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[Deflagration]

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[Music and intro]

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[Off voice] Travel back in time to the Ancient city of Pompeii

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where sexual excesses and slavery were a regular part of everyday life.

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What happened to its citizens when life was suddenly shattered by an explosion

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more powerful than a nuclear bomb?

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It's one of the stories of the ages.(Ancient Mysteries)

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one of the ancient mysteries.

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[Leonard Nimoy] Before we unlock the future, we must find the keys to the past.

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I'm Leonard Nimoy. Join us as we the door to Ancient Mystery, beginning now.

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[Leonard Nimoy] For an eternity, the volcanic cone of Mount Vesuvius

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has dominated the landscape of Southern Italy.

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Two thousand years ago, it would shape history.

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At that time, Rome was an all-powerful empire.

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Pompeii was one of its most prosperous provincialtowns, thriving at the foot of Vesuvius.

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(Explosion noise)

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Suddenly, a terrible explosion shook the earthand Vesuvius entered the annals of history

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as one of the most devastating volcanic disastersever recorded.

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The people ran for their lives. Some tookcover in their homes. Others tried fleeing

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to the nearby sea.

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But thousands would not escape.

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In a matter of hours, homes, buildings andthe people themselves were covered

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by a thick layer of volcanic ash and dĂŠbris.

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Everything was entombed and forgotten, tolie in undiscovered silence for centuries.

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Archeologists discovered the hollow cavitieswhich the decayed bodies left behind.

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These were used as molds to produce eerieplaster casts of the victims.

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And the once vital inhabitants of ancientPompeii now lie here, distorted in agony,

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exactly where they fell.

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What secrets did the people leave behind?

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What misteries are entombed with them?

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A journey into the ancient past to a cityfrozen in time.

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(Pompeii: Buried Alive)

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(Act I)

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(The Mountain Speaks)

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[Music]

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[Nimoy] Today, two million people live aroundthe foot of Mount Vesuvius near Naples, in

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Southern Italy.

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The inhabitants of modern-day Pompeii arevery much aware of the constant threat

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posed by this still active volcano.

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Farmers tend fruitful fields where, just afew feet below, lie the remains of an ancient

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civilization.

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Sprawling over 160 acres, the layout of ancientPompeii is much like that of any modern city.

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Unequal among historical sites for its remarkablestate of preservation,

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Pompeii is a unique showcase of ancient artand architecture.

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There is an abundance of original mosaicsand frescoes,

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some as vivid as though they were createdyesterday.

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The city offers archaeologists a once in anlifetime opportunity to explore the mysteries

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of those who once inhabited the Roman World.

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(The Roman Empire 79 C.E.)

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[Nimoy] During the 1st century of the CommonEra, Rome was a powerful empire,

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straddling Europe and the Near East, fromBritain to Egypt.

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(Map of Italy, with Rome and Pompeii marked)

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[Nimoy] Pompeii was a thriving commercialcenter with a population of 20,000.

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Then, these streets leading to the city'sforum were bustling with farmers and merchants

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from afar,

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trading produce and merchandise.

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Many of the local citizens were wealthy, enjoyinga relatively affluent and placid way of life.

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Mount Vesuvius always loomed in the background.

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But as far as the people were concerned, itwas just another mountain, a good place to

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cultivate vines.

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[Haraldur Sigurdsson - Professor of Oceanography,University of Rhode Island] The Romans living

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in the area were not aware of the fact thatthe mountain was a volcano.

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For example, the most famous of these Romanswas Pliny the Elder, who was a great historian

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and a writer.

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And he described many volcanoes in Italy,but he never mentioned Vesuvius as a volcano.

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[Nimoy] The 24th of August, in the year 79,was an ordinary Summer's day,

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with the people of Pompeii uneventfully goingabout their daily business.

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The slight rumbling sounds coming from Vesuviusin the early morning were largely ignored.

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[Ann Koloski-Ostrow - Assistant Professorof Classical Studies, Brandeis University]

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People proceeded as if everything was normal.

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Women at home were probably getting theirchildren ready for short siestas,

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slaves were bustling about the kitchen, gettingeverything ready for what would be

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the evening hours at home.

