In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius unleashed devastation on the Roman world, burying entire towns beneath volcanic ash. While Pompeii is world-famous, another extraordinary site met the same fate - Herculaneum.In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill to explore the incredible remains of this lesser-known Roman town. From lavish seaside villas and multi-story apartments to ancient fast-food stalls and bathhouses, Herculaneum offers an intimate glimpse into daily Roman life. Plus, we uncover the groundbreaking AI technology being used to decipher the carbonised scrolls found in its famed Villa of the Papyri.For more on this topic listen to our four-part series on Pompeii and Vesuvius:Pompeii: Life Before the Eruption: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3oIGA40brXolaPU9e3warcSex Work in Pompeii:https://open.spotify.com/episode/2k5CQDHXHmIRKCmu4kk9SBGladiators of Pompeii:https://open.spotify.com/episode/4c34S92PPQadej45S4F6cZPompeii: The Eruption of Vesuvius: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6IyQp6PYBrMwbFNWU33nqFPresented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on
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79 AD. A great column of volcanic ash and rocks spews from the top of Mount Vesuvius, tens of kilometres into the sky, before covering the land below in a veil of darkness. One of the most catastrophic natural events of ancient history has just begun.
Over the next couple of days, this volcano would bring death and destruction to the surrounding lands, its most famous victim, the Roman town of Pompeii.
Today, Pompeii's remains are world famous, a place where you can walk in the footsteps of Romans down cobbled streets, be awestruck by lewd graffiti written on walls 2,000 years ago, enter the amphitheatre where gladiators fought for the entertainment of the crowds. It is quite the experience. But Pompeii was not the only settlement swallowed up by Vesuvius.
It was one of several thriving towns along the Bay of Naples that fell victim to this infamous eruption that fateful day. Pompeii has a sister site, similarly destroyed in Vesuvius' eruption, a flourishing fishing town named after the mythical hero Hercules, Herculaneum. It's The Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host.
For anyone wanting to visit Roman remains in the Bay of Naples, Herculaneum is a must-see site. It's much smaller than Pompeii, so you can do it in a day, walking from the ancient harbourfront to the heart of the town, seeing awesome surviving art and architecture along the way.
You can enter rich seafront houses that boasted the best views in ancient Herculaneum, multi-storey flats, fast food stalls, bathhouses and more. And of course, what has really caught people's attention lately with Herculaneum are these scrolls. These pieces of parchment discovered in a villa just outside the town that had been burnt to a crisp during the eruption.
However, thanks to the use of modern technology, thanks to AI, scientists are starting to decipher them, unravelling the clues, the secret texts, the literature that lies within. Herculaneum is a really exciting site. And to delve into its story, I was delighted to interview one of the best people for the job, Andrew Wallace Hadrill, Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge.
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