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Things That Don't Make Sense About The Disaster Of Pompeii [10:47]
YouTube ^ | September 14, 2024 | Grunge

Posted on 09/25/2024 9:22:26 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

Why is there only one firsthand account of the Vesuvius eruption? How is it possible the Romans had such well-cared-for teeth? After nearly two thousand years, there are still plenty of unanswered questions about the Pompeii eruption.
Voiceover By: Tim Bensch
Why ignore the warning signs? | 0:00
A foggy timeline | 1:42
Why didn't a water evacuation work? | 3:08
How big was the eruption? | 4:21
What's with the nice teeth? | 5:28
Did they not understand volcanoes? | 6:24
What about the refugees? | 7:28
Where are other firsthand accounts? | 8:36
Why blame the inhabitants? | 9:49
Things That Don't Make Sense About The Disaster Of Pompeii | 10:47
Grunge | 2.39M subscribers | 33,871 views | September 14, 2024
Things That Don't Make Sense About The Disaster Of Pompeii | 10:47 | Grunge | 2.39M subscribers | 33,871 views | September 14, 2024

(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; epigraphyandlanguage; fluoride; fluorine; garrettryan; godsgravesglyphs; grunge; herculaneum; plinytheyounger; pompeii; romanempire; skeletalfluorosis; teeth; timbensch; toldinstone; vesuvius; volcano; youtube
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Transcript
·Why ignore the warning signs?
0:00·Why is there only one firsthand account of the Vesuvius eruption? How is it possible the Romans
0:05·had such well-cared-for teeth? And what's the deal with the Giants? After nearly two thousand years,
0:10·there are still plenty of unanswered questions about the Pompeii eruption.
0:15·The inhabitants of Pompeii and nearby settlements like Herculaneum almost
0:18·certainly had warnings that something was going on with their local volcano.
0:22·Now obviously the ancient Romans neither had advanced seismological equipment nor our modern
0:27·understanding of how volcanoes like Vesuvius work — namely, that it erupts periodically
0:31·and that eruptions probably will be preceded by increased activity like earthquakes. But
0:36·contemporary accounts make it clear that people noticed changes in the mountain.
0:40·Writing more than a century later, Cassius Dio wrote that locals had
0:43·reportedly seen giants on the mountain, followed by earthquakes and loud rumbling
0:47·from the ground. These "giants" may have actually been plumes of gas emitted from
0:51·the mountain. When you think about it, they kinda fit the bill of boisterous,
0:54·destructive creatures in the Roman imagination. Or it was just really giants...
0:59·It's not obvious how everyday Pompeians reacted to these signs. Clearly,
1:03·they elicited some amount of fear, but there's good evidence that buildings — and even water
1:08·pipes — in Pompeii and the surrounding area had been or were in the process of being repaired at
1:12·the time of the eruptions. The damage may well have been the result of recurrent earthquakes,
1:17·like a fairly large and destructive one that struck the area in 62 A.D. - which
1:21·was 17 years before the big one in 79 A.D.. While some people had already left Pompeii
1:26·as a result of what were probably increasing geological disturbances,
1:29·there were others that weren't about to leave the lucrative environment of the bustling city.
1:36·"I'm not leaving...I'm not leaving."
1:39·That ended up being a poor choice.
·A foggy timeline
1:42·The fateful day of the eruption was long believed to be August 24, 79 A.D., We say "believed"
1:48·because we're going by the accounts of ancient writers who related stories of the disaster.
1:52·Namely, they were going by what Pliny the Younger offers up in the only eyewitness account of the
1:56·eruption. He wrote his account in two letters to Roman emperor and historian Tacitus.
2:01·But Pliny's account, which includes the dramatic evacuation attempt undertaken by his uncle Pliny
2:06·the Elder, may not be fully accurate. While Pliny the Younger observed the eruption from
2:10·a much safer vantage point across a bay of water, he may have been so overcome that he got the dates
2:15·wrong. Or, given that it was written about two decades after the events of the disaster, Pliny
2:20·may have simply misremembered. Centuries later, among the ruins of Pompeii's surprising graffiti,
2:25·archaeologists found one inscription written on a wall in charcoal. It includes a date that,
2:30·according to our modern calendar system, puts the inscription in mid-October. Given
2:34·how easily the charcoal would have come off the wall, chances are that it was set
2:38·down shortly before the eruption buried it in ash and other debris. There was a
2:42·lot of graffiti in Pompeii, like a lot! But post-dating graffiti isn't really a thing,
2:47·This revelation cinched long-held suspicions by archaeologists who have studied the site,
