Visit guide for
primary teachers
Life and death
Pompeii and
Herculaneum
28 March – 29 September 2013
Portrait of baker Terentius Neo and
his wife. Pompeii, AD 55–79.
© Soprintendenza Speciale
per i Beni Archeologici di
Napoli e Pompei.
Contents
About the exhibition
3
Planning your visit
5
Exhibition activity sheets
7
Rooms in the house: the atrium
8
Rooms in the house: a cubiculum
9
Rooms in the house: the garden
10
Rooms in the house: the living spaces
11
Rooms in the house: the kitchen
12
People in the house: slaves
13
People in the house: house guest
14
People in the house: the client
15
People in the house: the mistress
16
People in the house: children
17
People in the house: the master of the house
18
Briefing sheet for adult helpers
19
Background information
20
Exhibition image bank
26
Further resources
27
Visit Guide for primary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
2
About the exhibition
This exhibition focuses on the house and home life in Pompeii and Herculaneum in
the first century AD rather than on the towns themselves and the cultural
institutions and practices associated with town life, such as trade, the forum, public
entertainment, the baths, politics and so on.
Objects in the exhibition are grouped according to the room of the house with
which they are most closely associated. The exhibition is intended to evoke
something of the layout of a house in Pompeii or Herculaneum and does not
reconstruct an actual house.
The layout of the exhibition is as follows:
Introduction and video presentation introduces the two towns, the nature of the
eruption that destroyed them and how what was preserved offers insight into the
lives of their inhabitants.
Outside the house a glimpse of the urban context of the houses and street life;
two displays on a shop and a tavern
The rooms of the house the main part of the exhibition is a room-by-room display
of objects, paintings and mosaics
Dying the final section examines the destruction of the towns and the fate of those
who died, but stresses their lives as represented through their possessions,
homes, images and words.
Objects for children
We have selected a number of objects and sets of objects which we think KS2
students will enjoy looking at. These are marked with the dog symbol on the left.
Sexual content
Please be aware that some objects and images in the exhibition have sexual
overtones, mostly due to the depiction of a phallus. In the Garden section of the
exhibition, there is a statue of the goat god Pan having sexual intercourse with a
goat. This statue has been placed in an area which you will find easy to avoid if
you prefer. Explicit sexual imagery was an accepted feature of ancient Roman
culture and, in the case of the phallus, was associated with good luck and fertility.
These associations may be of help in dealing with students’ questions.
Dead bodies
One of the first objects the students will see is the famous plaster cast of a
struggling dog. The final section of exhibition includes one resin and five plaster
casts of human victims of the eruption of Vesuvius, including a family of two adults
and two children. Please encourage students to behave with respect in this
section. Response to the casts can range from exaggerated revulsion to prurient
interest to emotional upset. We recommend talking with students about the casts in
school, before they visit the exhibition. Discuss how the casts were made (see
page 25), how the objects discovered with them inform us about who the people
were and what they decided to carry with them in their attempt to escape the
eruption, and how they remind us that this distant historical disaster was a real
event involving real people.
Visit Guide for primary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
3
Using the exhibition
In advance
Decide on a focus for the visit and a follow-up activity and go through these with
the students. Some examples of possible ‘big question’ focuses are given on
page 5.
If you are using activity sheets, go through them with the students in advance.
Use the ideas in Pre-visit preparation below (see page 6) and the exhibition image
bank (see page 26) to provide general background and to familiarise students with
some of the content of the exhibition.
On the day
Divide the class into small groups, with an adult assigned to each group.
Give each adult a free exhibition guide, available at the exhibition entrance.
Give each adult a copy of any activity sheets the students are using and a briefing
sheet (see page 19). Explain what you want the students to do in the exhibition.
Encourage adults to allow students to linger at objects which interest them, to
discuss what they see and share things they find out as they go round.
Remind students to behave calmly and politely.
Photography is not allowed within the exhibition, but students may take photos of
relevant objects in the Museum’s permanent galleries.
Afterwards
Discuss the students’ thoughts and responses to the exhibition.
Use what the students have gathered in the exhibition for the follow-up activity.
Re-visit the exhibition image bank, if relevant.
