The Riddle of Pompeii
The Hidden Scrolls of Herculaneum

At about 1pm on 24 August AD 79, Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupted violently. By the end of the following day, thousands of people were dead and the flourishing Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum had disappeared beneath tons of ash, pumice and solidified mud.

The two-part Secrets of the Dead special looked first at research that can now tell us what happened during those terrible 24 hours and exactly what sort of volcanic phenomenon left those remaining in Pompeii dead but with no signs of injury.

The second part concentrated on the relatively unknown ruins of Herculaneum and the wonders that have been discovered there - and those that remain to be excavated. Among the treasures found there are some 1,800 papyrus scrolls, all badly burned.

However, many of these have been painstakingly unrolled and deciphered, and today, using NASA imaging technology, even more are being read, revealing much about the thought and literature of that time.

This website takes these subjects further. A timetable of the AD 79 eruption compares recent scientific research with the eyewitness account of the Roman writer Pliny the Younger.

A chronology takes us through the history of the archaeological excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

There is an examination of papyrus and papyrus scrolls, and of the influence of the archaeological discoveries in this part of Italy on the arts and architecture of the rest of Europe.

The history of Vesuvius and its many eruptions is also featured, as is the science behind the eruption of AD 79. And there is an extensive list of websites and books through which viewers can expand their knowledge further.

Home | Vesuvius | Volcano science | Unravelling the mystery | Pompeii and the arts |Find out more

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