I like how this doc was made...it showed more of the structures when the host spoke instead of always pointing the camera to him...wished other docs were like that.
I love how this humanizes them. Sometimes it's hard to connect with people of the past but when you realize their lives were as complex as yours or anyone else's, it just makes this more of a tragedy. But fascinating.
When I watch things like this I try to see what it was like to live among them. I try to imagine what life was like. I try to imagine that the clothes and the surroundings are 'contemporary.' It's hard to do. I wish I could go back in time to all the time periods and see how people lived day-to-day.
I love how excited he gets. I act the same way when talking about topics I'm fascinated by. He had me on the floor when he said "ancient IKEA". I like him. Educated but also a comedian!
Lmao 🤣 same! Like we’re not so different from the ancients in ways. They were just trying to live, work, having and taking care of families. Dealing with everyday life(though it was quite brutal in those days.. and not to say it’s not still brutal now. Maybe just not known, and more so covered up, behind walls, with no eyes around. But, other than a few things, most were just doing what we’re doing.. trying to get by, while trying to be the best we can be, and trying to live life, with some balance of joy. It’s obvious they were smarter than many people had perceived them to be for a LONG time! We’re starting to learn just how smart, intelligent, and sophisticated this society was. There were some of plenty peaceful times though. We can’t ever judge them.. only learn from them. Times were different. We can’t judge why they did the things they did. Who’s to say what you would do in the situations. I’m not saying judging the person.. the society in a WHOLE. Things they’d find of the normal, and ok, we couldn’t even IMAGINE beyond comprehension. I hate to say it.. but, I feel as if a lot of humanity has dumbed down. In some ways, we’re further behind then they were. It’s true. That’s because now, it’s the GOVERNMENT running things, as back then, it was THE CHURCH! And a lot of the people running the world/government have motives. Yes religion is big now.. but for FOREVER religion was important back then not saying it isn’t now. But back then EVERYONE believed! Sinners AND saints! Lol I also believe we have been pushed behind a few times in humanity. As in intelligence. I believe with the times humanity went thru global distraction. Like with the dinasours.
Maybe 3000 years from now somebody will have one of my femurs on a backlit table and be like, "we think he survived mostly on Saltines and peanut butter"
When they find mine: "We think he mainly lived on a diet of Totinos party pizzas and ramen. We've seen many skeletons with this diet, which makes us think these meals must have been extremely important to these people."
This is so fascinating. I'm italian and I've been to Pompeii and Herculaneum many times and still I learned a bunch of new stuff here. Also, Andrew has such a sweet mannerism about himself and how he treat history and the italian people that just goes to show how much he respects it. We need more of this.
I'm crying because I hold my son now as he sleeps. How devastating was it for the mothers holding their children knowing they were facing the end of their mortality
imagine being a favored slave, got given freedom underage, and got through a legal loophole to become a Roman citizen - this guy was so successful that somehow his story lived 2000 years into the future for us to learn about. what an absolute winner
This is one of the most fascinating documentaries I have ever seen. No added sensational inserts to distract the viewer, just the presentation of Herculaneum just as it was. Very interesting. Thank you.
I've been there, many years ago. We went to Pompeii and had never heard of Herculaneum. Our driver took us there and WOW!! We thought Pompeii was amazing but Herculaneum just blew the lid off of all our expectations. Once COVID-19 is no more a problem, everyone should try to go to both Pompeii and Herculaneum. They are continuing to excavate and discovering new things all the time. I want to go back and see what they've found since my last visit. Such a fascinating place. So well preserved.
I like it that way. I can't get into a story when half of it is irrelevant, like what the narrator ate for lunch, my friends did this etc etc and then "don't forget to subscribe" "look at my merch" and "join my patrion page"
@@jojozepofthejungle2655 yep, EVERYONE seems to want to get their hands on YOUR $$$ Acting like they work so hard behind the camera (at home, on vacation etc) Kinda like "pastors" who try and compare themselves to Paul, apostle to the gentiles😒 Can they even read? And dumb people just hand it over, no matter what. Oh well, ppl are gonna do what they want. Cheers
Excellent documentary. Fascinating to see the furniture and other objects survived. yes, they did color marble statutes. Fonteverault Abbey in France contains the tombs of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II her husband,etc. These are all painted.There are also monuments in english and other churches which are very old, that are also painted. The romans , greeks,etc. painted frescos in their homes.
@@MF175mp well you could think of it like this. Your freaking out wishing for comfort. And then notice someone else is freaking out along with you. You then take it upon yourself to hold the person or something finding comfort that ur in the same situation. That could be all it was. The 2 yr old and dog just simply found comfort in each other when they couldn't find comfort anywhere else. I'm pretty sure the poor baby was vry much scared as well.
Telltale sign I grew up watching public television: Professor: "the preservation of Pompeii's people as casts was made possible by--" my brain: viewers like you. thank you!
@@kyle18934 Fateful day when you're running down the street Everybody that you meet Is gonna be dead real soon And I say, "Hey!" (Hey!) What a terrible kind of day We're gonna die just like Pompeii And be burned alive with each other You got to listen to your heart Hear the last beat Listen to the screaming The screaming in the street Smoke up in your eyes Ashes in your ears Getting thicker And make breathing harder By working together It's a simple message and it comes from the earth Become a statue yourself (statue yourself) So that future people can learn (can learn)
What he didn’t mention regarding the arches (actually a set of Roman boathouses) was that the people were waiting for a promised rescue fleet that was itself battling through the eruption when the pyroclastic flow from the final stage of the eruption washed over the boathouse. The flow was hot enough that it turned the thick-walled boat houses into a set of crematoria at over 350 degrees F that incinerated the flesh of the victims even as it entombed their remains. Maybe only a couple of hours separated the victims from their potential rescuers.
Pliny The Elder was an experienced naval commander. If he couldn't get through that bay, then no one could. Those people in the vaults were waiting for a rescue that was never going to be able to reach them.
Even those who did make it into the bay on boats were not guaranteed survival. But you are right -- only a narrow window of time may have meant the difference between life and death.
I doubt that. The pyroclastic flow was also accompanied by tsunamis. I am not sure the boat would have made it to herculaneum let alone board the passengers (which would take a painstaking amount of time) and left the danger zone intact.
Good food, babies, pet dogs, vanity, , wealth vs poverty and yearning for a better life... We often think ourselves as being far removed from ancient people and their lives, but were not, we really haven’t changed at all. That’s what makes a catastrophic event like this much more poignant. Great documentary!!!!
I kept thinking "these are people who died horribly, I should be sad, why am I not making an emotional connection with their deaths?" And then, "this boy was found hugging his dog", and I just broke down. I was so enthralled with their sewers, peppercorns, markets, beds, screens, with the freed slave with the wife, the vegetarian girl, the daughter and the big house, with the girl who told the court she was free, with their LIVES... It really hurt when, emotionally, I finally understood their misery and death. I can't even begin to comprehend how their last hours must have been... People are people, always and everywhere
The dog holding hit me too. Like a tornado, or much worse really, what do you take? My dog for sure but how much time did they have. I like this lovely town and would love to go there.
Clutching. The child was clutching the dog. The woman was embracing the child😢 Clutching shows the state of mind, I think. That must have been an incredibly long 12 or more hours
This was the most amazing documentary I've seen in a long time. I think I read that the guy who wrote this was named Paul. He is brilliant! I have ADD and I never can pay attention more than 20 minutes at a time. I just watched this entire doco! Thank you Absolute History! I see from the comments that I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Look up the channel fall of civilizations. He does amazing documentaries. I believe he is alone on ut, but still make awsome videos, and he interacts with his viewers. I asked a dumb question, and he answered me with a well thought out answer to my question 😀
"and given the choice of what to take with him, this two year old was discovered with neither treasure, nor toys. he was found embracing a pet dog." that hit me in the feels
I’m an American and have always been fascinated by anything to do with Ancient Rome. I don’t know what it is but I drop everything to watch and this video is exceptional!
This may be from 2013, but it's a damn good documentary. Granted, the subject matter is fascinating on its own, but Andrew Wallace-Hadrill manages to make it that much more gripping. Also, he's advocated the preservation of Pompeii and Herculaneum which suffer from neglect and might soon disappear for good.
Whats so interesting is that the all the Roman classes were able to enjoy a normal lifestyle with hygiene, efficient plumbing, spectacular & healthy diet of fresh food and wine in beautiful and tasteful surroundings...compared to those that lived in London in the Victoria age...standards obviously dropped significantly over the years when the remaining romans returned to Rome...I seem to remember reading that they had sliding glass doors in Pompeii and the adjoining town...