2:51·given how other excavators found evidence of heating systems in use
2:55·and the consumption of harvested fruits that didn't jive with a summer date. In
2:59·his defense Pliny the Younger earned his nickname - he was around 17 when Vesuvius
3:03·erupted and his letters recounting the incident were written 25 years later.
·Why didn't a water evacuation work?
3:08·There's one obvious question hanging over the proceedings:
3:10·why didn't people escape by water? It was a seaside resort on the Bay of Naples,
3:15·and not only was open water right there while a fiery volcano rained down ash and other debris,
3:20·but there were also docks and ships that could get people out of town. So,
3:24·why have archaeologists uncovered human remains in the shoreside boat houses of nearby Herculaneum?
3:29·"The skeletons still lie exactly where they fell two thousand years ago..."
3:35·The explanation may have had something to do with the weather. For starters,
3:38·waters in the bay were normally rough – and with ground-trembling earthquakes,
3:42·it's not like they would've been less choppy. Then, there were the winds. Pliny the Younger
3:46·wrote in his account that winds blowing inland kept some boats from leaving, though he added:
3:51·"This wind, of course, was fully in my uncle's favor and quickly brought his boat to Stabiae."
3:55·Pliny the Elder did make it out from the initial destruction, but according to the Younger's
3:59·account, he died after inhaling volcanic fumes in his own attempt to rescue those trapped on land.
4:04·It's possible that some waterways would have been eventually choked and crushed by falling pumice,
4:09·ash, and other debris. Throw in the fact that 2000 years ago not everyone knew how to swim,
4:14·would you rather drown escaping the volcano or ride it out and
4:17·hope the flying rocks miss you? Water wasn't that safe of a bet.
·How big was the eruption?
4:21·For such a dramatically destructive event that
4:23·killed thousands and buried multiple cities beneath feet of ash and pumice,
4:27·it's odd we don't know how large the eruption of Vesuvius actually was.
4:31·Today, one common measure of a volcano's power is its volcanic explosivity index,
4:35·or VEI. A relatively gentle effusive eruption with low-viscosity lava and little pressure,
4:41·just like something from Hawaii's Kilauea , gets a VEI of 0. The infamous 1980 eruption
4:46·of Mount St. Helens, which blew about a third of the mountain off, gets a 5.
4:50·"Residents of towns near the mountain, of course, were considerably shaken..."
4:56·The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program guesses that Vesuvius gets a tentative
5:00·VEI of 5. Though the exact scale of the eruption isn't easy to pin down,
5:05·there's little doubt that it was enormous. Pliny the Younger's account indicates that Vesuvius
5:10·was actively erupting for more than 18 hours and created a tremendous mushroom cloud that ballooned
5:15·above the landscape for miles. To be more precise, he likened it to the shape of an umbrella pine.
5:20·To put it in perspective, Mount St. Helens is the largest eruption in
5:24·US history – so Vesuvius was at least as powerful as that one.
·What's with the nice teeth?
5:28·When modern archaeologists uncovered victims of the disaster,
5:31·they found that the ancient people of the city had unusually good teeth for the time.
5:35·If it weren't for the falling debris, pyroclastic flows, and smothering ash,
5:39·they would have been pretty darn lucky. If you're wondering why, one reason is
5:42·likely because the Pompeians ate a low-sugar diet, – less sugar equals less rotting teeth.
5:48·They also – ironically – had Vesuvius to thank. The geological system that produced the volcano
5:53·appears to have introduced fluorine into the local water system. Somewhat like fluoridated
5:57·water today, it could have helped stave off tooth decay by strengthening tooth enamel. But,
6:01·there's a dark side to all that fluorine. According to a 2011 paper published in PLoS One,
6:07·the ancient residents of the area around Pompeii appear to have at least occasionally suffered
6:11·from skeletal fluorosis. That's the result of getting too much fluoride as a youth,
6:15·and causes joint pain and leads to more bone breaks. Pretty teeth isn't exactly
6:19·a fair trade-off for not being able to run away from lava because of joint pain.
·Did they not understand volcanoes?
6:24·In Strabo's Geography — written about five decades before the eruption that destroyed Pompeii — the
6:28·ancient geographer describes the barren, burned summit of Vesuvius that loomed above rich fields
6:33·below. Meanwhile, Diodorus Siculus wrote that Vesuvius still showed the marks of a great,
6:38·fiery past. Supposedly, it was also witness to a long-ago battle between
6:42·the hero Heracles and a group of massive, boisterous giants. Giants again... you know,