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
4
Planning your visit
We recommend the following three guidelines in planning your students’
visit to the exhibition:
 provide a focus that students should keep in mind as they explore the exhibition
and which you can follow up afterwards
 do some preparatory work in school to develop the focus of the visit and
familiarise students with the content of the exhibition
 allow students some scope to explore to find objects that interest them
Curriculum links
The exhibition offers opportunities in the following curriculum areas and for crosscurricular work:
History
archaeology and how evidence is found, types of evidence, finding out about the
lives of men, women and children in the past
English
the story of the eruption and of the experiences of the people offer great potential
for a wide range of kinds of writing and oral work, including poetry and drama
Science
volcanoes, the advantages and risks of living near a volcano, the process and
consequences of eruptions
Art and design
wall paintings, mosaics, jewellery and decorative objects; patterns, animals, plants
PSHE and Citizenship
responding to natural disasters, preserving the past, excavating human bodies
Structuring the visit
It is often a good idea to have a general ‘big question’ for the students to
keep in mind during their visit. Here are some possible examples:
 What was the most interesting object in the exhibition?
 What did I learn about the Romans that I did not know before?
 What sources of evidence does the exhibition include?
 How useful did I find these for learning about Roman life?
 What have I learned about the Roman world from the objects in the exhibition?
 What else would I put in the exhibition to make it interesting/informative?
This guide includes a number of activity sheets which you can use or adapt to help
focus the students as they go round the exhibition – see pages 7-18.
If you want students to do any drawing, we recommend that they draw one thing
carefully rather than doing lots of drawings.
Encourage the students to enjoy looking at objects they find interesting as well as
completing their focused work.
Visit Guide for primary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
5
Pre-visit preparation
Here are a few suggestions of things to do before your visit to
prepare students.
 Use maps to identify the location of Pompeii and Herculaneum and to help
students understand the relative positions of the two towns, Naples, Vesuvius
and the Bay of Naples.
 Use some of the resources listed on pages 27-28 to help students understand the
nature of the volcanic eruption, its impact on the people and buildings and how
the eruption served both to destroy and to preserve the towns.
 The Roman politician and writer Pliny the Younger was an eye witness to the
eruption. Read and discuss some extracts from his letters where he describes the
eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, and his own
experience of the eruption (see page 27).
 Familiarise the students with the layouts of houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum
and the architectural appearance of the rooms. This will help them contextualise
the objects they see in the exhibition.
 Look through the exhibition image bank (see page 26) to introduce students to
the kinds of objects they will see and to familiarise them with some objects they
will subsequently see ‘for real’.
 Choose one of the wall paintings, mosaics or objects in the image bank and
explore in detail what information a single item can provide about life in the
ancient Roman period.
 Look at Roman objects in the Explore section of britishmuseum.org
Visit Guide for primary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
6
Exhibition activity sheets
There are two sets of activity sheets:
Rooms of the house
A sheet for each section of the exhibition which asks students to look at the objects
and think about how they link with the purpose of the room; suitable for in-depth
study of one room
People in the house
A sheet for each of several ancient characters; the sheets ask students to select
objects that are connected with the character; suitable for taking students to
several different sections of the exhibition
We advise you to allocate one activity sheet to each group of students or, at most,
one sheet from each set, in order not to over-direct the visit.
The activity sheets are designed to be printed/ photocopied as separate sheets
of A4.
Students can use the sheets to record their findings or simply as prompts for
exploring the exhibition.
Use these in combination with the briefing sheet for adult helpers on page 19.
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
7
Rooms in the house: the atrium
The atrium was the first room you entered and was usually the
biggest in the house.
People who wanted to do business with the master of the house
waited for him here.
This is where the members of the household made offerings to the
gods of the house and its family.
The master could use the atrium to show off to visitors.
Find:
something connected with
worshipping the gods
something connected with work that
went on here
something the slaves would find
difficult to keep clean
something that would impress
visitors to the house
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
What does your group think would impress visitors most?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
8
Rooms in the house: a cubiculum
Cubiculum is the Latin word for bedroom.
The cubiculum usually had no windows.
This is where people got themselves for the day.
Slaves would bring water for washing.
Find:
something used to light the room
something used to get ready for the
day ahead
something the slaves could carry
water in
something for sleeping
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
Discuss with your group how the Romans got ready for the day
ahead.
Do you do the same?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
9
Rooms in the house: the garden
The garden was for rest and enjoyment.
Gardens had real plants and artists sometimes painted plants and
animals on the walls.
Water for the fountains came in pipes.
The master could use the garden to show off to visitors.
Find:
something that would make a visitor
feel relaxed
some plants and flowers painted by
an artist
some fountains and waterpipes
something that shows the
garden belongs to a wealthy and
important person
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
Discuss with your group what you enjoy most about this garden.