@Ed Miller Don't lick before it drops! In seven years they (as in the reserchers) have most likely found more information thus making this most likely outdated in some areas, though the documentary is very high quality. Just because someone can potentially be right in something, or voices their opinnion it doesn't always mean the person is a millenial. That could be called "ageist". Sincerely, a member of Gen Z.
I see I'm not the only person moved to tears by this. This is new information for me. I knew about Herculaneum but not on such a visceral level. I am somewhat skeptical about the hypothesis explaining the men on the beach, women and children in the shelters. The men on the beach were preparing to load the women and children on boats. The question, where are the boats? That's what the men on the beach were asking. In the volcanic darkness of intensifying ash-fall they were searching the beach for unseen boats that were not there. The women and children sheltering in the vaults could hear their men stumbling and cursing in the dark but could not see them even though mere yards separated them. An excellent presentation. One of the best and most informative I've seen.
@@aitotem Thanks for your thoughts. That is a possibility. I go by the experiences of residents and US military personal, captured on video, fleeing in ash-fall darkness in order to escape the inevitable pyroclastic flows from Mount Pinatubo. I would have to review the video to see the evidence presented for the ash falling on skeletons. I also wonder about the nature of the "heat blast." I thought I noticed evidence of charring on some of the bones however. People are not going to get buried in ash unless they are immobile, likely dead. I think some of the remains recovered in Pompeii were found on top of several meters of ash. The scenario I propose is not inconsistent with the evidence you present. There are several ways that people die in these events. From what I remember of the artwork showing the locations of the skeletons I fail to see much purposeful organization in the distribution other than what would occur naturally from normal human response to an increasingly dire situation. Over several minutes, as the women and children sought shelter from pelting ash, the men looked for boats that had already left. It's quit possible that they were doing so in Stygian darkness. Of course this is speculation, although not without evidence.
@@andywomack3414 I imagine most of the deaths would've been from invisible gases like monoxide. just "oh I feel a bit lightheaded I'm going to sit down, just catch my breath a bit" and then passing out.
In that kind of darkness I doubt that the boats could even see to get to them...to know that safety was so close, and yet a lifetime away is such sad knowledge for us today. But, these people will live on in OUR minds in such a "visceral" and very real way...
I chose to watch this for a special reason. When my elderly friend Charlie found out he had stage 4 cancer he wanted to take the trip of a lifetime. He took his grown grandchildren on a cruise and specifically to Herculaneum. He had taught history for years and always wanted to see it. While climbing about and exploring he fell on some rocks, broke his shoulder, had his arm put in a sling and kept going. When he came home he talked about Herculaneum to anyone who would listen.
As an average ordinary man, I found this presentation extremely detailed and emotional. I think this documentary has profoundly extended my understanding of history, humanity and fate. Thanks for such documentaries.
I enjoy the level of improved data from the relatively recent bodies discovered . The painstaking excavation and study of the sewer residue was great proof of the local diet.
To finish earlier comment: Pliny the Younger witnessed the eruption along with his mother and his uncle (Pliny the Elder, an early scientist) and wrote an account of it, and that this uncle died during one of the water rescue attempts. Some were successful and many people were saved; the poor victims whose skeletons were found may have been among the last waiting to board. I think this shows the heroism of the men who died on the beach, staying to help the sheltering victims out, or perhaps they were the husbands/fathers/brothers, etc. of the women and children huddled under the vaults. I believe it also shows a delay of, at least several hours, between the beginning of the tephra eruption and the evacuations and the toxic-gas phase of the eruption.
~about pompeii They came from Pliny the Younger, an elite lawyer and author of ancient Rome, who wrote about the death of his even more famous uncle, Pliny the Elder. "On the 24th of August, about one in the afternoon, my mother desired him to observe a cloud..." he wrote in a letter to Tacitus, a Roman senator and historian, about the events of that day. According to his account, Pliny the Elder was then a fleet commander at Misenum - modern day Miseno - across the bay from Pompeii. He took a ship to stage a rescue for those in danger from the volcano. - www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45874858 I would think that's exactly right
@@nmwhealy :) That's cool to know. I was wondering why they were hiding instead of getting on a boat for at least a little while. To find nearby areas were going to try and rescue is very interesting.
@@nmwhealy Yes, I've thought fishermen may have been paid to ferry the rich to safety whilst their families or the less moneyed waited in the grottos for their return. The heroism of botanist/naval commander Gaius Plinius Segundus should never be ignored.
I can Imagine how terrified they were, women tries to comfort their young ones from crying 😭 and men tries their best to “maybe” prepare all they need to escape. I couldn’t hardly imagine... I’m moved to tears.. 😭
I was driving while I listened to this narration. (I live about six minutes from work, so I didn’t figure I’d miss much of the visuals.) When I heard that part, I was at a stoplight. I cranked it back 30 seconds and listened again, just to make sure I heard it right. Then I pulled into the gas station and watched the whole statue section very carefully. 🤣
times haven't changed depending on who you are. I think it makes more sense that a big dick is barbaric... makes a lot of sense. lol. Small ones do seem more civilized haha
I think they'd be impressed at how quickly we can get ours laid down and at the distances our quick laying methods achieve in a single day as well as just how many roads we do have that aren't just dirt or gravel. The fact our tech level allows us to maintain these features despite their short lived existence would be notable as well.
@@meganparrish807 The maintenance aren't that amazing in Miami-Dade... in fact the roads would be even in worse condition than they were before. 😓 We have the knowledge and materials to make our roads last over thousands of years rather than wasting time and resources on maintaining already built roads. 😒
@@LadyCoyKoi that has more to do with your local politicians plus unions, in TN the roads are kept nice but in Illinois they're largely falling apart on certain highways and the difference between the states is always the same, the local politicians.
Our roads handle millions and millions of cars, anything but war tanks with metal tracks, every single day. As already stated in another comment the speed that we can lay a road is insane. The Roman roads were great for that time, but don't kid yourself, our roads are awesome! Thanks to the workers that sweat their ass off laying our roads so we can go and get some cigarettes and some booze , bump free!
Imagine even if the baby didn’t know about death she/he must’ve felt it without even understanding! I mean the baby must’ve felt the burning that it happened and it must’ve been hell to the poor thingy!!
Pompeii and Herculaneum are two places on my bucket list. Seeing how beautifully preserved these places are through a phone screen is incredible, but it must look so much better in person
I’m a history graduate with a life long love of history. Pompeii and Herculaneum are on my Bucket List. I have nothing but admiration for someone who has spent 10 years picking fish vertebrae from preserved human poo. He actually looked like he was enjoying it. 2000 yrs old or not, I think I would have Ben wearing a mask & gloves for the 2000year old dust... I just LOVED this documentary. Thank you.
Same here! I am a lay person with an interest in history, and have both cities on my bucket list. A tip is to search for ”archeology tours” and copy their itinerery. I have an 8 day trip planned to go to Neaples when this bloody pandemic blows over.
This was absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing with us poor plebs. My heart breaks for those people who died without knowing what was happening to them. I am grateful that so much was preserved that we can learn about their way of life. Thus is what has made history interesting for me. Not the wars and the generals. But the ordinary people from all walks of life and how they lived those lives.
What a GREAT program. I have always had an interest in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The insight we have directly into the lives of people from 2000 years ago is fantastic. Awesome job!
If only we had such great, we’ll preserved sites from even earlier ages in Northern Europe we might definitively know what happened to the Neanderthals.
bigredwolf6 I can only tell you that 10,000yr old Native American skeletons, artifacts&contemporary animal bones have been excavated from 20-25ft (approx.7.5 meters) below the floor of caves in Ohio, USA. It stands to reason that many Neanderthal remains from 200,000 or 40,000yrs ago may well be buried much deeper below floor level after millennia of additional sloughing off of ceiling rock& silt accumulation in European caves..🤗
No lie, I was brushing my teeth when he said: “The king of the gods did not have a big prick.” It was good I was right above the sink, did a literal spit take. 😂😂😂
What a fantastic production and the enthusiasm of the Professor is wonderful. It is almost as he reaches a new level of sensation when he speaks Italian about ancient Rome. His passion and the story telling of the documentary really captures the interest of people. I would love to get the same clearance as the professor to see all the antique items in person when I go to Neaples.
Yes, always been strange that Pompeii always got so much more attention. Yet Herculaneum is so much more fascinating because so much more survived. I was there back in 2000 before digital cameras and iPhones. I would love to go back again and take hundreds and thousands of photos on my iPhone.