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Men were thinking about spending an afternoonat the public baths, but the rumbling didn't

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stop.

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[Music]

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[Nimoy] Suddenly, around 12 noon, a deafeningexplosion shook the entire city.

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The people watched, horrified, as Vesuviuserupted.

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Pillars of black volcanic ash

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and of red-hot magma spewed miles high intothe sky.

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Then, a torrent of suffocating ash fell uponthe city, followed by complete darkness.

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[Music]

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At the same time, stones hailed down fromheaven.

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Gradually, Pompeii became buried in whitepellets of solidified ash.

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[James L. Franklin, Jr. - Professor of ClassicalStudies, Stanford University] They hadn't

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seen an eruption before,

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so I don't think that they had any idea - trueidea - of what they were encountering.

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They must have been really terrified, however,with the addition of the eruption to the earthquake.

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And I suspect it took a lot of them an awfullylong time to figure out

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that they were actually going to be buriedby these pellets.

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[Nimoy] Two men whose names have come downto us from their time were witness to the

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inferno:

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Pliny the Elder, an admiral in the Roman Navy,died, attempting to rescue victims.

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His nephew, Pliny the Younger, wrote the onlyeye-witness report to have survived the disaster.

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*"On Mount Vesuvius, broad sheets of fireand leaping flames' blazed at several points,*

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*their bright glare, emphasized by the darknessof the night.*

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*The buildings were now shaking with violentshocks and seemed to be swaying to and fro,*

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*as if they were torn from their foundations.*

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*Outside, on the other hand, there was thedanger of falling pumice stones. It was a*

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choice of fears."

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[Koloski-Ostrow] Some huddled in corners,collecting their belongings with them there,

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and thought: "We'll wait it out, it will stop."But it didn't stop.

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And 17 hours later, it was still raining ashes,and many of the roofs of the town had collapsed

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from the weight of these ashes, some peoplethen were trapped in their cellars,

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others were trapped in their homes, and manyothers still were trapped as they tried to

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flee the city.

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[Nimoy] Pliny the Elder did not grasp theseverity of the situation until it was already

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too late:

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*"My uncle decided to go down to the shoreand investigate the possibility of an escape*

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by the sea.

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*The flames and smell of sulfur drove theothers to take flight.*

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*And he stood, leaning on two slaves, andthen, suddenly collapsed,*

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*I imagine because of the dense fumes stifledhis breathing and choked him."*

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[Nimoy] Pliny the Younger also describes hisown death-defying escape:

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*"You could hear the shrieks of women, thewailing of infants, the shouting of men.*

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*Then ashes began to fall again, this timein heavy showers.*

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*We rose from time to time and shook themoff.*

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*Otherwise, we would have been buried andcrushed beneath.*

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*I derived some poor consolation in my beliefthat the whole world was dying with me, and*

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I with it."

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[Nimoy] As the night wore on, thousands wouldperish.

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(Act II)

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(The Death Of Herculaneum)

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[Nimoy] Death and destruction rained downfrom the sky for an entire day and night.

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As Pompeii riled in agony,(Map of Italy with Rome, Vesuvius and Pompeii)

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another town, lay in the direct path of thevolcano's fury, nine miles away,

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neighboring Herculaneum was a seaside resortfor the Roman rich and famous.

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But even fame and wealth would not save theinhabitants, that terrible night.

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As Vesuvius erupted, Herculaneum was entombedin a layer of ash 40-feet thick.

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Today, beneath the rubble and debris, piecesof carbonized wood can still be seen.

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Such evidence enables volcanologists to reconstructthe city's final moments.

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Even complete window shutters and doors arepreserved.

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Artifacts like these reveal that Herculaneum'sdestruction was very different from that of

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Pompeii.

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[Sigurdsson] We know that around midnight,the style of the eruption changed dramatically.

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Instead of a very high eruption column, allof a sudden, the ash and pumice comes out

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of the crater

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as a flow, a glowing avalanche, a dust cloudthat is moving like a nuclear blast

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in all directions from the crater at a velocityof 100 to 200 miles per hour.

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And within minutes, this cloud would havereached Herculaneum.

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And this cloud is hot enough to carbonizewood and to melt glass.

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Obviously, it is lethal.