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
10
Rooms in the house: the living spaces
This is where the family would rest, read, play games or make and
listen to music.
Rich people held dinner parties here.
These rooms were often richly decorated.
Special guests might be allowed into this part of the house.
Find:
something used for eating or
drinking
something the family would enjoy
looking at
something used for entertainment
something that would impress a
visitor
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
What does your group think would be most enjoyable about the living
spaces?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
11
Rooms in the house: the kitchen
The kitchen was small, dark and at the back of the house.
The toilet was next to the kitchen.
Food was stored in jars, bottles and baskets.
There was no running water in the kitchen.
Find:
something the Romans ate
something that is like what you
have in your home
something used for cooking
some things that were found in
the drains
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
What does your group think would be good and bad about working in
the kitchen?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
12
People in the house: slaves
Here are some jobs slaves did:
 Cooking, shopping and cleaning
 looking after the garden
 helping to dress the mistress of the house
 teaching the children to read and write
 guarding the house
Slaves could enter every room in the house.
Where to look: every room of the house
Find:
something used by a well-educated
slave who can read, write or
do maths
something that a slave had to polish
to keep clean
a job a slave had to be strong to do
something a slave had to wash to
keep clean
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
What does your group think would be the worst job in the house?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
13
People in the house: house guest
Here are some things a house guest might do:
 enjoy themselves
 relax
 talk
 laugh
 eat and drink
A house guest could enter the atrium, garden and living rooms.
Where to look: atrium, gardens, living spaces
Find:
something used to entertain guests
something to eat and drink from
something that will impress a guest
something that might make a
guest laugh
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
What does your group think a guest would most enjoy in the house?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
14
People in the house: the client
Clients were people who had business to do with the master.
A client might be a baker or olive grower, or a shopkeeper or trader.
Some clients were once slaves of the master.
A client might want a favour from the master or might just want to
pay him respect.
Clients could enter the atrium and the garden.
Where to look: the atrium and the garden
Find:
something connected with money
and doing business
something that shows the master of
the house is a generous person
something that shows the master of
the house is wealthy
something that would impress
the client
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
What does your group think would impress a client the most?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
15
People in the house: the mistress
Here are some things a wealthy woman would do:
 take part in worshipping the gods
 entertain guests
 give the slaves orders
 look good
 have children
The mistress could enter every room in the house.
Where to look: every room of the house
Find:
something connected with
worshipping the gods
something she used or wore to help
her look good
something used at a dinner party
something she might order a slave
to do
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
What does your group think the mistress would enjoy most about
living in this house?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
16
People in the house: children
Here are some things children might do:
 learn to read and write
 play
 eat
 cause mischief
Children could enter every room in the house
Where to look: every room of the house
Find:
something for writing
somewhere for the baby to sleep
something that would be fun to
play with
something a child would like to eat
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
What does your group think children would most like to play with in
the house?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol.
17
People in the house: the master
Here are some things the owner of the house would do:
 keep track of money and business
 tell slaves what to do
 pay artists to decorate the house
 hold parties to entertain guests
The master could enter every room in the house
Where to look:every room of the house
Find:
something that shows the master is
a businessman
something that makes the master
look wealthy
something he owns that is very
beautiful
something used at a dinner party
Write your ideas down if you want to.
If you want to draw, choose just one thing to draw carefully.
Talk:
Which object in the house does your group think the master would be
proudest of?
Don’t miss!
Look out for objects with this symbol
18
Briefing sheet for adult helpers
Objects with this symbol have been picked out for children.
Please:
 help students find their way around the exhibition
 encourage students to share ideas and observations
 keep them focused on the work their teacher has set
 use the object labels to explain things to students
 draw students’ attention to things they may have missed
Encourage students to watch the video near the beginning. It introduces the two
towns, the nature of the eruption that destroyed them and how what was preserved
helps us understand the lives of their inhabitants.
The main part of the exhibition is arranged room-by room like a house in
Pompeii or Herculaneum:
the street with a shop and a tavern
the atrium main hall for welcoming guests, for doing business and work such
as weaving and for worshipping the household gods
cubiculum the bedroom
garden with fountains and a magnificent painted garden room
living spaces for general living and formal dinner parties
kitchen a wide variety of cooking utensils
The final section examines the destruction of the towns and the fate of those who
died. It includes casts of some of the victims. You may need to be sensitive to
students’ responses. Encourage students to behave with respect. The vast
majority of people in both towns seem to have escaped to safety.