I can see the final scene now... The woman and children, huddled in those bays for protection from the falling ash and stone.. The men, frantically trying to get to their boats, the few that hadn't sunk yet. When the final pyroclastic flow envelopes them all, intombing them for all eternity... Until they are discovered, nearly 2,000 years later..
What I find really fascinating, and is still a big question on my mind, is what happened to make us go so far back in progress? If Romans had a sewer system, water in the homes and other things we take for granted in modern times, what made all this knowledge disappear? Was it the burning of the Library of Alexandria, perhaps? There was a ton of ancient knowledge in there so who knows what all was lost. Great documentary!
That was roughly a century prior to Vesuvius. But to answer you question a bit loosely, A lot of knowledge was lost with the western half of the roman empire. The vast works the Romans undertook were only possible because of the vast wealth the empire had, and the power the government held. When the western half of the empire fell both the wealth and power were lost. And nobody really cared to preserve knowledge when they were busy simply trying to survive. In the Eastern Half of the empire The great works continued, even after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in the 1490's. The Romans were a great power. There loss singled both the start and the end of the Middles ages. They were simply that huge.
Anyone else want to adopt Professor Hadrill? OMG He makes fascinating bits of history even more illuminating! Seriously want to just hug and grin madly at him! I’m truly not a creeper but OMG this man is adorable!
I really wish he would have called the "Arches" for what they actually were, they were "Boathouses", mostly belonging to the fishing fleets of Herculaneum. I got to visit Herculaneum back in the late 70's, when they had just really excavated down to the old shoreline. They allowed several of us down to the site as we were in the military & it was just phenominal. I've always wished that I could go back again, but alas, life got in the way. Now I'm in my 60's, and what with the pandemic, not to mention no longer having the sort of money it would take to go & spend anytime in Europe. So I just have to depend on documentaries like this & dream a bit...........
hes such a lovely, passionate guy. this was one of the best documentaries ive seen on here in awhile. no sensationalist filler, no obnoxious host, actually showing stuff instead of just the host talking, someone who knows what theyre talking about having the potential to ask better questions for uneducated viewers. awesome.
yeah, for some reason that really gets to people. we really have close connections to our pets and farm animals. just watch any vet show. when i had a fire threat in my apartment in the early '70's, the first thing i grabbed were my very special cat and her kittens in a basket - not any jewelry or money. it was ok though - firepeople are the best people ever :)
An absolutely INCREDIBLE documentary...I actually felt my stomach churn as the story of their fear and death evolved and played out. It was like I was present there with them...feeling all the emotions they were feeling...not to mention the great sadness I felt knowing the whole story. The most striking part was being able to see and imagine the BEAUTIFUL COLORS that surrounded them in their daily life. I'm SO grateful to the makers of this documentary...these people and this place CAME ALIVE for me! Thank you!
Being decently human is the same, doesn’t matter the time period. It was the same back then, and it’s the same now. I am so happy to have seen this documentary. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Pompeii and this has been a wonderful addition to my visit
That's true. Never been there though i would like to someday. my dad and a friend Gordon mellon were at pompeii during WW2.Gordon was a professor of archaic languages. So he could read the graffitti.My dad knew some latin, having been an altar boy, but not like Gordon.My dad had been in North Africa, and then wound up in Italy and Europe.Took part in the Battle of Monte Casino,etc.
Those poor people. Best presented documentary on Herculaneum/Pompeii I've seen. I'd love to have Professor Hadrill be my tour guide but I don't imagine the preserved wood artifacts are available to the public. Been to Rome, never made it here, hopefully someday. Thanks for the post.
I’ve been to both Pompeii and Herculaneum. If you have the chance to go to only one, choose Herculaneum. The ruins are better preserved and there’s much more to see. Both places are absolutely fascinating. There’s a train between Rome and Naples and further south with stops at both Pompeii and Herculaneum. So it’s fairly easy to get to these places. Italy was surprisingly easy to navigate on public transport. I was a student at the time and didn’t mind walking, but we got as far north as Venice and south of Naples all by taking trains and buses.
Herculaneum gets far fewer visitors than Pompeii, feels far more intimate, and if you go when it's raining, there's hardly anybody there. Just remember that if you take the trans-Vesuviano train from one to the other, the stop you want is "Herculo".
This is why I love history. It’s more than just names, dates and places. This site brings it to life as no textbook can. I suspect I would want to touch everything- in a weird way, I would feel more of a connection with these people of the past.
I originally learned about these events in high school Latin class. I am very grateful for the details added to my knowledge of the society and its intricacies. Thank you David
Best quote ever... “take note the king of the gods does not have a big prick” 🤣😂🤣😂 I do love this mans enthusiasm for history, he would be a wonderful professor to learn ancient history from.
@@FC-hj9ub if Yoda can escape thru the vents, someone had to have made some progress escaping. When it's lava or the ocean, you learn how to swim pretty quick
@ Yes, they cant dig out more because there is a city on top of it. I was there about 15 years ago and they had literally dug right to the edge of roads and apartment buildings. Some Herculaneum buildings were only half uncovered as a result. I hope technology advances allow them ways to uncover or map the rest of the city some day. Amazing place.
I've read/heard that when Felix (of the Bible), who had his wife Drusilla with him in Rome, died, Drusilla and their son returned to Pompeii and may have been among the victims of Vesuvius. Does anybody know anything more/for sure and certain?
When I was younger I was never fascinated by history but now I can't get enough of it. This was an excellent doc done by a really great and enthusiastic narrator. You can tell just how much he loves what he does.
For a volcano to blow off the top of it's cone means that it erupted with an immense force. Think of the eruption of Mt. St. Helen's, the entire shape of the mountain was drastically changed in seconds. I can't imagine the fear of the citizens who lived on the base of Mt. Vesuvius when it erupted.
I would love to spend a week exploring Pompeii and Herculaneum, walking the streets and attempting to mentally enter and examine the context of a two thousand year old civilization that is gone forever.
I will watch further. I have taken a pause at 7:07. What were they doing down here? The distribution of remains makes that clear to me. They were loading boats to escape. The men were loading or preparing or dragging out the remaining craft. The wives and children were sheltering until there was space available to depart. And then the end time came to all of them suddenly. Caught in the moment of attempting to escape by sea.
That makes perfect sense. And the shockwave of the volcano bursting would have probably blown the boats out to sea if it didn't totally disintegrate them, which is why they wouldn't have been found in the harbor. Or I guess they're just wood in water and rotted away. Who knows. xD
@@Alexrider02 Your ideas are excellent Wood may have burned or been swept away,, or rotted leaving only the bones of the men. Another possibility had occurred to me. Pliny the Younger, a Roman historian wrote of repeated trips by boats to rescue those trapped. Pliny the Elder,, the most famous of Roman historians died in the eruption,, on a boat,, in the harbor,, after having returned for another load of survivors and his friend. Boats are recorded as making multiple trips to evacuate the people trapped on the Pompeii shore. There were probably no boats in the harbor of Herculaneum when the final pyroclastic flow killed them all. They were waiting for the return of the evacuation boats, that were making multiple trips to carry all out. The end came suddenly and harshly. Some of the skulls were burst because brains boiled suddenly and steam burst the skulls. That hot,, that quick.
@@Sailor376also Oof, boiled brains, what a way to go. Utterly fascinating, but morbidly sad at the same time. The fact that it appears there are only a few skeletons near the shore and the vast majority are closer to the shelters is interesting to me, too. I wonder if you're right in that there were no boats in the harbor at the moment and they were waiting for them to come back, huddled by the shelters rather than inside so as not to overcrowd them.
@@Alexrider02 I think you have it. The final pyroclastic flow must have been a doozie. There is a bath house in Herculaneum. The sink? bowl? tub? is a carved marble basin like 8 feet in diameter. It must weigh tons, solid marble. That final flow blasted through the building with such force that the heavy 8 foot diameter tub was flung off its stand and pasted up against the far wall vertically. And that is how it stood for 1800 years until excavated and replaced on its stand. That final blast must have been the force of an atomic bomb.
@@Sailor376also Unbelievable. Having seen the power and devastation of the blast in Beirut was incredible enough as it is, but imagining it in comparison to the power of this blast is mind-boggling. Atomic bomb may be an understatement. It always amazes me to think how, despite all of our technology and advancement, we're still just as vulnerable to some aspects of nature as our ancient ancestors. Our only real option is, just like theirs was, to flee as far as we can and hope we can get far enough away before it bursts. Thankfully we learned our lesson and so don't build next to volcanoes anymore! *Slowly looks out the window at Mt Saint Helens on the horizon*
This is so extraordinary! My little sister was completely astonished to find out that the marble statues we know today were quite colourful. I really love history and had the luck of learning latin in school- it really is an linguistic journey into history long time ago.
