Visit guide for
secondary 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
Using the exhibition
4
Preparing your visit
5
Background information
10
Exhibition image bank
17
Further resources
18
Enquiry sheet: rooms of the house
20
Enquiry sheet: public and private
21
Enquiry sheet: slaves
22
Enquiry sheet: mosaics and paintings
23
Enquiry sheet: work and skills
24
Visit guide for secondary 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.
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 three 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 15), 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.
For both areas, you may find hepful an article by Steven Hunt to be published
Easter 2013 in Journal of Classics Teaching 27 (JACT)
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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 17) 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, preferably 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. Explain what
you want the students to do in the exhibition.
Encourage adults to allow students to linger at 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
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Preparing your visit
We recommend the following three guidelines in planning your students’
visit to the exhibition:
 provide an enquiry 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 and familiarise students
with the content of the exhibition
 avoid over-directing the students’ work - allow them some scope to explore to find
objects that interest them
General enquiries
You may decide that there is no particular aspect of Pompeii and Herculaneum
that you want to consider. In this case, one of these general enquiry questions may
serve to focus the visit:
 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 and how useful did I find
them 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?
Specific enquiries
You may prefer to target specific aspects of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Do bear in
mind the focus of the exhibition is the house – the amphitheatre and baths would
not be suitable areas to try to cover. Below are some suggestions for topics
students could explore profitably. You may also find it useful to look at the visit
guide for primary teachers, in which the activity sheets focus on specific rooms and
specific characters who might frequent the house.





What can I learn from the exhibition about the life of men (or women, or slaves),
or about religion or literacy or the crafts and trades that existed in Pompeii and
Herculaneum or how Romans showed power and status?
Give the students lists of the functions of each room in the house. Ask them to
identify objects displayed in each room that relate to that function.
Public and private space is an important concept in the study of houses. Discuss
this with the students and identify four characters who might be present in a
Pompeian house, for example, the master, slaves, house guests, clients,
business associates. Ask the students to think as they go round the exhibition
about which rooms these characters would be able to access and to select an
object from each room that is connected with that access, for example, a bronze
caccabus/cooking pot used by slaves in the kitchen.
Introduce students to the different sorts of slaves that might be present in the
house, from unskilled cleaners to secretaries and teachers. Ask the students to
choose objects in the exhibition that would be used by or relate in some other
way to the jobs done by each of the types of slave.
Most archaeologists believe that the frescoes and mosaics in houses are not
simply expressions of personal taste, but often relate to the purpose of the room,
provide humorous or serious comments on life or communicate something of the
status, interests the owner of the house wishes to convey. Ask the students to
select four paintings or mosaics form different rooms and to reflect on why they
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
5
were in that room and what they could be intended to communicate to the person
visiting the room.
 Use an object from the exhibition slideshow to consider the level of skill need to
make it, the raw materials and the process involved in producing the final piece.
Consider too what would be involved in looking after the object: cleaning and
polishing for example. Ask the students to select one object from each room in
the exhibition that would present the house slaves with challenges of cleaning or
upkeep and one object from each room that took a very high level of skill to make.
 Choose six to eight objects, paintings or mosaics that you have looked at in
advance of your visit. Put small pictures of these on to a sheet of paper. Ask the
students to match each picture with an object in the exhibition and to identify and
discuss similarities and differences.
Examples of possible enquiry sheets for five of these ideas are provided on
pages 20-24. Feel free to use these as they are or to adapt them for your own
situation.
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 18-19 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.
 Read Pliny the Younger’s accounts of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the death
of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, and his own experience of the eruption: Letters of
the Younger Pliny, Book VI, letters 16 and 20.
 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 17) 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 presentation 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
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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Cambridge Latin Course
The exhibition includes a number of objects that are illustrated in Book I of the
Cambridge Latin Course. These are marked with * in the list below. Objects similar
to those actually illustrated are also listed. Page numbers in CLC are given in
parentheses.
*bust of Caecilius (9)
a strongbox (9)
wax tablet from Caecilius’ house (9)
*statue of Eumachia (10)
*painting of garden (13)
*gold earrings (14)
other jewellery (14)
carbonized bread (24)
*sea life mosaic (25)
cooking pots (26)
electoral graffito (37, 158, 160)
fresco from tavern (37)
*earthquake relief from Caecilius’ house (52, 164, 165)
mosaics of theatre masks (53, 67)
*skeleton mosaic (83)
writing equipment (141)
painting of writing equipment (144)
*painting of bread distribution (156)
* statue of Lar (165)
casts of the dead (169, 175)
*painting of Vesuvius (171)
*jewellery from woman killed at Herculaneum (174)
lantern (176)
dog mosaic (177)
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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AS/A-level
Pompeii and Herculaneum feature on syllabuses offered by both AQA and OCR for
Classical Civilisation at AS level. The following table provides indicates objects in
the exhibition that are directly related to sites specified in the syllabuses.
Eumachia Building
statue of Eumachia
Forum: temple of Jupiter
lararium relief showing earthquake from House of Caecilius
House of Menander
silver jug
bronze colander
House of Pansa
bronze lampstand
House of the Tragic Poet
bronze caccabus (cooking pot)
House of Umbricius Scaurus
mosaic of garum bottle
House of the Stags
marble statues of hounds and stag
marble statue of drunken Hercules
marble statue of satyr pouring wine
bronze water/wine heater
fresco of still life with animals
carbonised loaf of bread with visible stamp
As well as these items, the exhibition provides a comprehensive range of objects,
frescoes and mosaics representative of those to be found in wealthy houses in the
two towns.
Themes for the visit
As well as giving students the chance to explore the exhibition themselves, you
can provide a more formal focus for the visit by assigning an essay question for
which they should gather information and evidence during their visit.
Below are examples of some questions which would work in the exhibition,
but any question will do as long as it is about houses and their contents as
opposed to the layout of rooms and their overall decoration.
 What do we learn about religious beliefs from the objects displayed in the
exhibition? Other topics could be addressed such as women, the life of slaves,
literacy, the importance of status etc..
 To what extent do the wall paintings in the exhibition support Mary Beard’s
observation that the subject matter of wall paintings serves to offer a glimpse of
worlds beyond the confines of southern Italy (Beard, page 150)?
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
8