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[Nimoy] At Herculaneum's public baths, thismarble washing bowl now stands below the window,

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where it once stood in ancient times.

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But when the bath was excavated, the bowlwas found hurled across the room.

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Its impression can still be seen imprintedon the solidified volcanic magma.

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[Sigurdsson] The Vesuvius' eruption in 79A.D.

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was one of the largest volcanic explosionsin history.

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In terms of the energy, the amount of energyinvolved, it is much larger than any nuclear

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explosion

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that has been set off on the earth.

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[Nimoy] One of the great mysteries of Herculaneumis the absence of human skeletal remains in

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the town.

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The houses and streets seemed to be deserted.

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What happened to the people?

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Did they know something that their neighborsin Pompeii did not?

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Were they forewarned of the disaster, andhad time to escape?

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Archaeologists always thought so, until agrisly discovery was made.

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[Koloski-Ostrow] More recent excavations,right at the sea shore of Herculaneum,

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have brought a much grimmer and sadder resultto our understanding of this mystery.

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Upwards of a hundred victims have been found,and some of them are so well-preserved

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and give us such poignant details of thosetragic final moments,

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that we can say quite a bit about their storiesand what happened to them at the end of the

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city.

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[Nimoy] This was the first time we ever comeface to face

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with human remains from the ancient Romanworld.

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As it was a Roman custom to always crematetheir dead,

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the other thing of the skeletons at Herculaneumand Pompeii was a rare discovery.

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This was once a soldier, found face down,watching the sand, his sword still with him.

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[Joseph J. Deiss - Professor of Classics,University of Florida] It's an extraordinary

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find, because no other Roman soldier has everbeen discovered anywhere.

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And he was wearing, he had his sword belt,he had his money belt, he had three gold coins,

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and he was all prepared to be rescued. Andit never happened.

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[Nimoy] Physical anthropologists examinedthe skeletons in detail.

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Through their work, we've gained a new insightinto the lives of these long-lost people.

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[Koloski-Ostrow] In one of the chambers, Imet a family of twelve victims.

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We find a young woman, probably about 14,clutching very closely a baby of 7 months

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in her arms

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trying to protect this child from the inevitabledeath that is soon to come.

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[Nimoy] At first, it seemed that this wasthe baby's older sister.

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Then, investigations pointed to a more poignantand tragic story.

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[Koloski-Ostrow] The baby is very likely anaristocratic baby,

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it had in its ear a gold earring with a smallpearl on it,

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whereas the bones of the 14-year old girlare bones that show

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she has done far heavier labor than a girlof her age do.

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She's not well-nourished, her teeth are inpoor condition, she very likely had a difficult,

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not to say, a terrible life.

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[Nimoy] The conclusion was that this is theskeleton of an overworked slave girl.

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One of her duties may have been to protectand tend the baby.

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Her life style stood in stark contrast tothat of the more affluent citizens of the

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town.

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The gleaming white teeth of some remains indicatehealthy nutrition, at least for most of the

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population.

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[Deiss] This is the only find of Roman bodies,the only important find ever made.

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So, for the first time, we can find what Romanswere really like,

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not just the way they look from statues andfrescoes.

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[Nimoy] Perhaps the most moving example tosurvive Pompeii's fearful night of destruction

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are these silent forms.

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After what must have been a terrible death,bodies decomposed, leaving eerie cavities

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within the hardened volcanic ash.

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These are casts made by archaeologists afterfilling the hollow spaces with plaster of

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Paris,

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forever preserving the forms of the victims,exactly as they were caught at the moment

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of death.

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This man was wearing a wide belt identifyinghis status as a slave.

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All slaves had to wear a heavy belt inscribedwith the name and title of their owner.

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Two thousand years after death, the peopleof Pompeii still tell a haunting, yet silent

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tale.

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Can we ever understand the destruction ofan entire community, on such an unprecedented

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scale?

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(Act III)

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(In the Shadow of Vesuvius)

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[Nimoy] The eruption of Vesuvius in the year79 is comparable to the drama of Mount St

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Helen's

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in the State of Washington in 1980.

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In both cases, volcanic ash was hurled highinto the air, followed by a devastating explosion.

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But the eruption of Vesuvius was 3 times morepowerful than that of Mount St Helen's.

