Pierre Henri de Valenciennes represented in 1813 the death of the admiral and scholar Pliny the Elder, who sought to help the victims of the eruption. Augustins Museum, Toulouse • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Slight earthquakes have been sweeping the Gulf of Naples for several days. Simple unpredictable jolts, without common measure with the earthquake of 62 apr. AD No one thinks it useful to be wary. The October air is still mild. Figs and nuts fill the fruit bowls on merchant stalls and in the dining rooms of mansions in the peaceful seaside resort of Pompeii. The harvest is over. The fertile mountain slopes produce quality grapes. The wine is just coming out of the press. Amphorae have just been delivered to a back room located alongside the Silver Wedding anniversary. Nearby, in a house under construction, a worker satisfied with his agape graffiti in charcoal on one of the walls of the room he is renovating:“On October 17, he had a feast. People smile, chat happily as they go about their daily business:commerce, politics, love stories... They don't know that the happy days will end in a week. An ordinary Sunday On October 24, 79 AD. AD looks like any other Sunday. Yesterday the market was in Pompeii. Today he is at Nocera, as usual. On the forum, men in togas discuss the next elections, others buy fabrics in the building of Eumachia, the city's great patron. It is still too early to go to the thermal baths, but in the alley of the brothel, the girls are already hailing passers-by from the balcony of the brothel. At lunchtime, walkers jostle in the taverns with masonry counters open to the street. At the cabaretière Hédonè, we drink wine for 1 aces, but for 4 aces a delicious falerne, a regional grand cru. Customers in a hurry swallow cheese, bread or olives, gourmets savor a patina , a kind of egg flan with pears. While some linger at the inn casting languorous glances at the waitresses, others go home to take a nap. Suddenly, around 1 p.m., an infernal roar coming from the bowels of the earth freezes the Pompeians in their movements and wakes the sleepers. The walkers of the forum are in the front row of an unexpected spectacle:a huge plume of smoke rises at full speed from the peaceful mountain. They are flabbergasted by this dark column which spreads out in the sky like a 27 km high umbrella pine. Ash rain and small pumice stones On the other side of the Gulf of Naples, in the naval base of Misenum, Admiral Pliny the Elder observes the phenomenon from the terrace of his villa. This learned encyclopaedist has never seen such a thing. Very quickly, however, he has the intuition that the inhabitants of the coastal villas at the foot of Vesuvius must be rescued. He ordered several of his ships to row towards Pompeii, but strong headwinds prevented hoisting the sails. Pliny the Younger, his nephew, refuses to follow him. He remains in Misenum and will become for posterity the greatest eyewitness of the events. The explosive eruptions will even be called "Plinian" in his honor. Less than an hour after the start of the eruption, incredulous Pompeians take to the streets and watch the rain of ash and small white pumice stones. Staggering inhibits panic. In the house of the Chastes Amants, the parietal painters take the time to cover the running motifs with a coat of lime to get back to their work the next day. The minutes pass, and the rain of pumice stones, now big and gray, falls more heavily. Faced with this abnormal situation, many Pompeians throw a coat over their shoulders and deposit a few gold coins in their leather purse. Women adorn themselves with their favorite jewelry. All set off on the road towards Naples, as the wind pushes the column of smoke in the opposite direction, towards the southeast. On the port, the sailors fail to take off. Contrary winds and currents prohibit navigation. The elderly, women with children and owners determined not to leave their property prefer to temporize and retreat into their domus waiting for the end of this strange storm. At 5 p.m., the plume of black smoke from Vesuvius obscured the sky. According to Pliny the Younger, it is as dark as a windowless room. At 5 p.m., the plume of black smoke from Vesuvius obscured the sky. According to Pliny the Younger, it is as dark as a windowless room. We only see the red glow of fires in the distance. Heavy pumice stones now shatter the tiles of the houses they fall on. Some 100 million tons of stones lie on the ground in the region... In Pompeii, a second wave of desperate fugitives jostle in the streets. They jump from windows or make holes in the walls, because it is now impossible to open the doors blocked by the rubble. Walking on 10 to 30 cm of volcanic debris is a challenge. The air is saturated with fine, burning ashes. Despite cloths placed in front of the mouth and nose, some collapse, asphyxiated:the light dust has turned into a kind of deadly cement on contact with the bronchi in the lungs. Abandoned by the gods Around 6 p.m., 1,000 to 2,000 people still live in the city. The roofs collapsed under the weight of the accumulated rocks, condemning the first floors of the villas. Small groups of prisoners from the eruption take refuge in blind living rooms or under stairs. The sparks of oil lamps flicker in the air reeking with volcanic gases. The last survivors are convinced that the gods no longer exist. No one will hear their desperate prayers. In the middle of the night, the fall of volcanic debris slows down, but the earth still shakes intermittently with dull rumblings. Now you have to choose to die hiding or trying to flee. Driven by a paltry instinct for survival, a pregnant woman realizes, far too late, that she made the wrong decision by staying in the city. She goes out and walks a few meters in the rue de Stabies in a southerly direction, but her steps are uncertain in the black fog. The lapilli roll under his feet. She falls, brings her right arm back, fist clenched in front of her eyes and her left hand in front of her nose. Volcanic dust blocks his breathing. She is probably already dead when a pyroclastic flow submerges her body a little