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
19
Background information
Pompeii and Herculaneum are situated on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy. The
area was fertile due to its rich volcanic soils; the climate was good and the
landscape beautiful. The towns had existed for centuries before the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
Rediscovery
By the time the eruption ended, Herculaneum was buried by up to 20 metres of
ash that hardened into rock over time. Pompeii was buried by four to five metres of
ash and volcanic stones. Many buildings were still partly visible and much of the
city was, soon afterwards, stripped of its decoration and valuables.
Centuries later the cities were rediscovered. Herculaneum was found in 1710,
buried so deeply that it could only be explored by tunnelling. Discoveries included
many beautiful sculptures and even a library of carbonised papyrus scrolls.
Excavations at Pompeii, starting in 1748, were easier, requiring only shovels and
wheelbarrows. With many houses, streets and public buildings uncovered,
mentions in books and the increasing fame of the body casts, Pompeii became
more prominent in the public imagination.
Today, one third of Pompeii and two thirds of Herculaneum are still buried. Work
today, however, primarily focuses on conservation.
The people of the cities
On a busy day, the streets of Pompeii and Herculaneum were filled with a bustling
and vibrant mix of people from the cities and surrounding countryside. Their
occupations ranged from bakers and gem cutters to cloth workers, fishermen and
painters, from cooks, barmaids and farmers to cart-drivers, barbers and
pub landlords.
Ethnically, many were descended from Samnites or Greeks who lived there before
the Romans, or from Roman colonists after Rome conquered the area in the 80s
BC. To us the population would have seemed young, with a significant
concentration of people between 20 and 40 and a large number of children. Few
people seem to have lived beyond 60.
The size and decoration of the houses and the amount of jewellery and silver
found suggest that around ten per cent of people could have been called wealthy.
But they were not nearly as rich as the elite of Rome or even nearby Naples.
Surprisingly, perhaps, over half the population were slaves or freedmen (exslaves), from all over the Roman Empire and beyond. Women had growing
importance, although their status was still not equal to male citizens. They became
visible in all areas of society, sponsoring public buildings and games, and buying
the businesses and the homes this exhibition examines.
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
20
In the streets
The streets of Pompeii and Herculaneum were filled with businesses, shops, bars,
restaurants and workshops. They were built into the fronts of houses, even the
largest and finest, and were often run by members of the household.
Many shops were rented out together with the small flats above and were an
important part of the house’s income. Painted notices on the walls advertised the
types of establishment and the goods on sale. Some commodities were
manufactured where they were sold, others came from the local area but shops
also sold imports from all over the empire.
Shops and bars had marble counters inset with large terracotta jars for selling
liquids and dry goods,. Shelves of pottery and glass jars held pickled and
preserved foods. Sale of food and drink was strictly regulated and weights and
measures had to be authorised by the city council.
Taverns and bars
There were many taverns and bars. These were places where poorer people came
to eat and drink. They were generally run by slaves, freedmen or women. Some
had counters and racks for storing wine jars (amphorae). There were often rooms
behind the sales area where customers could recline or sit to eat and drink.
Takings and rentals from these properties were important sources of income for
the home. Most businesses were built into the fronts of houses. They had
accommodation above: either a small flat for the shop’s workers which they would
climb a ladder to reach, or a larger independent flat with separate access from
the street.
The exteriors of these shops and bars were covered with brightly painted signs
showing people, animals and gods. Inside there were good luck symbols and gods
such as Mercury, god of commerce, for protection.
Atrium
The atrium was the entrance hall of the Roman house, a space that, being both
public and private, was where the home and the outside world met. It was used by
all members of the household, including the master of the house, his wife, their
children and the extended family, as well as slaves, freedmen and political and
economic clients.
This was the main place where the home owner would display the basis of his
power. Strongboxes and tables of silverware signified wealth, while altars,
paintings and statuettes demonstrated devotion to the gods. Busts and statues
commemorated renowned ancestors. As well as being a place of display, the
atrium was also a workplace. The owner’s clients filled the atrium for a daily
audience, to talk business and ask for his support. The space was also used for
more ordinary activities such as storage and domestic work such as spinning wool
and weaving cloth.