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In just a few hours, two prosperous citiesdisappeared from the face of the earth,

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taking with them the great works and accomplishmentsof their inhabitants.

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Where ash and lava once covered the cities,grass and vines slowly took possession of

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the land.

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Gradually, the place faded from memory.

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More than 1,500 years would pass before Herculaneumwould be rediscovered.

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It was totally by accident.

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In 1709, two monks were sinking a well, whenthey inadvertently struck the marble floor

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of an ancient theater.

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[John J. Dobbins - Associate Professor ofArchaeology, University of Virgina] Pompei

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was also discovered by accident.

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The digging of a canal actually produced partof the city, and it became clear that there

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was something there,

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and during the early days, excavation wasnot an archaeological enterprise,

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but was really a treasure-hunting activity,in order to provide objects for the royal

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collection.

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[Nimoy] During the 17th and 18th centuries,kings from Vienna and Spain ruled Naples.

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To provide their courts with classical statues,Roman gold and silver, they ordered excavations

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of the ruins.

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Plundering the area in search of ancient bounty,treasure-hunters secretly sank

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numerous shafts and tunnels, many of themstill visible today.

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It was only in 1861 that orderly scientificexcavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum began,

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and have continued unabated ever since.

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(Man chattering while typing on keyboard)

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[Nimoy] Today, cutting-edge computer technologyis used by John Dobbins at the University

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of Virginia

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to rebuild ancient Pompeii.

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In binary building blocks, he's reconstructing,a 3-dimensional computer images,

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a series of public buildings from the city'sforum.

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[Dobbins] There is not evidence of a colony,in front of the sanctuary of the end of Augustus

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So this seems to have been just an open areaat the...

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[Nimoy] Modern technology provides uniquenew tools in the search to unravel

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the ancient mysteries of Pompeii and of itsinhabitants.

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[Dobbins] In many ways, Pompeii, more thanany other city in the classical world, demystifies

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ancient life.

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because it puts the modern viewer in closeproximity with all of those aspects.

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There is an immediacy, it's possible to connectwith Pompeii, because it is preserved well,

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the buildings are tri-dimensional, they aretaller than we are.

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You can go into those houses and have a feelingthat the people have just gone away.

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and that you're stumbling into someone's house.

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[Nimoy] Once inside their homes, a searchfor their belongings brings us closer to the

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people who once lived here.

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Walking these silent passages, we brush withphantoms from a long gone civilization.

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Complete dwellings can be explored, allowingthe visitor to vividly travel backwards in

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time.

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Even the frescoes and the mosaics seem toharbor a life of their own.

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Ancient technology and plumbing laid bare,revealing a remarkably advanced piping system

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for distributing water.

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In the panic and confusion of the devastatingvolcanic eruption, everything was left exactly

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as it was,

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including this complete wine shop.

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Intact objects of daily life were to be foundeverywhere.

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Even a loaf of ordinary bread, carbonizedby the hot gas of the explosion.

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[Koloski-Ostrow] Pompeii and Herculaneum becomeopportunities for us to time-travel

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to the ancient world: not just time-travelto a century, or to a period or to a decade,

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but in fact, time-travel to one day in theancient world, to 24 August 79 C.E.

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and see the moment in which these people mettheir deaths.

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[Nimoy] Obvious everywhere is the enormouswealth and extravagance of the villas of the

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well-to-do:

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wall paintings and mosaics of exquisite artistry,

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decorative cosmetic boxes, complete with delicateinstruments, fashioned from wood and ivory,

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solid gold jewelry, embellished with expensivegem stones.

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All of these objects conjure the ghosts oftheir owners, recalling a once living, breathing

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society.

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[Dobbins] We actually have some sense of lifebreathed into those ruins by the writings

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of Pliny the Younger,

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once again, who describes in tremendous detailthe pleasures of living in these villas.

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They enjoyed their meals, and they enjoyedthat in the proximity of their garden,

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with fountains playing and the light comingin, the breeze, dining, water

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music and all that.

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[Nimoy] The extent of the wealth enjoyed bysociety is not known.

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But clearly, only a small fraction of thepeople lived in plush opulence.