later. The few daring people who set out to storm the streets, driven by the hope of escaping, are unaware that the nearby city of Herculaneum has also already been wiped off the map by two fiery clouds. Third wave At dawn on October 25, the rosy-fingered aurora is unable to break through the ash cloud. Part of the smoke column collapses under its own weight. The third wave forms and descends the slope of Vesuvius west of Pompeii, with its deadly gases at more than 300 ° C and its burning rocks. The splendor of the terraces and gardens of the villa of Diomede, along the way of the sepulchres, is already only a memory. However, under the portico, two individuals are still trying to flee. One of them holds an iron key and a purse containing 10 aurei gold, 88 silver denarii and 9 bronze coins. A fine sum to serve as an obol for Charon, the boatman of the Underworld! For a long time, archaeologists imagined that it was the master and his beloved slave trying to reach the coast to flee. No one, alas, can ever say. These two reckless died overwhelmed by the breaking wave like the 18 adults, the young boy and the baby who remained in the house, and like the 20 people crammed into the cryptoporticus near the amphoras of wine... The muddy mixture of volcanic debris has preserved the perfect shape of a female bust covered in her dress, a throat that one might think carved by Praxiteles himself. The muddy mixture of volcanic debris imprisons their bodies in a thick gangue, which has preserved the negative imprint of the tormented folds of their tunics or braided hairstyles. The deposits have thus preserved the perfect shape of a female bust covered with her dress, a throat that one could believe carved by Praxiteles in person. This casting with generous breasts will inspire the 19 th century the character of Arria Marcella, in the eponymous short story written by Théophile Gautier. A shroud of ashes A little later, around 7:30 a.m., a new fiery cloud formed. At more than 100 km per hour, it heads towards Pompeii, ruthlessly killing the last survivors of the city. In one of the rooms of the quadriportico of the theaters used as barracks for the gladiators, 34 people are mowed down. On the doorstep of the room, a woman adorned with rich gold and emerald jewelry dies, unaware that her corpse will feed the legend of the rich matron who came to find refuge in the arms of her gladiator lover for centuries. In a loft of the same building, a man succumbs near his horse. Was he a gladiator unable to leave the animal he was riding in the arena? In one of the downtown inns, a man is paying dearly for his greed. He took advantage of the flight of his neighbors to loot them. In his purse, he piled coins, five pairs of earrings, 15 gold and silver rings, precious dishes and many gems. Alas, none of these artifacts saved his life when the pyroclastic flow reached him. At 8 a.m., a final surge completes the weaving of Pompeii's shroud of ashes. All life has already left her. The upper parts of the buildings gave way. Only gables and columns protrude here and there from the volcanic debris, the height of which rises in places to 4 m. The Emperor sends help The Bay of Naples emerges from an apocalyptic sleepless night. Pliny the Elder, who sailed to Stabiae, succumbed in the morning, asphyxiated by gas. From Misenum, Pliny the Younger watched the spectacle of the eruption in horror. The rays of the day do not manage to pierce the surroundings of the volcano, still plunged into darkness. The rain of thick ash continues to fall and threatens to engulf fleeing people on the roads in shadow. The survivors are convinced of experiencing the end of the world with each new earthquake. On October 26, after another night of anguish, calm gradually set in. The coastal landscape is turned upside down. The help sent by the Emperor Titus is organized. Soon the decision to build a new neighborhood for refugees in Naples was taken. Pliny the Younger begins a correspondence with the historian Tacitus, the famous author of the Annals , to state the facts. Its major testimony, however, will hardly allow us to take the measure of the most terrible natural disaster of Antiquity. Find out more Pompeii. Mythology and history, by William Van Andringa, CNRS Éditions, 2013.Pompeii and ancient Campania, of Jean-Noël Robert, Les Belles Lettres, 2015.Website:A Day in Pompei (Melbourne Museum and Zero One Animation). Ashes and Books Since excavations began in the 18 th century, Pompeii ignites the imagination of writers. One of the first to draw inspiration from the disaster for a novel was Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in 1834. However, he did not know the site and the customs of the time very well, so that The Last Days of Pompeii will be at the origin of fantasies relayed by peplums for more than a century. Wilhelm Jensen, more gothic, makes the ruins of Pompeii the scene of an improbable love story in Gradiva , published in 1903. Author of thrillers, Cristina Rodríguez signs The Mysteries of Pompeii in 2008; its hero, Praetorian Prefect Kaeso, investigates suspicious murders. In turn, in 2017, the Italian TV star Alberto Angela skilfully mixes the codes of the novel and the report to take his reader through the meanders of the city in The Three Days of Pompeii . Amélie Nothomb herself could not resist. Pompeii inspired him in 1996 for his Péplum , a science fiction fable set between antiquity and the distant future. From the rose water novel to the black series, through children's literature, it's a safe bet that Pompeii will continue to make ink flow for a long time to come. Like the very recent historical novel, Pompeii. Blood and Ashes , by Michèle Makki. Who are the entwined lovers? On April 6, 2017, Massimo Osanna, director general of the archaeological site of Pompeii, declared that the entwined lovers discovered in 1922 in the house of the cryptoporticus are in fact two men. According to their DNA, they were 18 and 20 years old. More romantic than pragmatic, we want to see them as lovers, but it is impossible to define their relationship. At the point of death, isn't it natural to seek a last contact?