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
21
The Familia
A large house was home to a large familia. More than just a ‘family’, this included
the entire household: a group of people linked by ties of blood, marriage and
dependency. It encompassed the immediate family, slaves and freedmen (exslaves), dependants, distant relatives and tenants. Women, integral to the home,
were not restricted to particular ‘women’s rooms’ or areas. One poet wrote: ‘The
lady of the house is at the centre of things’. Children, too, ran played and slept
everywhere.
Slaves were central to household activities, from cooking and cleaning to running
the shops on the front of the house. Wealthy homes had many slaves and even
smaller homes would aspire to one or two. Some were acquired through auctions
while others were born into the household. Some were freed by their masters but
remained close members of the master’s familia, assuming his name and providing
business or work services. Some lucky slaves were even chosen by their masters
as their heirs and successors.
Tablinum
The tablinum was a space between the atrium and the garden. Sometimes closed
off with screens or curtains, it was used for a variety of activities, from dining and
relaxing to meetings with the master of the house. In some homes it also housed
the family’s official documents, written on scrolls of papyrus and wooden tablets.
Several collections of tablets have survived. These were the ‘paperwork’ of
ordinary Roman families, including records of business transactions, disputes over
property and slaves and even the application by an ex-slave for Roman citizenship.
Frescoes found in the tablinum often show images of writing materials or of people
reading and writing. Literacy, although not universal, was widespread. Indeed, over
fifty graffiti found on the walls of Pompeii quote the Roman poet Virgil. Greek
culture and literature were also important to Romans at this time. People read
famous Greek authors such as the poet Homer and scenes from Greek literature
and mythology decorated frescoes, silverware and other objects.
Cubiculum
Off the atrium or garden was at least one bedroom (cubiculum). As well as
sleeping, people would have used this room for washing and dressing. The room
was often quite dark, so people used terracotta and bronze oil lamps and bronze
lampstands to light the room. Children slept in the adults’ bedrooms with their
parents – there were no special nurseries.
Even in the most luxurious bedroom there was no piped water supply, so people
washed in basins with water drawn from the well and used portable bronze or
pottery chamber pots as toilets. Slaves took care of all of this and then helped their
owners with their hair, clothes and jewellery. The family was then ready to start
their day.
The bedroom was the natural home for physical intimacy. Roman people were very
comfortable with nakedness and sexual scenes. Their bedrooms were often
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
22
decorated with images, sometimes intentionally erotic, such as frescoes showing
couples making love. Other images that appear sexual to our eyes were, for
Roman people, seen more as symbols of fertility or superstition or were just jokes.
In addition to depictions of human sex and love, bedrooms often had images of the
gods who governed the love lives of mortals. Venus, goddess of love and beauty,
ruled the hearts of gods and men, while her mischievous, malicious son Cupid,
pierced their hearts with his arrows. Most popular was Bacchus, god of wine and
fertility, and his followers who represented the wilder, more frenzied, aspect of love
and lust.
Gardens
Roman gardens were at the heart of people’s homes. For people living in towns in
a hot climate, a garden was appreciated for its lush greenery and connection to the
natural world. Romans thought of their gardens as places for rest and relaxation.
Sometimes they included areas for open air dining.
Gardens were filled with trees, shrubs and flowers, planted in the ground or in pots.
Ornamental flowerbeds filled with ferns, lilies, roses and violets, were bounded by
box or by trellis fences. Cypresses and pines provided shade, while other trees
such as apple, cherry, fig and olive were attractive and provided food.
Such opulent, luscious gardens represented luxury and symbolised the living of a
good life. Alongside the greenery were bronze and marble statues, fountains,
paintings and mosaics. The gardens were often framed by Greek-style colonnades
and there were benches for people to sit and admire the view in relaxation.
Water for washing, cooking and flushing toilets was essential for every household.
Poor people used public wells and fountains to collect their water, and stored it in
large pottery and metal vessels. Wealthier people had their own cisterns for storing
water, which were filled by rainwater from the roof of the atrium and from the
garden. Water from the cistern was retrieved via a well that was usually placed in
the garden.
Gardens in Pompeii and Herculaneum were revolutionised in about 10 BC, when
the emperor Augustus built an aqueduct to bring piped water to the area. Those
who could afford it enjoyed pressured, piped water for the first time, most of which
was fed directly to their gardens. Fountains and water features quickly became
symbols of wealth and prestige.
Living spaces
Overlooking the garden or courtyard were some of the largest and finest rooms in
the house, beautifully decorated with wall paintings, mosaics and painted ceilings.