6:47·maybe we shouldn't have just "poo-poo'ed" those giant stories from earlier. Just Sayin'...
6:51·Anyway, it's not clear just how much people understood the possibility that it could erupt
6:55·again. After all, there were the busy cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as the
7:00·surrounding rich farmlands, all filled with people who didn't seem that worried about the
7:03·local mountain – well, outside the giants that obviously lived there. People barely mention the
7:08·volcano in writings around the time, and so far only one fresco uncovered in Pompeii appears to
7:13·depict Vesuvius — which shows a more complete peak – not like how it looks today, all blown
7:18·apart in the eruption. Their misunderstanding meant they regarded Vesuvius as an innocuous part
7:23·of the landscape – albeit loaded with giants – instead of a disaster waiting to happen.
·What about the refugees?
7:28·It's clear that some people were able to escape Pompeii before destruction obliterated the city.
7:33·Most estimates account for around 13,000 survivors from a pre-eruption population of 15,000, given
7:38·that about 2,000 sets of remains have been found by modern archaeologists in the ruins of Pompeii
7:43·and nearby Herculaneum. Still, with population numbers not exactly accurate — after all,
7:48·the disaster happened nearly two millennia ago — that number remains a pretty broad estimate.
7:53·The more tricky thing, however, is figuring out exactly where those survivors went and what they
7:58·did after the eruption. In the aftermath, it appears that nearby settlements that
8:02·were relatively unaffected, such as Naples and Ostia, began to expand. It stands to reason that
8:07·at least some of the survivors traveled to the closest stable area and put down stakes there.
8:12·Inconsistencies in family names and addresses make it hard for researchers
8:16·to tease out specifics. The most recent effort undertaken by classics professor Steven L. Tuck,
8:21·which compares Roman inscriptions with unique names associated with the Pompeii region,
8:25·found more than 200 likely survivors. It's a start, but where are the other
8:30·almost 13,000 survivors? Is that 13,000 number highly inflated?
·Where are other firsthand accounts?
8:36·Besides the firsthand account written by Pliny the Younger, no others seem to exist. What gives?
8:41·"That does not make sense."
8:43·Scholars estimate the literacy rate of ancient Rome was 15%,
8:47·though that number could vary depending on when and where you were. Given the well-appointed
8:51·villas excavated by modern archaeologists, it's obvious that at least some elites lived
8:55·in Pompeii. It stands to reason that a number of those upper-class people
8:59·would have known to read and write. If even one or two of that group managed to escape,
9:03·then they surely could have found a pen and paper to scribble down what happened.
9:07·Yet, at least for now, we only have Pliny's account of what he saw from
9:10·across the Bay of Naples, written 20 plus years after the eruption. Perhaps there is
9:14·another account hidden somewhere else or a Pompeian refugee did write their
9:18·recollections down, all lost to time on crumbling fragments of papyrus.
9:22·Or maybe, just maybe, it's in the Bible. This is a serious long shot, but biblical scholar James
9:27·Tabor suggests that the Book of Revelation's terrifying apocalyptic imagery may include a
9:32·coded account of the eruption. He contends that the fall of Babylon described in the text is
9:37·potentially a description of how the port city of Pompeii was consumed by volcanic destruction
9:41·as its inhabitants faced God's divine wrath. That's a bit of a stretch – a giant stretch.
9:48·In the long aftermath of the disaster of Pompeii, it's become somewhat fashionable
·Why blame the inhabitants?
9:51·to blame the dead for their own fate. Why are all these people living near a giant-infested
9:56·volcano? If only they had been smarter and wiser, they would have sensibly left the
10:00·city early and abandoned their heavy valuables. And that is arguably the most confusing thing
10:05·about many modern descriptions of Pompeii's destruction, which make it seem as if people
10:09·just sat there in their homes, guarding their property and waiting for the eruption to end.
10:13·But in one house, the remains of a heavily pregnant person and 11 others were found,
10:17·hinting that a young woman close to giving birth could not simply run away and that members of her
10:21·family stayed to support her. The bones of another man — who appears to have died in the superheated
10:26·pyroclastic flow that came barreling down the slopes of Vesuvius — showed a limb disability
10:30·that would have made it difficult for him to walk – it was probably due to all that floride.
10:35·All the modern blame-gaming can't make sense of what happened 2000 years ago.

