Ancient evidence thread-Pompeii & Herculaneum

[katie,rinos]

Hey guys,
I think it would be a cool idea if we could do an evidence thread following the syllabus dot points with everyone contributing their archeological & written evidence. Therefore we can have a megathread of evidence to use for short answers and essays. I'm thinking about doing this for Pompeii and Herculaneum at the moment (as we all study this and this topic is very source based) but we could do it for the more popular options later. This could also be good so we don't forget Herculaneum when collecting our evidence. We could start at the evidence provided by the sources part of the syllabus and go from there (tell me if you would like to start anywhere else though). Depending on how many people post we could do 1-2 syllabus dot points a week (the syllabus is huge so hopefully we can get through the whole thing).

This could also just be used for when you don't have any evidence for a specific dot point and would like suggestions and help.

This will only work really well if everyone contributes their ideas, no matter how small (or large). Even if you only have one piece of evidence for a dot point it could be really helpful for someone to prove their point and beneficial to you as you may be able to find even more evidence.
It could be a huge collaborative detail table!

Excited to see your thoughts!

[katie,rinos]

Hey,
So I think the first dot point I was thinking of doing is
the evidence provided by the sources from Pompeii and Herculaneum for: the eruption.
If you have any evidence at all, please contribute it here (I don't really want to be the only one posting).

archeological evidence

Plinian Phase
•   Fiorelli’s plaster casts (P)
•   House of Stephanus (P)

Pyroclastic Surge
•   Carbonised food (P), vegetation (H).
•   Skeletons in boatshed/carbonised bones in Herculaneum
•   House of the Wooden Partition (H)

written evidence

•   Pliny the younger: “Cloud was rising …. It’s appearance and shape can be best expressed as being like a pine tree, for it rose to a great height as though on a very long trunk and then spread out into branches.”
•   Dio Cassius: “The crater is given over to fire, and sends up smoke by day and flames by night.
Statius: “Will people in future times believe, when once more crops are growing and these waste lands are green again, that cities and peoples lie below?”