"A cloud, from which mountain was uncertain, at this distance (but it was found afterwards to come from Mount Vesuvius), was ascending, the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches; occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of which decreased as it advanced upwards, or the cloud itself being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in the manner I have mentioned; it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders." Pliny the Younger
An extraordinary documentary; the best I've ever seen on life in Ancient Rome! Professor Wallace-Hadrill's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. I'll have to look at some of his other documentaries...
@@cindykq8086 hhooo they were certainly not small. That era is a testosterone era w compared to nowadays. But it was designed small on purpose because having à big penis was à shame at that time, AND related to barbarians. True story. www.howtotalkaboutarthistory.com/reader-questions/why-do-all-old-statues-have-such-small-penises/
I didn't want this episode to end! I am overwhelmed with interest,and curiosity!! I am absolutely overwhelmed. Were the pillars, for example, created around the bricks? Were the public baths a luxury or a rule? Or even a sexual place of congregation? Are excavations still ongoing?! I want to be involved!
@tony biddle that's so interesting to me. I don't know what the feeling is called but it is an overwhelming one! It almost feels like time travel! I love it! Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the ancient world!
They all look so happy with their work it's so contagious. Their passion about the subject made the documentary so enjoyable to watch. But still that baby in the crib made me shed a tear
When I was younger, I thought history was boring. Who cares about learning about something already happened. But now I’m older, I find it so interesting and fascinating.
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I like how this doc was made...it showed more of the structures when the host spoke instead of always pointing the camera to him...wished other docs were like that.
So true Ali so true
Agreed. This is exceptionally well done.
Yes!
I thought the same thing... totally agree!
I enjoyed seeing all that bright color preserved
I love how this humanizes them. Sometimes it's hard to connect with people of the past but when you realize their lives were as complex as yours or anyone else's, it just makes this more of a tragedy. But fascinating.
When I watch things like this I try to see what it was like to live among them. I try to imagine what life was like. I try to imagine that the clothes and the surroundings are 'contemporary.' It's hard to do. I wish I could go back in time to all the time periods and see how people lived day-to-day.
@@maryhennessy7388 right? not like live my life there but maybe spend a few days in each period just to see whats up
@@emmettbattle5728 Exactly. :-)
People in the future will be saying the same thing about us in 1-5 Thousand year's.
@@LadellTurner yes! As long as people are people, I'm sure they will. :)
I love how excited he gets. I act the same way when talking about topics I'm fascinated by. He had me on the floor when he said "ancient IKEA". I like him. Educated but also a comedian!
It's exactly that kind of stupidity that deters me from watching this cable tv tripe.
The handicapped narrator ruins the whole thing
@@TheBigMclargehuge oh mr all knowing, I’m so sorry these plebeian words have offended thine ears
Lmaooo are y’all stupid or insane??? He’s great and that was a funny joke
That joke really wasn’t funny but k
This dude seems so happy with his job I love him
He’s always so excited about history. I love the Mongol weapons one where he rode around on a horse with that arrow catcher in his back.
I wish I loved my job 😒
He loves history , great to earn a living doing what you love. His enthusiasm is contagious
@@mynamedoesntmatter8652 can you give more info about which episode/show that was? I’m trying to find more of his stuff :)
I’d be exultant if I had that job, too!
I hope one day I'll feel the same level of joy about something as this guy did about that privacy screen.
I hope to one day feel the same level of joy as he did describing Hercules’ body.
@@mistermysteryman107 i hope one day i feel Hurcules body😍
Or the wine vat! I want to taste some of that Vesuvious Laryma Chisti wine!
I think mine recently was seeing Luke Skywalker on Mando S2.
Omg. 😂
"The people of Herculaneum were definitely living to eat, not just eating to live" - I can finally relate to the Romans
The average roman citizen consumed as much water as the average modern American.
Lmao 🤣 same!
Like we’re not so different from the ancients in ways. They were just trying to live, work, having and taking care of families. Dealing with everyday life(though it was quite brutal in those days.. and not to say it’s not still brutal now. Maybe just not known, and more so covered up, behind walls, with no eyes around.
But, other than a few things, most were just doing what we’re doing.. trying to get by, while trying to be the best we can be, and trying to live life, with some balance of joy.
It’s obvious they were smarter than many people had perceived them to be for a LONG time! We’re starting to learn just how smart, intelligent, and sophisticated this society was. There were some of plenty peaceful times though.
We can’t ever judge them.. only learn from them. Times were different. We can’t judge why they did the things they did. Who’s to say what you would do in the situations.
I’m not saying judging the person.. the society in a WHOLE. Things they’d find of the normal, and ok, we couldn’t even IMAGINE beyond comprehension.
I hate to say it.. but, I feel as if a lot of humanity has dumbed down. In some ways, we’re further behind then they were. It’s true. That’s because now, it’s the GOVERNMENT running things, as back then, it was THE CHURCH! And a lot of the people running the world/government have motives.
Yes religion is big now.. but for FOREVER religion was important back then not saying it isn’t now. But back then EVERYONE believed! Sinners AND saints! Lol
I also believe we have been pushed behind a few times in humanity. As in intelligence. I believe with the times humanity went thru global distraction. Like with the dinasours.
Maybe 3000 years from now somebody will have one of my femurs on a backlit table and be like, "we think he survived mostly on Saltines and peanut butter"
Hey in my case they won't even be lying
When they find mine: "We think he mainly lived on a diet of Totinos party pizzas and ramen. We've seen many skeletons with this diet, which makes us think these meals must have been extremely important to these people."
Lmao hot pockets and sub sandwiches
@@The_Real_Frisbee Lmao man I wish I could see the far future theory about pizza worship. The most important food of the 20th and 21st centuries
Straight from the DoorDash Gods!
This is so fascinating. I'm italian and I've been to Pompeii and Herculaneum many times and still I learned a bunch of new stuff here. Also, Andrew has such a sweet mannerism about himself and how he treat history and the italian people that just goes to show how much he respects it. We need more of this.
Ayyye
I clicked the video on accident and even I'M enthralled by this stuff lol
For sure. He seems so sweet and excited about everything, and very respectful at the same time.
💜More! More! More!:-)💜 🇺🇸
When he gets so enthusiastic he almost reminds me of Michael McIntyre....and I have to chuckle. What great narration! His enthusiasm is contagious!
I'm crying because I hold my son now as he sleeps. How devastating was it for the mothers holding their children knowing they were facing the end of their mortality
😭
We all die Karen that's life
@@stpstp7160 That's not her name, is it? Don't be rude, she knows that.
@@penguin_drive Susan don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. Didn't your mother teach you anything?
@@penguin_drive You're such a Susan.
imagine being a favored slave, got given freedom underage, and got through a legal loophole to become a Roman citizen - this guy was so successful that somehow his story lived 2000 years into the future for us to learn about. what an absolute winner
Omg the segment of him loving his figs so much that he just starts sharing them with people on the street. This guy is just a ball of charisma!
This is one of the most fascinating documentaries I have ever seen. No added sensational inserts to distract the viewer, just the presentation of Herculaneum just as it was. Very interesting. Thank you.
I've been there, many years ago. We went to Pompeii and had never heard of Herculaneum. Our driver took us there and WOW!! We thought Pompeii was amazing but Herculaneum just blew the lid off of all our expectations.
Once COVID-19 is no more a problem, everyone should try to go to both Pompeii and Herculaneum. They are continuing to excavate and discovering new things all the time. I want to go back and see what they've found since my last visit.
Such a fascinating place. So well preserved.
I like it that way. I can't get into a story when half of it is irrelevant, like what the narrator ate for lunch, my friends did this etc etc and then "don't forget to subscribe" "look at my merch" and "join my patrion page"
@@jojozepofthejungle2655 yep, EVERYONE seems to want to get their hands on YOUR $$$ Acting like they work so hard behind the camera (at home, on vacation etc) Kinda like "pastors" who try and compare themselves to Paul, apostle to the gentiles😒 Can they even read? And dumb people just hand it over, no matter what. Oh well, ppl are gonna do what they want. Cheers
British documentaries tend to go that route whereas American documentaries...
Excellent documentary. Fascinating to see the furniture and other objects survived. yes, they did color marble statutes. Fonteverault Abbey in France contains the tombs of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II her husband,etc. These are all painted.There are also monuments in english and other churches which are very old, that are also painted. The romans , greeks,etc. painted frescos in their homes.
