Resource pack for primary
teachers
Pompeii Live: schools
19 June 2013
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.
About the broadcast
The broadcast includes exclusive footage filmed in the Life and death in Pompeii
and Herculaneum exhibition and around the British Museum. It covers a broad
variety of topics connected with the exhibition including:
• the volcano Vesuvius and the science behind the eruption
• personal adornment
• decorating a Roman house
• making a living
• food and dining
• being a Roman child
• preservation and the process of creating the plaster casts of the victims
The broadcast lasts sixty minutes and includes live and pre-recorded segments.
Curriculum links
The broadcast 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
Dead bodies
A section of the broadcast will discuss how the plaster casts of the victims of the
eruption were made. 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 the broadcast. Discuss 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
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Preparation and follow-up
Here are a few suggestions of things to do before and after the broadcast to
prepare students.
Pre-broadcast preparation
• Use maps to identify the locations of Pompeii and Herculaneum and to help
students understand the relative positions of the two towns, Naples, Vesuvius
and the Bay of Naples.
• 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 5).
• Look through the broadcast image bank (see page 4) to familiarise students with
some of the objects associated with Pompeii and Herculaneum.
• Look at Roman objects in the Explore section of britishmuseum.org.
Post-broadcast follow-up
• Discuss the broadcast with your students. What did they enjoy the most and why?
Did they find out anything new? What do they remember about it?
• Use the broadcast image bank to remind students about the topics the broadcast
covered.
• Create a wall display with students’ input to explain the science behind the
volcanic eruption.
• Ask your students to write a review of the broadcast. Use cinema film reviews to
provide guidance and inspiration.
• Look at cinema film posters. Students could design their own poster for the
Pompeii Live broadcast.
• Ask students what they think can be learned from the casts of the victims and
their associated belongings. A short film about how the casts were made can be
viewed on the BBC’s website (see the Further Resouces section below). You
could broaden this discussion to the topic of archaeology and how it provides a
glimpse into the past.
Visit Guide for primary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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Broadcast image bank
You can download an image bank at
britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/pompeii_and_herculaneum/pompeii_live/s
chools_event
The images are arranged in sections:
personal adornment examples of jewellery and a mirror
decorating a Roman house a fresco and mosaic
making a living a bottle for garum sauce and a painting of a baker and his wife
food and dining a photograph of a kitchen followed by a loaf of carbonised bread
and a dormouse jar
being a Roman child a wooden writing tablet and bulla pendant
preservation and plaster casts carbonised cradle and stool plus the famous cast
of the dog
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
see in Pompeii Live and to support follow-up activities back in the classroom.
Individual images can be printed out for use in small group work.
Visit Guide for primary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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Further resources
•
•
•
If you would like background information on Pompeii and Herculaneum or a
more detailed list of resources this can be found in the downloadable
exhibition resources for teachers.
britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/pompeii_and_herculaneum/schools
The BBC website has interesting film clips on topics connected with the
broadcast which could be helpful when doing your follow up. They cover
topics such as the science of the volcanic eruption and the making of plaster
casts. They originate from a recently broadcast programme but have been
reworked and extra content added.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01706fw/clips
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
Visit Guide for primary teachers
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