Lisarow High School
Core Ancient History
Understanding Primary Sources 1
File : Written sources
Carnovale
The Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD
Objective: Students read Roman Pliny the Younger's first-person description of the
79 AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, and then compare it to a secondary source
description of the same event.
What You Need:


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Pliny's description of the 79 AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius (see below)
secondary source descriptions of the 79 AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius (see
below)
Comparing Descriptions worksheet (print and copy)
Suggested Time:
3-4 hours over 2-3 days
Building Background:
Ask students to define primary and secondary sources. Discuss their answers. Ask
students to speculate about the similarities and differences between a primary and a
secondary source describing the same event. What might be the same, what might be
different? Discuss their answers. Tell students that in 79 AD, Mt. Vesuvius erupted
quite suddenly and buried two Roman towns, Pompeii and Herculaneum. A Roman
named Pliny the Younger witnessed the event and described it in a letter to a Roman
historian. In the 1800s, the two buried towns were rediscovered and have been
excavated and studied ever since. Tell students they will read Pliny's account of the
eruption and descriptions written much later to compare primary and secondary
sources.
What To Do:
1. Distribute a copy of Pliny's description to each student. One possible source is
Letters of the Younger Pliny, translated by Betty Radice. Another source is the
Classics 36: Pompeii and Herculaneum
(http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/) Internet site, which
contains Pliny Epistle 6.20 — his description of the eruption.
2. Have students read Pliny's description carefully and fill out the top part of the
worksheet. Encourage them to identify specific words and phrases which they feel
communicate the experience.
3. Send students to the library to research secondary source descriptions of the
eruption. One source is Pompeii: The Day a City Was Buried, by Christopher and
Melinda Rice. The Unit 6 Bibliography also has a list of books which might be useful.
If you have Internet access, students can explore this site for information:
Vesuvius, Italy
(http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_vesuvius.html)
Lisarow High School
Core Ancient History
Understanding Primary Sources 2
File : Written sources
Carnovale
This site has a good description of both the years leading up the eruption, and
the disaster itself. It also has links to a map and pictures of the archaeological
site today.
4. As students research the secondary source descriptions, remind them to fill out the
bottom part of the Comparing Descriptions worksheet. Encourage them to again
identify specific words and phrases which they feel communicates the experience.
5. When students have completed their research, discuss the similarities and
differences they found between the two sources. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each? What could Pliny tell us that the secondary sources could not?
What could the secondary sources tell us that Pliny could not? Ask students to
speculate about when and why a historian would use each source and for what
purposes.
Wrap-Up:
Ask student to think about what they would know about the Mt. Vesuvius eruption if:
they read only Pliny's description; they read only a secondary source description: or if
they combined the two descriptions. What are the advantages of using both? Discuss.
Extension:

Have students research the latest information available from the
archaeological dig at Pompeii and Herculaneum to learn more about ancient
Roman life.
Comparing Descriptions
As you read descriptions of the Mt. Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD, take notes
about the details you learn from each source.
Primary source description from Pliny:
Secondary source description from
:
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Core Ancient History
Understanding Primary Sources 3
File : Written sources
Carnovale