“Take note the king of the gods does not have a big prick.” Not something I have ever heard in a documentary before.
Oh god
When you're king of the gods, you don't need one.
It's good to be the King!
Hey, Let's End Racism! 👱♂️🤜🤛🏿🐵
Didn't see it coming!
@@asprywrites 🤣🔫
"A two year old found clutching a pet dog" ow my soul
I started crying at this point 😢
I'm assuming the dog was freaking out and the child was trying to comfort it. Sad to think about
@@TheEmmaVee wonder why the kid didn't freak out
@@MF175mp well you could think of it like this. Your freaking out wishing for comfort. And then notice someone else is freaking out along with you. You then take it upon yourself to hold the person or something finding comfort that ur in the same situation.
That could be all it was. The 2 yr old and dog just simply found comfort in each other when they couldn't find comfort anywhere else. I'm pretty sure the poor baby was vry much scared as well.
The baby that was found in the cradle is what got me 😭😭 My little one turns 1 next week so I thought of her immediately 🥺
Telltale sign I grew up watching public television:
Professor: "the preservation of Pompeii's people as casts was made possible by--"
my brain: viewers like you. thank you!
Lmao, yep!!!
Thanks Arthur lol
I think I first heard that from the show Arthur lol
I laughed too hard at this
@@kyle18934 Fateful day when you're running down the street
Everybody that you meet
Is gonna be dead real soon
And I say, "Hey!" (Hey!)
What a terrible kind of day
We're gonna die just like Pompeii
And be burned alive with each other
You got to listen to your heart
Hear the last beat
Listen to the screaming
The screaming in the street
Smoke up in your eyes
Ashes in your ears
Getting thicker
And make breathing harder
By working together
It's a simple message and it comes from the earth
Become a statue yourself (statue yourself)
So that future people can learn (can learn)
@@tgbluewolf that was beutiful lol. well done
What he didn’t mention regarding the arches (actually a set of Roman boathouses) was that the people were waiting for a promised rescue fleet that was itself battling through the eruption when the pyroclastic flow from the final stage of the eruption washed over the boathouse. The flow was hot enough that it turned the thick-walled boat houses into a set of crematoria at over 350 degrees F that incinerated the flesh of the victims even as it entombed their remains. Maybe only a couple of hours separated the victims from their potential rescuers.
Pliny The Elder was an experienced naval commander. If he couldn't get through that bay, then no one could. Those people in the vaults were waiting for a rescue that was never going to be able to reach them.
Even those who did make it into the bay on boats were not guaranteed survival. But you are right -- only a narrow window of time may have meant the difference between life and death.
I doubt that. The pyroclastic flow was also accompanied by tsunamis. I am not sure the boat would have made it to herculaneum let alone board the passengers (which would take a painstaking amount of time) and left the danger zone intact.
They also neglected the original names of pompeii and herculaneum. It's Sodom and Gomorrah
@@monicasmithtofantheflames3733 Wrong part of the world, unless you're joking.
I miss this quality of show on TV. Why the heck am I still paying TV, when 95% of what I watch is from the internet?
It's no comparison any more.
I don’t even watch tv anymore.
@@ZeldaLover6 I only have it because it was cheaper as a package...
I don´t have a tv anymore, my last one died on me 5 years ago and I never got a new... ;o)
Yes which is why I do not pay for cable. Internet is 45 dolars monthly and cell phone is 40 monthly. No need for cable orphone Bill's any longer
@@Rebeccacarver83 we have to pay TV and radio tax even if we don't use it.
Good food, babies, pet dogs, vanity, , wealth vs poverty and yearning for a better life...
We often think ourselves as being far removed from ancient people and their lives, but were not, we really haven’t changed at all. That’s what makes a catastrophic event like this much more poignant.
Great documentary!!!!
I love that he starts offering his figs around tho complete strangers. He is so sweet❤❤
I guess he has gone native from his work in Italy 😆🥰
I kept thinking "these are people who died horribly, I should be sad, why am I not making an emotional connection with their deaths?"
And then, "this boy was found hugging his dog", and I just broke down. I was so enthralled with their sewers, peppercorns, markets, beds, screens, with the freed slave with the wife, the vegetarian girl, the daughter and the big house, with the girl who told the court she was free, with their LIVES... It really hurt when, emotionally, I finally understood their misery and death. I can't even begin to comprehend how their last hours must have been...
People are people, always and everywhere
The dog holding hit me too. Like a tornado, or much worse really, what do you take? My dog for sure but how much time did they have. I like this lovely town and would love to go there.
2000 year gap will do that
"He was found embracing a pet dog." Oh man. OH MAN. DON'T CRY, ME. DON'T.
Lar Rackell really? Not for the baby found lying in the cradle? That one got me.
Clutching. The child was clutching the dog. The woman was embracing the child😢 Clutching shows the state of mind, I think. That must have been an incredibly long 12 or more hours
Bill Gates is one of them and he wants to Genocide us as I type he is preparing to do just that cry no I beg God to take them out once again.
Lar Rackell. Go ahead, cry.! Feel deeply. It's the greatest thing we do.!
It's OK, Lar. Me too. They were just like us, really.
Whoever hit dislike to this video, has no understanding of the importance of history and how much amazing detail this show has.
Let's just hope the ignorant people that disliked it will soon be educated.
There are a lot of ignorant trolls who inhabit the underworld of CZcams. Pay not the attention they crave.
I guess that's people that have nothing better to do than hit dislike on every video they find, I'd advice them to find a job and get educated
Ignore the naysayers. Boring, empty folk.
Exactly
This was the most amazing documentary I've seen in a long time. I think I read that the guy who wrote this was named Paul. He is brilliant! I have ADD and I never can pay attention more than 20 minutes at a time. I just watched this entire doco! Thank you Absolute History! I see from the comments that I'm not the only one who feels this way.
Im the same way my friend
Look up the channel fall of civilizations. He does amazing documentaries. I believe he is alone on ut, but still make awsome videos, and he interacts with his viewers. I asked a dumb question, and he answered me with a well thought out answer to my question 😀
@Dumble Door ADHD is real. Good day.
Same. I have the attention span of a squirrel but I watched the whole video
@Dumble Door okay ableist.
This guy has the same passionate energy about him as Attenborough and we need more of that energy.
C'mon man! I prefer the energy of Biden.
"and given the choice of what to take with him, this two year old was discovered with neither treasure, nor toys. he was found embracing a pet dog."
that hit me in the feels
I’m an American and have always been fascinated by anything to do with Ancient Rome. I don’t know what it is but I drop everything to watch and this video is exceptional!
Sometimes, it seems we’re going backward again, getting dumber instead of smarter.
Well haf of your country memorials and historic bulding has simular look I guss that why :-)
same!! with ancient rome and egypt i have a strong fascination with. Also the archeology with these places
This may be from 2013, but it's a damn good documentary. Granted, the subject matter is fascinating on its own, but Andrew Wallace-Hadrill manages to make it that much more gripping. Also, he's advocated the preservation of Pompeii and Herculaneum which suffer from neglect and might soon disappear for good.
Not with 2.5 MILLION visitors a year, to area hotels and restaurants.
Whats so interesting is that the all the Roman classes were able to enjoy a normal
lifestyle with hygiene, efficient plumbing, spectacular & healthy diet of fresh food
and wine in beautiful and tasteful surroundings...compared to those that lived in
London in the Victoria age...standards obviously dropped significantly over the years
when the remaining romans returned to Rome...I seem to remember reading that they
had sliding glass doors in Pompeii and the adjoining town...
@Ed Miller Don't lick before it drops! In seven years they (as in the reserchers) have most likely found more information thus making this most likely outdated in some areas, though the documentary is very high quality.
Just because someone can potentially be right in something, or voices their opinnion it doesn't always mean the person is a millenial. That could be called "ageist".
Sincerely, a member of Gen Z.
@Ed Miller Also by using your logic you are a boomer
I see I'm not the only person moved to tears by this. This is new information for me. I knew about Herculaneum but not on such a visceral level.
I am somewhat skeptical about the hypothesis explaining the men on the beach, women and children in the shelters. The men on the beach were preparing to load the women and children on boats. The question, where are the boats? That's what the men on the beach were asking. In the volcanic darkness of intensifying ash-fall they were searching the beach for unseen boats that were not there. The women and children sheltering in the vaults could hear their men stumbling and cursing in the dark but could not see them even though mere yards separated them.