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[Franklin] There is an incredible difference

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between the wealthy and everybody else, youknow, in the Roman world.

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There is essentially no middle class. Thereare only very wealthy people and very poor

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people.

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[Nimoy] The privileged few often spent theirtime in ornate atriums, lavishly decorated

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with art works,

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but mysteriously, much of the decor is essentiallyGreek in origin.

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Alexander the Great, the Greek warrior emperor,in battle.

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This mosaic was found in Pompeii, yet it isan exact copy of a similar work of art made

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in Greece.

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Why? Why does so much of Pompeii and Herculaneumspeak so strongly of Greek influence?

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[Franklin] The Romans were absolutely overwhelmed,I think, by the Greek World, and then,

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the world that follows Alexander the Great,

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the Hellenistic world of great sophisticationand culture that came to Italy.

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The Romans didn't fight it at all, they gavein and said:

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"Wow, if it's that good, let's make ten copies."

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[Nimoy] Another mosaic reveals a lively sceneof street musicians.

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A delicate work of extraordinary craftsmanship,it bears the signature of the artist who made

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it:

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"Dioscurides of Samos", in Greece.

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[Koloski-Ostrow] The themes of the paintingswere frequently adapted from Greek literature.

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And we can understand that it's very likelymany of the painters were Greek slaves,

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were actual Greeks who were brought to Pompeiito do the decoration of these houses.

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[Nimoy] Perhaps the most famous of all artworks discovered here are these bronze sculptures,

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depicting two young wrestlers.

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Still in mint condition, the were found inthe garden of the Villa dei Papiri, near Herculaneum.

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[Dobbins] These are wonderful pieces of artand they will have been done in Greece and

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shipped over.

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There was a major trade in shipping all sortsof statuary over from Greece.

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So, that surely, would be Greek.

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[Franklin] The Romans never were into statuaryand painting.

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This came to them from the Greek world.

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The Romans got to the Greek world, whetherit's here on the bay of Naples or over in

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Greece, with armies

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and practicality, and going in and fighting.

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[Nimoy] Most historians conclude that whilethe Romans were emulating and admiring the

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Greeks

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in art and literature, they themselves wereinnovative leaders in more practical fields.

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The extensive use of the arch and concretewere two of their great contributions to civilization.

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Romans conquered the world and built theirempire on the mighty power of the sword,

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but then reinforced it with massive civilengineering skills.

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Little in this world unfolds as we predict.

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The people of Pompeii could not have for seen

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the contributions they would make to the chainof humanity.

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In the first century before the Common Era,the wealthy lounged in luxurious indoor baths,

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illuminated by sunlight.

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Thanks to an anonymous Roman, who had inventedglass windows.

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Villas with glass windows would spread throughoutthe Roman empire and the Mediterranean,

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eventually leading to the design of the greenhouse.

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In the ensuing centuries, the popularity ofthe greenhouse would soar,

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inspiring interest in harnessing the powerof the sun.

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This quest would reach bold new types in 1959,when Pioneer IV,

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the United States' first solar-powered satellite,was launched into orbit.

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An enduring link to the modern world, Pompeiiand Herculaneum's architectural marvels still

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stand,

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just as they did two millennia ago.

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(Act IV)

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(The Oldest Obsession)

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[Nimoy] From the ashes of Pompeii, ghostlyeyes stare at us across the centuries.

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Tantalizing clues can be found here, revealingintimate details

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of the relationship between men and women.

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A lady of the house holding a stylus and writingtablet,

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indicating that she is literate and well-educated.

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Though long gone, we even know the names ofsome of these people: Terentius Neo, wife

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of the town baker;

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[Franklin] I would say that they are obviouslya loving couple.

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They have that quality that Roman marriagesare always looking for:

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a husband and wife who actually get alongand spend their lives together.

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Many Romans find true love in their lives,and when you read Roman tombstones, Roman

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inscriptions,

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you find that expressed over and over:

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"To my incredibly sweet wife, who lived withme without an argument for forty years."

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[Nimoy] This captivating portrait was discoveredin a mansion once owned by a woman

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we know only as Julia Felix.

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Could this be her? An independent, rich womanof property?