These rooms were known as the living room, and the dining room, though in reality
rooms were often multi-purpose.
This is where the family went about their daily lives: reading, resting, playing
games and making or listening to music. Sometimes privileged guests were
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
23
allowed into this heart of the home. For Roman people these rooms, like the
garden, were very much about relaxing in sumptuous surroundings.
Kitchen
Even in a large, wealthy house, the kitchen (culina) was often fairly small, dark and
out of the way. It rarely had piped water, which was reserved instead for the
garden and baths. But the kitchen did sometimes house the toilet. The kitchen was
very much the servants’ domain and often had a special domestic shrine for their
use. This is where slaves prayed for the safety of their family and home.
People usually cooked using pots and pans on a solid masonry platform. Wealthy
homes also had portable metal or terracotta braziers, while in small houses or flats
these braziers were the only means of cooking. Food was stored in jars, bottles
and baskets in small rooms around the kitchen. Some houses even had a special
jar for fattening up dormice ready for the table.
The types of food people ate in Pompeii and Herculaneum varied enormously
according to their wealth and status. Roman cooks wrote books of recipes, some
featuring exotic ingredients such as flamingo, dormouse and expensive spices
from India. Most people ate a fairly varied diet. They ate lots of vegetables, and
clearly loved beans, lentils and olives. Seafood was popular, particularly scallops
and sea urchins, and fish such as eels and anchovies. They also ate meat, mainly
chicken and pork. Sauces were spiced up with Indian black pepper and coriander
and there were abundant nuts and fruits for dessert. For poorer people, however, a
meal was more likely to consist just of bread, cheese and vegetables, with meat
and fish only occasionally included.
Food
The content of meals varied hugely, depending on peoples’ wealth and social
status. Grand households consumed elaborate multi-course meals. By
comparison, poorer people would wolf down pies and pastries in a tavern or eat
stews and snacks in the single room of a small flat.
The suddenness of the catastrophe has preserved evidence for the preparation
and serving of meals. Although some very soft foods such as boned meat did not
survive, there are remains of many other types of foodstuffs. On cooking platforms
throughout the cities pans have been discovered with the remains of soups and
stews containing vegetables lentils, beans onions and chickpeas. Plates still
contain nuts, meat bones, bread, eggs and fruit – remains of the last meals before
the eruption.
Toilets
Most homes, even small apartments, had a toilet. This could be as simple as a
hole in the ground, or it could be a more elaborate affair topped with a wooden
seat. The toilet was usually situated in the kitchen. For Roman people, this was
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simply a convenient disposal point for both kitchen and human waste, but clearly it
represented a serious health hazard.
There was no soap and people did not understand the nature of infection or germs.
As a result, their hands were covered in bacteria when they handled food, plates
and other utensils. Unsurprisingly, diseases such as diarrhoea and dysentery were
common and it is therefore understandable that people felt the need for protection
in this space. For Romans, this meant evoking the power of the gods: some toilets
therefore had a fresco of a deity such as Fortuna (goddess of good fortune).
The toilets of Pompeii and Herculaneum did not connect to fixed sewers. Instead
they emptied into cesspits or septic tanks, which would be emptied by
specialist slaves.
Herculaneum’s drains
In 2007 archaeologists in Herculaneum found a huge cesspit, into which houses
and shops had deposited their toilet and household waste in the five to ten years
before the eruption. Over one metre of this original waste was preserved. It yielded
large quantities of food scraps that tell us what the inhabitants of Herculaneum ate.
There were also many objects that had either been broken and thrown away, or
had accidentally been lost. Finds included lamps, pottery and glass vessels,
building materials, coins and even jewellery. The drain also contained the largest
amount of human excrement found in the Roman world: more than 700 sacks full.
The bodies of Pompeii
About 1050 bodies have so far been discovered in Pompeii. Some 400 were found
indoors, in layers of lapilli (volcanic stones). These were people who had
suffocated or been crushed as buildings collapsed. The others were all found in a
layer of ash from the pyroclastic surge that engulfed the city. Some specialists
believe that the Pompeians choked on ash or poisonous gasses, while others
suggest that they died of heat shock. Either way, the ash hardened around their
bodies, which rotted away to leave body-shaped voids.
