade in cloth, in wine,
and in other articles produce.
[Nimoy] In this massive structure, many a slave saw his last moments on earth.
Together with many prisoners of war and convicted criminals, death would come violently
as victims were forced to compete in the arena.
Known as the gladiator games, they took place here, in a massive amphitheater,
which accommodated up to 20,000 spectators.
All of Pompeii's population would gather to enjoy the bloody spectacle of people fighting for their lives.
One of the most popular forms of entertainment was the fight-to-death contest.
A heavily armed gladiator, wearing a bronze helmet and shield, bearing only a short sword,
would be pitched against a completely naked opponent equipped with a long spear and a net.
It was brutal, a source of cheap thrills for the blood-thirsty audience.
[Dobbins] This was an institutionalized violence,
as there are many institutionalized acts of what we would call violence in our own society:
executions and wars. And yet we consider that those are appropriate under certain circumstances.
[Nimoy] Most slaves were kept, not as fighters, but as servants.
Large villas had up to 50 slaves, eternally embroiled in the hustle-bustle of household service.
[Franklin] There are so many slaves in Roman antiquity and in Pompeii in particular,
because that was a way to keep alive.
The wealthy needed a whole household of slaves because there was no middle class,
no industry the way we have it.
So they couldn't go to the tailor: there essentially were no tailors, you had to have
a dress-maker, a tailor, a shoemaker, all of that, on your personal staff.
[Nimoy] To better understand the people of Pompeii, it is important to remember that
two thousand years ago, the law was supreme.
Civic responsibility was taken very seriously.
Sometimes, these concepts drove people apart, including fathers and their sons.
[Franklin] The father has complete legal power.
He could kill any of his children at any time for disobedience,
and there are great episodes, particularly in early Roman history, which makes one wonder
about the veracity of them, of fathers doing exactly that.
A consul orders his son not to engage the enemy in battle.
The son engages the enemy in battle and has a great success,
and he comes back and his father kills him, because the father had told him not to engage the enemy.
And there's nothing that can be said about it: that his right as a father.
[Nimoy] Although, today, we subscribe to laws and virtues similar to those of the Pompeians,
they held their own beliefs about the sanctity of human life.
[Franklin] They don't have this sacred view for life - the way we do -
I'm sure each of them had it for his own life, but when it came to life in general,
well, people die.
There were so many poor people that you see death all of the time.
[Nimoy] Their attitudes on death and justice seems foreign to us today.
Roman values were quite different from the Judeo-Christian tradition
that was being introduced to the Western World at that time.
[Koloski-Ostrow] There is no text or book or Bible with a set of morals that the Romans follow.
Religion, to the Romans, is very much a ritual.
And without that moral superstructure, without a text or a set of relgious rules and regulations
that you're following in some way, it makes society much freer in terms of what's allowed.
[Nimoy] In the years since 79, when Pompeii and Herculaneum met their doom,
Vesuvius has erupted more than 70 times.
[Journalist] Vesuvius once again strikes terror into the surrounding Italian countryside.
A giant wall of lava, in some places 30-feet high, circles irresistibly forward through field and farm.
[Nimoy] In 1944, as Italy reeled from the closing phases of World War II, Vesuvius erupted again.
But unlike the eruption that devastated Pompeii, this time,
the volcano spewed deadly molten lava as well as ash.
The flow moved at a swift 12 feet per minute, destroying entire towns and villages in its path.
The worst eruption occurred in 1631, when 18,000 lost their lives.
[Journalist] Vesuvius, unpredictable and unconquerable, has had its way.
[Nimoy] Today, the mountain is silent once again, its anger long vented.
And Vesuvius broods like a great sentinel above the landscape.
At its feet lie only the ruins and remains of a once proud Roman heritage
in which many mysteries yet prevail.
[Franklin] The mystery is that although we have all of these objects,
like we have no place else in all of the Roman world,
these people are still just beyond our grasp.
The human element there, which we share with them helps, but they are -
they're just beyond our grasp.
[Koloski-Ostrow] Pompeii offers a wonderful poetic magic for all of us.
It makes us touch our own feelings about life and death,
yet at the same time that we feel that emotion and that we feel
such sympathy for the victims of that eruption,
as we uncover the pumice stones and remove the pyroclastic mud flows,
we have to realize we're coming into a world of enormous cultural difference and this -
the quest for that truth is what the archaeologist's mission must be.
[Nimoy] In one dreadful night, a volcano entombed an entire ancient community.
But in spite of the evidence that lies here, it is difficult to comprehend a society so remote from our own.
The people of Pompeii may continue to remain a mystery to us for all time.