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From evidence that has transcended the centuries,we know that most women lived in a subdued

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and restricted life style, deeply secludedwithin the privacy of their home.

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Those who belonged to an aristocratic family,living in one of the lavish villas,

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would also be responsible for running theday to day affairs of the house and would

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manage the slaves.

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But in spite of what we know, the true statusof women in ancient Rome still remains a mystery.

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[Dobbins] Women in the Roman world were noton the same power with men,

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they didn't have the same rights to hold office,they could not vote.

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[Franklin] Well-born women at Pompeii, thematrons of these grand houses at Pompeii,

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wielded their power very much within the realmof the private household,

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at dinner parties and among the family.

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They certainly would in no way even want acareer.

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It would be unheard of. When we are talkingabout women's liberation today,

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we often talk about the ability of a womanto go out and build a career.

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A Roman woman simply wouldn't want to do that.

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[Nimoy] But one career for women did flourish:the so-called oldest profession in the world.

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In the center of Pompeii stands a very conspicuoushouse: the town's main brothel.

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Six small darkly lit rooms greet the visitor,each one with its own stone bed.

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These would have been covered by fine blanketsand furs.

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But how do we know what activity really tookplace in these rooms?

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The paintings on the walls reveal it all,in graphic detail.

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[Koloski-Ostrow] We mustn't over-glamorizethe institution, however.

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The young women were captured slaves, whoworked for a pimp,

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no doubt were often abused and underfed, andbrutally treated.

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Yet it was an accepted part of society andany number of Roman gentlemen from all levels

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of society

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would have felt free to use the services thatwere offered there.

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[Nimoy] Paintings which would be termed pornographictoday

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were not restricted to the Roman brothel.

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They're found in many private homes of distinguishedcitizens.

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In the entrance hall to the house of the well-establishedfamily named Vettii,

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the visitor is greeted by this explicit painting.

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Excavators also found a remarkable collectionof novel wind chimes, replete with their original

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bells.

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These winged phalluses were used as decorationsin the home,

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were suspended from columns in the garden.

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[Koloski-Ostrow] It shocks us, it makes uswonder about the morality of these people.

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Clearly, this particular figure and many representationsof the nude phallus

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found throughout the city, were there as goodluck symbols, as symbols of fertility,

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symbols to shed fertile children and opportunityon a household, not as objects of perversion.

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[Franklin] We really do find ourselves ina completely different world here,

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than the ancients did, I supposed. Becausemany ancient cults are flagrantly orgiastic,

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involve sexuality, and it is used for religiousexpression.

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That really got removed from religion, atleast as I understand it, but largely through

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Christianity.

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[Nimoy] Barely discernible fertility symbolscan still be found on many walls in and around

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Pompeii.

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[Franklin] When, for example, the site wasbeing excavated in the 18th-19th century,

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and the excavators took hatchets to theseand destroyed them,

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because they were obscene beyond belief,

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it tells you a great deal more about yourself,I mean, than it does about the objects, I

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mean

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we all know that there are phalluses in thisworld.

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Sexuality was an ordinary daily part of everyRoman's life, the way it is of most of our

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lives,

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though we don't like to talk about it openly.

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And the idea that you would be hiding sexualityin any way, to an ancient Roman, would just

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-

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would seem absurd.

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[Nimoy] What might seem outrageous today wasconsidered perfectly normal 20 centuries ago.

425
00:35:23,430 --> 00:35:27,339
(Act V)

426
00:35:27,339 --> 00:35:34,339
(Roman Life Roman Death)

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[Nimoy] As Pompeii and Herculaneum slowlyyielded their treasures to the modern world,

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what did the artifacts reveal about the workingsof ancient Roman society?

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In confronting the cities' rich aristocrats,we may envy them for their flamboyant life

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style.

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Yet there is a dark side to the story.

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The cities' opulent habits were founded uponhuge reserves of human labor.

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And this, in turn, required a constant provisionof slaves .

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As the Roman Empire marched in triumph acrossconquered territory,

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it consumed vast human resources, absorbingslaves as the spoils of war.

436
00:36:23,589 --> 00:36:29,380
[Koloski-Ostrow] All the time, capturing citiesmeant killing the men

437
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and taking into slavery the women and childrenof the town, and bringing them wholesale into

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Rome.