In 1863 the archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli poured plaster of Paris into these
voids. He dug away the surrounding hardened ash, revealing the forms of those
who had died. These plaster casts preserve impressions of clothing and hairstyles,
which suggests that this surge was not as hot as the one that had destroyed
Herculaneum. Even so, it was still around 250°C. Some victims were found in the
so-called ‘boxer pose’, with a characteristic clenching of feet and hands, a result of
their tendons contracting in response to lethal heat.
The bodies so far found in the cities only account for about 10% of their estimated
populations. Many other people would have escaped, from Pompeii down towards
the south of the Bay of Naples and from Herculaneum to the north. Three centuries
later there was still a ‘Herculaneum’ suburb in Naples, perhaps a memory of
refugees from the eruption. Indeed, descendants of the people of Pompeii and
Herculaneum may still be walking through the streets and houses of Naples today.
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Exhibition image bank
You can download an image bank at britishmuseum.org/pompeii
The images are arranged in sections:
outside the house street scenes from Pompeii and Herculaneum followed by
some relevant objects
room by room a photograph of an example of each room followed by two or three
slides of objects relevant to the room
the victims a photograph of the famous cast of the dog followed by three slides of
objects people took with them when trying to escape
You will find information about the objects in the Notes section of each slide.
You can use the image bank to introduce students to the types of objects they will
encounter in the exhibition and to support follow-up activities back in the
classroom. Individual images can be printed out for use in small group work.
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Further resources
British Museum website
Explore is an online database of over 5,000 objects from the Museum’s collection.
To investigate Roman objects click on Explore at britishmuseum.org
Books for students
Ransford, Sandy, British Museum Fun Book: Ancient Rome, British Museum Press
Roberts, Paul, The Ancient Romans, British Museum Press
Wiltshire, Katharine, Pocket Timeline of Ancient Rome, British Museum Press
Moorhead, Sam, Pocket Explorer: The Roman Empire, British Museum Press
Roberts, Paul, Pocket Dictionary of Roman Emperors, British Museum Press
Jackson, Ralph et al., The Romans Activity Book, British Museum Press
Lindsay, Judy, Gladiator Activity Book, British Museum Press
Green, John, British Museum Colouring Book: Ancient Rome, British Museum
Press
Connolly, Peter, Pompeii, Oxford University Press
Books for teachers
Roberts, Paul, Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, British Museum Press
- detailed book on the exhibition
Roberts, Paul with Baldwin, Vanessa, Art in Pompeii and Herculaneum, British
Museum Press 2013 - very good value with 180 illustrations of objects, frescoes
and mosaics
Beard, Mary, Pompeii: the life of a Roman town, Profile Books - an accessible and
comprehensive introduction to the town
Other websites
The website of the Cambridge School Classics Project is completely free of charge
and provides links to many excellent resources about Pompeii and Herculaneum.
To find the resources begin on the homepage:
www.cambridgescp.com
follow the link to Cambridge Latin Course
follow the link on the left to Book 1
follow the links to individual Units of Book 1 as follows and scroll down to the
‘Cultural background’ sections:
Unit 1: location of the towns, houses, gardens, family, women, dogs
Unit 2: fashion, food
Unit 3: town of Pompeii, town of Herculaneum, wall paintings
Unit 4: writing
Unit 12: Vesuvius, volcanic eruptions, discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum
Pliny the Younger wrote two letters about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They
were addressed to his friend, the historian Tacitus. The first letter focuses on the
death of Pliny’s uncle, Pliny the Elder, who was a well-known scholar. The second
letter focuses on Pliny’s own experiences. The following link gives a full text of both
letters from which you could select extracts to read with your class.
www.smatch-international.org/PlinyLetters.html
This link is to a video with Pliny reading an adaptation of both letters:
dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/pliny/video.html
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There is a very good CGI tour of a house on this site. From the homepage follow
the link to House of the Vine:
museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/discoverycentre/pompeii
This link is to a useful picture showing how the plaster and resin casts of victims
were made:
www.flickr.com/photos/16472880@N06/6870808901/sizes/o/in/photostream/
A very good cutaway view of a house:
www.flickr.com/photos/16472880@N06/5094028932/sizes/l/in/photostream/
This website offers a vast number of images of Pompeii organised by section of
the town and by theme: pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/index.htm
The following two websites offer absolutely fantastic 360˚ panoramas, highdefinition wide angle views of the towns, and photos of individual objects which you
can rotate – do not miss them!
Herculaneum: www.proxima-veritati.auckland.ac.nz/Herculaneum
One street block of Pompeii: www.proxima-veritati.auckland.ac.nz/insula9
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