An excellent presentation. One of the best and most informative I've seen.
It brought me to tears too especially the child with the dog 😭
The heat blast would have reached them before the ash though. They even mentioned the ash would be falling on the now skeleton-ize people.
@@aitotem Thanks for your thoughts. That is a possibility.
I go by the experiences of residents and US military personal, captured on video, fleeing in ash-fall darkness in order to escape the inevitable pyroclastic flows from Mount Pinatubo.
I would have to review the video to see the evidence presented for the ash falling on skeletons. I also wonder about the nature of the "heat blast." I thought I noticed evidence of charring on some of the bones however.
People are not going to get buried in ash unless they are immobile, likely dead. I think some of the remains recovered in Pompeii were found on top of several meters of ash. The scenario I propose is not inconsistent with the evidence you present.
There are several ways that people die in these events. From what I remember of the artwork showing the locations of the skeletons I fail to see much purposeful organization in the distribution other than what would occur naturally from normal human response to an increasingly dire situation. Over several minutes, as the women and children sought shelter from pelting ash, the men looked for boats that had already left. It's quit possible that they were doing so in Stygian darkness.
Of course this is speculation, although not without evidence.
@@andywomack3414 I imagine most of the deaths would've been from invisible gases like monoxide.
just "oh I feel a bit lightheaded I'm going to sit down, just catch my breath a bit" and then passing out.
In that kind of darkness I doubt that the boats could even see to get to them...to know that safety was so close, and yet a lifetime away is such sad knowledge for us today. But, these people will live on in OUR minds in such a "visceral" and very real way...
Can you imagine: “what do you do for a living?” “Well for the past 10 years I’ve been analyzing ancient Roman shits” lmao
I chose to watch this for a special reason. When my elderly friend Charlie found out he had stage 4 cancer he wanted to take the trip of a lifetime. He took his grown grandchildren on a cruise and specifically to Herculaneum. He had taught history for years and always wanted to see it. While climbing about and exploring he fell on some rocks, broke his shoulder, had his arm put in a sling and kept going. When he came home he talked about Herculaneum to anyone who would listen.
I could not stop saying wow when he presented the colored marble statue.
The pyramids were painted like that too, once upon a time
Zzwill was
Z-6dz7z
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@@jamesflowers1295 d'7-6$/-'z-7-
A well-known research scientist exclaiming "a modern turd" is everything.
Bull
He spent his career looking a poop. Oh man.
Lmao 😂😂😂 ikr?
I wonder if the smell was captured as well as everything else in the sewer?
The one scientist says "a human coprolite" in tones of hushed awe. Our lad calls a turd, a turd. Props to him for honesty.
This was amazing. The little boy clutching his dog.. unimaginable.😢
Yaa this one got me 😭😭😭
Really felt that.
As an average ordinary man, I found this presentation extremely detailed and emotional. I think this documentary has profoundly extended my understanding of history, humanity and fate. Thanks for such documentaries.
That little city and the structures are so much nicer than what we have today. I am amazed how advanced the housing, furniture and water system were.
I enjoy the level of improved data from the relatively recent bodies discovered . The painstaking excavation and study of the sewer residue was great proof of the local diet.
Even in today's plumbing the shit you see
To finish earlier comment: Pliny the Younger witnessed the eruption along with his mother and his uncle (Pliny the Elder, an early scientist) and wrote an account of it, and that this uncle died during one of the water rescue attempts. Some were successful and many people were saved; the poor victims whose skeletons were found may have been among the last waiting to board. I think this shows the heroism of the men who died on the beach, staying to help the sheltering victims out, or perhaps they were the husbands/fathers/brothers, etc. of the women and children huddled under the vaults. I believe it also shows a delay of, at least several hours, between the beginning of the tephra eruption and the evacuations and the toxic-gas phase of the eruption.
Maybe the males on the beach were prepping the boats to escape, while their families took cover, when disaster struck
~about pompeii
They came from Pliny the Younger, an elite lawyer and author of ancient Rome, who wrote about the death of his even more famous uncle, Pliny the Elder.
"On the 24th of August, about one in the afternoon, my mother desired him to observe a cloud..." he wrote in a letter to Tacitus, a Roman senator and historian, about the events of that day.
According to his account, Pliny the Elder was then a fleet commander at Misenum - modern day Miseno - across the bay from Pompeii. He took a ship to stage a rescue for those in danger from the volcano.
- www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45874858
I would think that's exactly right
@@nmwhealy You nailed it.
@@nmwhealy :) That's cool to know. I was wondering why they were hiding instead of getting on a boat for at least a little while. To find nearby areas were going to try and rescue is very interesting.
Agree 100%, great insight.
@@nmwhealy Yes, I've thought fishermen may have been paid to ferry the rich to safety whilst their families or the less moneyed waited in the grottos for their return.
The heroism of botanist/naval commander Gaius Plinius Segundus should never be ignored.
I can Imagine how terrified they were, women tries to comfort their young ones from crying 😭 and men tries their best to “maybe” prepare all they need to escape.
I couldn’t hardly imagine...
I’m moved to tears..
😭
“Having a big prick is a sign of a barbarian” how times have changed
I was driving while I listened to this narration. (I live about six minutes from work, so I didn’t figure I’d miss much of the visuals.) When I heard that part, I was at a stoplight. I cranked it back 30 seconds and listened again, just to make sure I heard it right. Then I pulled into the gas station and watched the whole statue section very carefully. 🤣
🤣😂🤣
Lol
times haven't changed depending on who you are. I think it makes more sense that a big dick is barbaric... makes a lot of sense. lol. Small ones do seem more civilized haha
I wonder if Barbarian translates nowadays into... doucebag? 🤔
Visiting Pompeii and seeing ancient blond hair and bleached patches of skull coming out of the casts made the deaths way more real.
Yes, you understand intellectually that they were human like us, but seeing things like that brings it home emotionally.
@Nomo are you "like" 12?
There was hair preserved? Woah
If Ancient Romans saw how we make our roads today they’d laugh at us. Ours don’t last very long and theirs still sit nearly intact
I think they'd be impressed at how quickly we can get ours laid down and at the distances our quick laying methods achieve in a single day as well as just how many roads we do have that aren't just dirt or gravel.
The fact our tech level allows us to maintain these features despite their short lived existence would be notable as well.
Especially Miami-Dade county roads... they are joke even by todays' standards. 😓
@@meganparrish807 The maintenance aren't that amazing in Miami-Dade... in fact the roads would be even in worse condition than they were before. 😓 We have the knowledge and materials to make our roads last over thousands of years rather than wasting time and resources on maintaining already built roads. 😒
@@LadyCoyKoi that has more to do with your local politicians plus unions, in TN the roads are kept nice but in Illinois they're largely falling apart on certain highways and the difference between the states is always the same, the local politicians.
Our roads handle millions and millions of cars, anything but war tanks with metal tracks, every single day.
As already stated in another comment the speed that we can lay a road is insane.
The Roman roads were great for that time, but don't kid yourself, our roads are awesome!
Thanks to the workers that sweat their ass off laying our roads so we can go and get some cigarettes and some booze , bump free!
A baby found lying in the cradle... that hit me.
At least a baby would not understand what is going on. A baby does not know "death" as it does not knows "life" yet. But it's such a shame.
Imagine even if the baby didn’t know about death she/he must’ve felt it without even understanding! I mean the baby must’ve felt the burning that it happened and it must’ve been hell to the poor thingy!!
Why did they take the baby out of its last resting place? Put it back, let it have peace.
I’d rather my remains be an object of education and fascination to future generations, than in some overpriced box in the ground.
Me too. So much pain and loss in such a short time.
Pompeii and Herculaneum are two places on my bucket list. Seeing how beautifully preserved these places are through a phone screen is incredible, but it must look so much better in person
The attention to the wood details make this the best Herculaneum documentary I've ever watched
I’m a history graduate with a life long love of history. Pompeii and Herculaneum are on my Bucket List. I have nothing but admiration for someone who has spent 10 years picking fish vertebrae from preserved human poo. He actually looked like he was enjoying it. 2000 yrs old or not, I think I would have Ben wearing a mask & gloves for the 2000year old dust... I just LOVED this documentary. Thank you.
Pretty sure the heat of the eruption sterilized it.
Same here! I am a lay person with an interest in history, and have both cities on my bucket list. A tip is to search for ”archeology tours” and copy their itinerery. I have an 8 day trip planned to go to Neaples when this bloody pandemic blows over.