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00:36:36,510 --> 00:36:41,150
They came from Egypt, they came from Greece,they came from Tunisia.

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They would - it was as much a slave tradeas there was a trade in cloth, in wine,

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and in other articles produce.

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[Nimoy] In this massive structure, many aslave saw his last moments on earth.

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Together with many prisoners of war and convictedcriminals, death would come violently

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as victims were forced to compete in the arena.

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Known as the gladiator games, they took placehere, in a massive amphitheater,

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which accommodated up to 20,000 spectators.

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All of Pompeii's population would gather toenjoy the bloody spectacle of people fighting

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for their lives.

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One of the most popular forms of entertainmentwas the fight-to-death contest.

450
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A heavily armed gladiator, wearing a bronzehelmet and shield, bearing only a short sword,

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would be pitched against a completely nakedopponent equipped with a long spear and a

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net.

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It was brutal, a source of cheap thrills forthe blood-thirsty audience.

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[Dobbins] This was an institutionalized violence,

455
00:38:13,900 --> 00:38:20,119
as there are many institutionalized acts ofwhat we would call violence in our own society:

456
00:38:20,119 --> 00:38:27,119
executions and wars. And yet we consider thatthose are appropriate under certain circumstances.

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00:38:27,950 --> 00:38:34,140
[Nimoy] Most slaves were kept, not as fighters,but as servants.

458
00:38:34,140 --> 00:38:39,960
Large villas had up to 50 slaves, eternallyembroiled in the hustle-bustle of household

459
00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:40,560
service.

460
00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:46,020
[Franklin] There are so many slaves in Romanantiquity and in Pompeii in particular,

461
00:38:46,020 --> 00:38:48,190
because that was a way to keep alive.

462
00:38:48,190 --> 00:38:54,609
The wealthy needed a whole household of slavesbecause there was no middle class,

463
00:38:54,609 --> 00:38:56,390
no industry the way we have it.

464
00:38:56,390 --> 00:39:02,710
So they couldn't go to the tailor: there essentiallywere no tailors, you had to have

465
00:39:02,710 --> 00:39:07,810
a dress-maker, a tailor, a shoemaker, allof that, on your personal staff.

466
00:39:07,810 --> 00:39:12,730
[Nimoy] To better understand the people ofPompeii, it is important to remember that

467
00:39:12,730 --> 00:39:17,660
two thousand years ago, the law was supreme.

468
00:39:17,660 --> 00:39:20,869
Civic responsibility was taken very seriously.

469
00:39:20,869 --> 00:39:27,790
Sometimes, these concepts drove people apart,including fathers and their sons.

470
00:39:27,790 --> 00:39:32,890
[Franklin] The father has complete legal power.

471
00:39:32,890 --> 00:39:37,790
He could kill any of his children at any timefor disobedience,

472
00:39:37,790 --> 00:39:42,640
and there are great episodes, particularlyin early Roman history, which makes one wonder

473
00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:47,690
about the veracity of them, of fathers doingexactly that.

474
00:39:47,690 --> 00:39:53,130
A consul orders his son not to engage theenemy in battle.

475
00:39:53,130 --> 00:39:57,390
The son engages the enemy in battle and hasa great success,

476
00:39:57,390 --> 00:40:02,270
and he comes back and his father kills him,because the father had told him not to engage

477
00:40:02,270 --> 00:40:02,670
the enemy.

478
00:40:02,670 --> 00:40:06,630
And there's nothing that can be said aboutit: that his right as a father.

479
00:40:06,630 --> 00:40:13,200
[Nimoy] Although, today, we subscribe to lawsand virtues similar to those of the Pompeians,

480
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:18,730
they held their own beliefs about the sanctityof human life.

481
00:40:18,730 --> 00:40:25,730
[Franklin] They don't have this sacred viewfor life - the way we do -

482
00:40:25,869 --> 00:40:30,230
I'm sure each of them had it for his own life,but when it came to life in general,

483
00:40:30,230 --> 00:40:31,339
well, people die.

484
00:40:31,339 --> 00:40:38,339
There were so many poor people that you seedeath all of the time.

485
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:48,040
[Nimoy] Their attitudes on death and justiceseems foreign to us today.