Judging from the exhibition, what different devices could be used to make an
upper-class Roman house appear as impressive as possible to people visiting it.
Why was this desirable and in what different ways would items from the exhibition
impress visitors?
 Based on the exhibition, assess the value of the artefact remains resulting from
the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79 in providing information
about city life in Roman Italy. Include an analysis of what we can and cannot
learn from them.
 To what extent do the objects in the exhibition support the contention that the
inhabitants of such houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum led a life of luxury?
 Use the objects in the exhibition to help reconstruct what an ancient visitor might
see when entering the atrium of a house in Pompeii or Herculaneum.
A little bit of advance planning can allow you to use the exhibition for comparative
purposes. For example, you could tackle an exam question such as ‘In which
Roman city do you think life would have been more enjoyable?’ by adapting it to
home-life and doing focused work on, say, Ostia, before your visit, and then
gathering evidence from the visit for Pompeii and Herculaneum. You could study
literary evidence before the visit and then compare the relative value of
archaeological and literary evidence for life in the Roman city.
You may also find useful some of the ideas suggested in the Pre-visit preparation
section on page 6.
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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Background information
Pompeii and Herculaneum had existed for centuries before the eruption of Mount
Vesuvius in AD 79, with many private houses and public buildings being two or
three hundred years old. Old rich families still dominated political and social life but
new people were rising up. Women and freed slaves 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.
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 (lapilli and pumice). 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, both cities have returned to the daylight, although 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.
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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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
In Pompeii and Herculaneum 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
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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
12
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
(otium). 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.
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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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 (oecus or exedra), and the dining
room (triclinium), 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
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 (lararium)
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.
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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
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.
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Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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Aftermath
When the ash finally settled, Pompeii and Herculaneum were gone and the whole
area was devastated, buried under metres of ash. The bodies so far found in the
cities only account for about 10% of their estimated populations. One third of
Pompeii and two thirds of Herculaneum are still unexcavated and it is possible that
many bodies have yet to be uncovered. But 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.
Visit guide for secondary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
16
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.
Visit guide for secondary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
17
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
Collection Search offers a search of the whole collection of the Museum and,
usually, better quality images than Explore . To find it, follow the Research link
from britishmuseum.org, then Collection Search.
Books for students
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
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
The following link gives a full text of both Pliny letters:
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
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/
This website offers a vast number of images of Pompeii organised by section of
the town and by theme: pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/index.htm
Visit guide for secondary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
18
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
A detailed website of 30 houses providing plans, descriptions, lists of finds, and
photographs: www.stoa.org/projects/ph/index.html
There is a very good CGI tour of a house on this site – follow the link to House of
the Vine:
museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/discoverycentre/pompeii
Visit guide for secondary teachers
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
19
Enquiry sheet: rooms of the house
The tables below shows some of the purposes of each room in a house in Pompeii
or Herculaneum.
For each room, choose objects that connect with its purposes.
Discuss your ideas in your group. Use the boxes and margin for notes.
Atrium
purposes




a work space
to show the status of the owner
and his family
to worship the family gods
to impress visitors
Cubiculum
purposes


objects
to entertain guests
to impress visitors
to show the sophistication of the
owner
Kitchen
purposes


objects
to give pleasure
to show humour and playfulness
to impress visitors
Living and dining spaces
purposes



objects
a private space
personal appearance
Garden
purposes



objects
objects
a work space
to prepare things to please family
and guests
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
20
Enquiry sheet: public and private
As you go through the exhibition consider which of the following people would have
been allowed in each room.
For each room a person could enter, choose one object that they might use, be
affected by or connect with in some way. Use the tables and margin for notes.
Master and mistress of the house
rooms entered
objects connected with this person
Slaves
rooms entered
objects connected with this person
Guests staying in the house
rooms entered
objects connected with this person
Clients visiting the master for business purposes
rooms entered
objects connected with this person
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
21
Enquiry sheet: slaves
Here are four types of slave that might have lived and worked in a house in
Pompeii or Herculaneum.
As you go round the exhibition, identify objects or images connected with jobs they
did in the house. Use the tables and margin for notes. Discuss your choices.
Highly educated slaves who could read, write and do calculations
object
job or task connected with object
Unskilled slaves
object
job or task connected with object
Slaves with a high level of practical skills
object
job or task connected with object
Slaves helping the master or mistress with their personal life
object
job or task connected with object
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
22
Enquiry sheet: mosaics and paintings
Paintings and mosaics often have links to where they were placed in the
house, for example:
 they may connect with the purpose of the room or space
 they may create a certain mood
 they may show the owner’s status or taste
 they may be funny or just a pleasure to look at
 they may be intended to teach a lesson about life
As you go round the exhibition:
choose four paintings or mosaics from different rooms
note which room each was placed in
use the ideas above to discuss why the owner might have chosen it for that room
Painting or mosaic
Room
Reasons for placing in room
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
23
Enquiry sheet: work and skills
In each room, select:
an object that involved work for a slave – either using the object or keeping it clean
or keeping it in working order
and
an object that took a high level of skill to make – choose a different skill for each
room
Use the margin for extra notes.
atrium
cubiculum
garden
living rooms
kitchen
Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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