This was absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing with us poor plebs. My heart breaks for those people who died without knowing what was happening to them. I am grateful that so much was preserved that we can learn about their way of life. Thus is what has made history interesting for me. Not the wars and the generals. But the ordinary people from all walks of life and how they lived those lives.
What a GREAT program. I have always had an interest in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The insight we have directly into the lives of people from 2000 years ago is fantastic. Awesome job!
If only we had such great, we’ll preserved sites from even earlier ages in Northern Europe we might definitively know what happened to the Neanderthals.
bigredwolf6 I can only tell you that 10,000yr old Native American skeletons, artifacts&contemporary animal bones have been excavated from 20-25ft (approx.7.5 meters) below the floor of caves in Ohio, USA. It stands to reason that many Neanderthal remains from 200,000 or 40,000yrs ago may well be buried much deeper below floor level after millennia of additional sloughing off of ceiling rock& silt accumulation in European caves..🤗
Dallas DautermanDallas Basically it sounds like Neanderthal remains are halfway to becoming coal lol
bigredwolf6 Haha, that was good! But I think coal is plant based rather than calcium.👍
Dallas DautermanDallas Coal is carbon. And we are carbon based life forms
52:20 If you look away and listen, he sounds like Professor Snape happily describing a well-made potion in a class he actually enjoys
No lie, I was brushing my teeth when he said: “The king of the gods did not have a big prick.” It was good I was right above the sink, did a literal spit take. 😂😂😂
I'm like 5 mins into this and I can tell I'm going to watch it all. The host is an absolute legend also
What a fantastic production and the enthusiasm of the Professor is wonderful. It is almost as he reaches a new level of sensation when he speaks Italian about ancient Rome. His passion and the story telling of the documentary really captures the interest of people. I would love to get the same clearance as the professor to see all the antique items in person when I go to Neaples.
I choked on “The king of the gods did not have a big prick” 🤣😂
@Flat Earth Punks 😅💯
@Flat Earth Punks 🤣 I'm trying
Yeah, that was funny
Flat Earth Punks nah too little 😏
@@KatieB33 but you still......lol, nevermind 🤗
"when you find a bed ha! That's a bedroom." I am enjoying this a lot, it's hard to imagine by reading about Roman houses
He makes me so nervous when he smacks all these ancient items with so much enthusiasm.
How interesting that Pompeii is so well known yet I never heard if this. It's a huge milestone for archeologists
Yes, always been strange that Pompeii always got so much more attention. Yet Herculaneum is so much more fascinating because so much more survived.
I was there back in 2000 before digital cameras and iPhones. I would love to go back again and take hundreds and thousands of photos on my iPhone.
I can see the final scene now...
The woman and children, huddled in those bays for protection from the falling ash and stone..
The men, frantically trying to get to their boats, the few that hadn't sunk yet. When the final pyroclastic flow envelopes them all, intombing them for all eternity...
Until they are discovered, nearly 2,000 years later..
Imagine the sound (like a train coming from underneath your feet) and the approaching heat of the final pyroclastic flow at those last seconds.
The little one with his dog broke my heart !
@@steerpike1359 and the two women embracing the little girl. Must have been her mother and grandmother/aunt.
Mr. Big Was your uncle's name Longus Livicus? My dad went to school with him...ask him if he knows Flavius Grotequeus.
Mr. Big Dad says to tell your uncle he's sorry, he forgot...his memory ain't what it used to be, the goat is in the mail🤗🤣
What I find really fascinating, and is still a big question on my mind, is what happened to make us go so far back in progress? If Romans had a sewer system, water in the homes and other things we take for granted in modern times, what made all this knowledge disappear? Was it the burning of the Library of Alexandria, perhaps? There was a ton of ancient knowledge in there so who knows what all was lost. Great documentary!
That was roughly a century prior to Vesuvius.
But to answer you question a bit loosely, A lot of knowledge was lost with the western half of the roman empire. The vast works the Romans undertook were only possible because of the vast wealth the empire had, and the power the government held. When the western half of the empire fell both the wealth and power were lost. And nobody really cared to preserve knowledge when they were busy simply trying to survive.
In the Eastern Half of the empire The great works continued, even after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in the 1490's.
The Romans were a great power. There loss singled both the start and the end of the Middles ages. They were simply that huge.
@@gotioify Ah! Thanks for the clarification.
Their sewers didn't work like ours, they'd overflow often and their drinking water would get infected. It's still a massive achievement though.
It's Sodom and Gomorrah. There was quite a reset afterwards
@@monicasmithtofantheflames3733 Sodom and Gomorrah were Old Testament, meaning BC. This is AD.
people who study anthropology are always so overjoyed about things other people wouldn't bat an eye at and it makes learning from them so engaging
Anyone else want to adopt Professor Hadrill? OMG He makes fascinating bits of history even more illuminating! Seriously want to just hug and grin madly at him! I’m truly not a creeper but OMG this man is adorable!
I don't care HOW OLD it is, I am putting on gloves to even touch those ancient turds.
The historical preservationist in me screamed “Yes, because you’re going to ruin the ancient turds with your disgusting skin oils!” 🤣
No matter if it's a billion or a few hundred years to a week old... I'm still not touching it bare handed. EVER!
I have fossilized dino poo and my mom said "you're touching that!?" I said I'm more or less touching a rock...
@@Amanda-kw1vi yeah its really not that gross anymore, its a fossil.
I really wish he would have called the "Arches" for what they actually were, they were "Boathouses", mostly belonging to the fishing fleets of Herculaneum. I got to visit Herculaneum back in the late 70's, when they had just really excavated down to the old shoreline. They allowed several of us down to the site as we were in the military & it was just phenominal. I've always wished that I could go back again, but alas, life got in the way. Now I'm in my 60's, and what with the pandemic, not to mention no longer having the sort of money it would take to go & spend anytime in Europe. So I just have to depend on documentaries like this & dream a bit...........
Or warehouse like todays warfs
never been to Europe - dreaming a bit is a lovely pastime :) 🌷
@@feralbluee he
I was able to tour Herculaneum last summer with my father. A magical experience! Being able to watch through history is eye opening
hes such a lovely, passionate guy. this was one of the best documentaries ive seen on here in awhile. no sensationalist filler, no obnoxious host, actually showing stuff instead of just the host talking, someone who knows what theyre talking about having the potential to ask better questions for uneducated viewers. awesome.
Out of all the emotional stuff the thing that got me was the boy that chose to save his dog.
"save" apparently it didn't work
yeah, for some reason that really gets to people. we really have close connections to our pets and farm animals. just watch any vet show. when i had a fire threat in my apartment in the early '70's, the first thing i grabbed were my very special cat and her kittens in a basket - not any jewelry or money. it was ok though - firepeople are the best people ever :)
You can really tell how passionate the presenter is with the subject, which is really endearing and compelling!
the way he says ate and eat are kinda funny especially with how often he has to say them haha
I've heard people from Kansas, USA pronounce eat as et before. Lol
I think it is quite common in parts of the UK, but maybe I'm wrong. Don't want to offend anyone :)
That’s how foo foo British people say “ate,” and also 1930s depression era US singers.
There is a difference mate. One is past tense, one can be future / current tense.
It's British. Et is past tense of eat. It's not unheard of that an American in the South might also say et.
An absolutely INCREDIBLE documentary...I actually felt my stomach churn as the story of their fear and death evolved and played out. It was like I was present there with them...feeling all the emotions they were feeling...not to mention the great sadness I felt knowing the whole story. The most striking part was being able to see and imagine the BEAUTIFUL COLORS that surrounded them in their daily life. I'm SO grateful to the makers of this documentary...these people and this place CAME ALIVE for me! Thank you!
The boy and his dog hit me right in the feels. My dog needs even more hugs from now on.
Since dogs are more sensitive to quakes, I wonder if the dog ran away and the child ran after the dog.
Being decently human is the same, doesn’t matter the time period. It was the same back then, and it’s the same now. I am so happy to have seen this documentary. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Pompeii and this has been a wonderful addition to my visit
That's true. Never been there though i would like to someday. my dad and a friend Gordon mellon were at pompeii during WW2.Gordon was a professor of archaic languages. So he could read the graffitti.My dad knew some latin, having been an altar boy, but not like Gordon.My dad had been in North Africa, and then wound up in Italy and Europe.Took part in the Battle of Monte Casino,etc.
This programme is so much better than the constant repetition and reinforcement seen in most American documentaries.
Those poor people. Best presented documentary on Herculaneum/Pompeii I've seen. I'd love to have Professor Hadrill be my tour guide but I don't imagine the preserved wood artifacts are available to the public. Been to Rome, never made it here, hopefully someday. Thanks for the post.