486
00:40:50,750 --> 00:40:54,319
Roman values were quite different from theJudeo-Christian tradition

487
00:40:54,319 --> 00:41:01,050
that was being introduced to the Western Worldat that time.

488
00:41:01,050 --> 00:41:08,050
[Koloski-Ostrow] There is no text or bookor Bible with a set of morals that the Romans

489
00:41:08,839 --> 00:41:09,810
follow.

490
00:41:09,810 --> 00:41:13,480
Religion, to the Romans, is very much a ritual.

491
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:20,480
And without that moral superstructure, withouta text or a set of relgious rules and regulations

492
00:41:20,940 --> 00:41:27,940
that you're following in some way, it makessociety much freer in terms of what's allowed.

493
00:41:28,260 --> 00:41:35,260
[Nimoy] In the years since 79, when Pompeiiand Herculaneum met their doom,

494
00:41:35,530 --> 00:41:38,660
Vesuvius has erupted more than 70 times.

495
00:41:38,660 --> 00:41:44,030
[Journalist] Vesuvius once again strikes terrorinto the surrounding Italian countryside.

496
00:41:44,030 --> 00:41:51,030
A giant wall of lava, in some places 30-feethigh, circles irresistibly forward through

497
00:41:51,109 --> 00:41:52,390
field and farm.

498
00:41:52,390 --> 00:41:59,390
[Nimoy] In 1944, as Italy reeled from theclosing phases of World War II, Vesuvius erupted

499
00:42:00,210 --> 00:42:01,150
again.

500
00:42:01,150 --> 00:42:05,349
But unlike the eruption that devastated Pompeii,this time,

501
00:42:05,349 --> 00:42:09,849
the volcano spewed deadly molten lava as wellas ash.

502
00:42:09,849 --> 00:42:16,849
The flow moved at a swift 12 feet per minute,destroying entire towns and villages in its

503
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,980
path.

504
00:42:26,980 --> 00:42:33,980
The worst eruption occurred in 1631, when18,000 lost their lives.

505
00:42:36,980 --> 00:42:43,980
[Journalist] Vesuvius, unpredictable and unconquerable,has had its way.

506
00:42:47,869 --> 00:42:54,869
[Nimoy] Today, the mountain is silent onceagain, its anger long vented.

507
00:42:57,250 --> 00:43:01,250
And Vesuvius broods like a great sentinelabove the landscape.

508
00:43:01,250 --> 00:43:08,250
At its feet lie only the ruins and remainsof a once proud Roman heritage

509
00:43:08,270 --> 00:43:12,400
in which many mysteries yet prevail.

510
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:19,369
[Franklin] The mystery is that although wehave all of these objects,

511
00:43:19,369 --> 00:43:22,440
like we have no place else in all of the Romanworld,

512
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:27,859
these people are still just beyond our grasp.

513
00:43:27,859 --> 00:43:32,130
The human element there, which we share withthem helps, but they are -

514
00:43:32,130 --> 00:43:34,930
they're just beyond our grasp.

515
00:43:34,930 --> 00:43:41,930
[Koloski-Ostrow] Pompeii offers a wonderfulpoetic magic for all of us.

516
00:43:42,310 --> 00:43:46,800
It makes us touch our own feelings about lifeand death,

517
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:51,440
yet at the same time that we feel that emotionand that we feel

518
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:55,819
such sympathy for the victims of that eruption,

519
00:43:55,819 --> 00:44:01,490
as we uncover the pumice stones and removethe pyroclastic mud flows,

520
00:44:01,490 --> 00:44:07,170
we have to realize we're coming into a worldof enormous cultural difference and this -

521
00:44:07,170 --> 00:44:12,260
the quest for that truth is what the archaeologist'smission must be.

522
00:44:12,260 --> 00:44:19,260
[Nimoy] In one dreadful night, a volcano entombedan entire ancient community.

523
00:44:20,770 --> 00:44:25,819
But in spite of the evidence that lies here,it is difficult to comprehend a society so

524
00:44:25,819 --> 00:44:28,430
remote from our own.

525
00:44:28,430 --> 00:44:32,300
The people of Pompeii may continue to remaina mystery to us for all time.