1 posted on 09/25/2024 9:22:26 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
Thanks for not pissing and moaning about the transcript.

2 posted on 09/25/2024 9:24:10 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv

It was a set-up.

There were compromising murals of the elites.

The Republican Guards planned it all.................


3 posted on 09/25/2024 9:31:31 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SunkenCiv

charles pelligrino’s ghosts of Vesuvius is a worthwhile read.


4 posted on 09/25/2024 9:37:31 AM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
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To: Red Badger

It was those darned giants! :^)


5 posted on 09/25/2024 9:40:08 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv
likely because the Pompeians ate a low-sugar diet, – less sugar equals less rotting teeth.

That makes sense. I have the general impression that the widespread availability of candy starting in the 19th century caused a calamitous decline in dental health, until tooth brushing and other dental care became a thing in the 20th century.

Peter Jackson created a fascinating documentary on WWI soldiers, They Shall Not Grow Old, that would seemingly have nothing to do with this topic. And yet when I saw it, it struck me as the best advertisement for modern dental care that one could imagine. It shows scene after scene of WWI soldiers of all ages whose mouths are in absolutely horrid shape. If I'd seen it as a kid it sure would have scared me straight into brushing religiously 3X/day.

6 posted on 09/25/2024 9:40:19 AM PDT by EnderWiggin1970
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An introduction to Herculaneum, buried and preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. This video surveys the site and some of its public monuments.
Highlights of Herculaneum (Part I) | 5:47
Scenic Routes to the Past | 32.1K subscribers | 29,001 views | July 9, 2024
Highlights of Herculaneum (Part I) | 5:47 | Scenic Routes to the Past | 32.1K subscribers | 29,001 views | July 9, 2024
This second part of my survey of Herculaneum explores some of the site's incredibly well-preserved houses.
Highlights of Herculaneum (Part II) | 7:01
Scenic Routes to the Past | 32.1K subscribers | 114,212 views | July 12, 2024
Highlights of Herculaneum (Part II) | 7:01 | Scenic Routes to the Past | 32.1K subscribers | 114,212 views | July 12, 2024

7 posted on 09/25/2024 9:48:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv; SaveFerris; PROCON

They weren’t anti-dentite. They hung out at the dentist office.


8 posted on 09/25/2024 9:54:45 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: teeman8r

Thanks!

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/ghosts-of-vesuvius-a-new-look-at-the-last-days-of-pompeii-how-towers-fall-and-other-strange-connections_charles-r-pellegrino/489981/


9 posted on 09/25/2024 9:54:54 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv

They should have gone to electric cars.

And electric volcanoes. Those gas volcanoes are murder on the environment.


10 posted on 09/25/2024 9:56:50 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: EnderWiggin1970

Thanks! Y’know, I think I’ve seen this and forgotten all about it. Didn’t he have a lip reader who constructed some of what was being said on the silent footage?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7905466/


11 posted on 09/25/2024 10:03:22 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: Larry Lucido

They were just driving ‘round in Jon Voight’s car.


12 posted on 09/25/2024 10:04:04 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv

According to archaeologists and anthropologists good teeth in long dead guys can be a sign of not a lot of carbs in the diet. Bread and circuses notwithstanding.


13 posted on 09/25/2024 10:06:22 AM PDT by TalBlack (Fight Fight Fight America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKOJdMog6T0)
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To: TalBlack

The Egyptians used grinding stones that left bits of abrasive dust in their bread, which at times led to tooth wear and (possibly, in the case of the Pharaoh Hatshepsut) death due to dental abcess.


14 posted on 09/25/2024 10:10:53 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: TalBlack

The bread dole was a continual thing in Rome for hundreds of years. For maximum political impact, it was combined with The Games, so folks had to get the Circuses in order to get the Bread, which means carbs. That’ll teach ‘em.


15 posted on 09/25/2024 10:23:52 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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https://www.youtube.com/@scenicroutestothepast/videos


16 posted on 09/25/2024 10:28:49 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Very interesting. These transcripts are simply brilliant and make SUCH a difference.


17 posted on 09/25/2024 10:52:46 AM PDT by mairdie (Trump (I Will Win) - Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma https://youtu.be/MigUKGKr-nQ)
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To: SunkenCiv

Yeah! How could their teeth be so good if they didn’t put fluoride in their water?

</sarc>


18 posted on 09/25/2024 11:05:59 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again," )
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To: fella

Yeah, I got a giggle about that. While it *may* have been a factor, I’d like to see if any research has ever been done on the extant remains, which are considerable. Even the plaster-of-Paris castings generally contain skeletal remains.


19 posted on 09/25/2024 11:07:37 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: mairdie

While YT’s engine generates most of them, some of the official transcripts are used from various media sources on their own channels.


20 posted on 09/25/2024 11:08:46 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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