In another doc they said they had time to evacuate but during that time they consulted psychics. The psychics said they were safe.
Such an advanced society. Amazing Italy
@@bettinabettina7155 Do you have a source? I've never heard that before
I’ve been to both Pompeii and Herculaneum. If you have the chance to go to only one, choose Herculaneum.
The ruins are better preserved and there’s much more to see.
Both places are absolutely fascinating.
There’s a train between Rome and Naples and further south with stops at both Pompeii and Herculaneum. So it’s fairly easy to get to these places. Italy was surprisingly easy to navigate on public transport.
I was a student at the time and didn’t mind walking, but we got as far north as Venice and south of Naples all by taking trains and buses.
Herculaneum gets far fewer visitors than Pompeii, feels far more intimate, and if you go when it's raining, there's hardly anybody there. Just remember that if you take the trans-Vesuviano train from one to the other, the stop you want is "Herculo".
This is why I love history. It’s more than just names, dates and places. This site brings it to life as no textbook can.
I suspect I would want to touch everything- in a weird way, I would feel more of a connection with these people of the past.
I originally learned about these events in high school Latin class. I am very grateful for the details added to my knowledge of the society and its intricacies. Thank you David
The Italian language is so beautiful and the people are so warm and lovely to the host I loved the scene when he offered the man a fig
What a beautiful place....the ocean with the mountain back drop is breath taking....no wonder they were hesitant to leave and live elsewhere
Best quote ever... “take note the king of the gods does not have a big prick” 🤣😂🤣😂
I do love this mans enthusiasm for history, he would be a wonderful professor to learn ancient history from.
I cry everytime I watch this guy. He seems so happy, I wish to be like him someday
my depression is showing a little but it's ok. he's worth it
Cheer up and smile for you're a live 😘
they need to dig further out who knows how many people swam out into the sea to try and escape the ash
chris well you’ll never know
At least when they start digging
. . .
Many people didn't know how to swim.
@@FC-hj9ub if Yoda can escape thru the vents, someone had to have made some progress escaping. When it's lava or the ocean, you learn how to swim pretty quick
@@amandasunshine2 There was no lava. But point well taken.
@ Yes, they cant dig out more because there is a city on top of it. I was there about 15 years ago and they had literally dug right to the edge of roads and apartment buildings. Some Herculaneum buildings were only half uncovered as a result. I hope technology advances allow them ways to uncover or map the rest of the city some day. Amazing place.
This is an excellent documentary of the highest quality and a vivid narration! Thank you!
What I would like to know is how did the Roman Empire react to the sudden destruction of two of it's cities?
I've read/heard that when Felix (of the Bible), who had his wife Drusilla with him in Rome, died, Drusilla and their son returned to Pompeii and may have been among the victims of Vesuvius. Does anybody know anything more/for sure and certain?
Read what Pliny writes on the eruption.
@@corneliawissing7950 Both Drusilla and her son died from the eruption
@@Tazmazy , Thank you, Sir/Madam.
Four cities were destroyed not two pompeii, herculaneum, oplontis (actual Torre annunziata) and stabia
When I was younger I was never fascinated by history but now I can't get enough of it. This was an excellent doc done by a really great and enthusiastic narrator. You can tell just how much he loves what he does.
I used to be obsess with Egyptians now I moved on to Rome and Greek. I love history
For a volcano to blow off the top of it's cone means that it erupted with an immense force. Think of the eruption of Mt. St. Helen's, the entire shape of the mountain was drastically changed in seconds. I can't imagine the fear of the citizens who lived on the base of Mt. Vesuvius when it erupted.
I would love to spend a week exploring Pompeii and Herculaneum, walking the streets and attempting to mentally enter and examine the context of a two thousand year old civilization that is gone forever.
I will watch further. I have taken a pause at 7:07. What were they doing down here? The distribution of remains makes that clear to me. They were loading boats to escape. The men were loading or preparing or dragging out the remaining craft. The wives and children were sheltering until there was space available to depart. And then the end time came to all of them suddenly. Caught in the moment of attempting to escape by sea.
That makes perfect sense. And the shockwave of the volcano bursting would have probably blown the boats out to sea if it didn't totally disintegrate them, which is why they wouldn't have been found in the harbor. Or I guess they're just wood in water and rotted away. Who knows. xD
@@Alexrider02 Your ideas are excellent Wood may have burned or been swept away,, or rotted leaving only the bones of the men. Another possibility had occurred to me.
Pliny the Younger, a Roman historian wrote of repeated trips by boats to rescue those trapped. Pliny the Elder,, the most famous of Roman historians died in the eruption,, on a boat,, in the harbor,, after having returned for another load of survivors and his friend. Boats are recorded as making multiple trips to evacuate the people trapped on the Pompeii shore. There were probably no boats in the harbor of Herculaneum when the final pyroclastic flow killed them all. They were waiting for the return of the evacuation boats, that were making multiple trips to carry all out. The end came suddenly and harshly. Some of the skulls were burst because brains boiled suddenly and steam burst the skulls. That hot,, that quick.
@@Sailor376also Oof, boiled brains, what a way to go. Utterly fascinating, but morbidly sad at the same time.
The fact that it appears there are only a few skeletons near the shore and the vast majority are closer to the shelters is interesting to me, too. I wonder if you're right in that there were no boats in the harbor at the moment and they were waiting for them to come back, huddled by the shelters rather than inside so as not to overcrowd them.
@@Alexrider02 I think you have it. The final pyroclastic flow must have been a doozie. There is a bath house in Herculaneum. The sink? bowl? tub? is a carved marble basin like 8 feet in diameter. It must weigh tons, solid marble. That final flow blasted through the building with such force that the heavy 8 foot diameter tub was flung off its stand and pasted up against the far wall vertically. And that is how it stood for 1800 years until excavated and replaced on its stand. That final blast must have been the force of an atomic bomb.
@@Sailor376also Unbelievable. Having seen the power and devastation of the blast in Beirut was incredible enough as it is, but imagining it in comparison to the power of this blast is mind-boggling. Atomic bomb may be an understatement. It always amazes me to think how, despite all of our technology and advancement, we're still just as vulnerable to some aspects of nature as our ancient ancestors. Our only real option is, just like theirs was, to flee as far as we can and hope we can get far enough away before it bursts. Thankfully we learned our lesson and so don't build next to volcanoes anymore!
*Slowly looks out the window at Mt Saint Helens on the horizon*
CZcams now gives us access to truly informative documentaries while TV on the other hand...
This is so extraordinary! My little sister was completely astonished to find out that the marble statues we know today were quite colourful. I really love history and had the luck of learning latin in school- it really is an linguistic journey into history long time ago.
"A cloud, from which mountain was uncertain, at this distance (but it was found afterwards to come from Mount Vesuvius), was ascending, the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches; occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of which decreased as it advanced upwards, or the cloud itself being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in the manner I have mentioned; it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders." Pliny the Younger
So Very Well Done, Thank You to All Involved, You’re the type of people that enrich our world!
An extraordinary documentary; the best I've ever seen on life in Ancient Rome! Professor Wallace-Hadrill's enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. I'll have to look at some of his other documentaries...
Those God statues are magnificent . Perfect. Pure art. Priceless. Gorgeous.
And teeny weeny peenies. Were all men's peens so much smaller then?
@@cindykq8086 hhooo they were certainly not small. That era is a testosterone era w compared to nowadays. But it was designed small on purpose because having à big penis was à shame at that time, AND related to barbarians. True story. www.howtotalkaboutarthistory.com/reader-questions/why-do-all-old-statues-have-such-small-penises/
I didn't want this episode to end! I am overwhelmed with interest,and curiosity!! I am absolutely overwhelmed.
Were the pillars, for example, created around the bricks? Were the public baths a luxury or a rule? Or even a sexual place of congregation? Are excavations still ongoing?! I want to be involved!
@tony biddle that's so interesting to me. I don't know what the feeling is called but it is an overwhelming one! It almost feels like time travel! I love it! Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the ancient world!
They all look so happy with their work it's so contagious. Their passion about the subject made the documentary so enjoyable to watch.
But still that baby in the crib made me shed a tear
Good to know that the romans had action figures of their favorite gods at home
What a beautiful presentation of Herculaneum, I had no idea the city was so well preserved.
So thankful to have seen this. Feelings of delight and learning satisfaction so very much needed during these times!
When I was younger, I thought history was boring. Who cares about learning about something already happened. But now I’m older, I find it so interesting and fascinating.