# Pompeii



## Scholiast

Friends of Latin and the classical world in general may like to know of this discovery, which points to a significant new dating for the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79 (October rather than, as has hitherto been believed, August of that year):

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/pompeii-s-new-date-with-destiny-nsmtt0tgf

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## bearded

Many thanks for reporting that news, Scholiast.  In Italy we were informed by TV, and it caused quite a sensation in the cultured environment. However, nobody said how the graffiti exactly reads. Do you by chance know the text?


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## Scholiast

bearded said:


> Do you by chance know the text?



All I know is what can be made out from the photo in the _Times_ article, and I am no expert in epigraphic palaeography. I can however quite clearly make out X[V]I K NOV, i.e. '17th October'.

The presumption must be that somewhere in transmission scribal error has mixed up 'SEP' ('A.D. IX K(AL) SEP' = 24th Aug.) with 'NOV' in Pliny's famous letter.

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## Scholiast

Also, for Latinists, this might be of interest. He was a good man.

Οbituary

Robin Birley obituary

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## Amapolas

Not long ago I watched on YouTube a documentary about the date of the eruption. It seems that some finds (e.g., a dish of dried figs, if I remember correctly) corroborated the hypothesis of an eruption in autumn and not in summer.


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## Scholiast

Hello everyone



Amapolas said:


> a documentary about the date of the eruption



I and perhaps others would love to have the details for this, please.

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## Amapolas

Scholiast said:


> Hello everyone
> 
> I and perhaps others would love to have the details for this, please.
> 
> Σ


I'll look it up tonight. Only I should clarify that I didn't express myself correctly. It's not a documentary about _the date_, it's about the eruption (you know there are different kinds of eruptions, some are just lava, others are explosive and violent). This issue of the date was mentioned in one or two bits of the film. Also, bear in mind it's not an academic paper, just a documentary. 
Are we allowed in the Latin forum to post links to YouTube?


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## Amapolas

I'm sorry, I couldn't find the documentary. The one I remembered went by Pliny's traditional date. Or maybe it wasn't in a documentary at all. You see, I often do some further research after watching something, and perhaps I read this somewhere else and mixed up the sources, à la Proust. 

I did find a number of online articles, though. This one, for example: Dating the Eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD: Is 24th August Really the Date? - History and Archaeology Online

There's also an interesting paper that can be found online:
Rolandi, G.; Paone, A.; De Lascio, M.; Stefani, G. (2008). "The 79 AD eruption of Somma: the relationship between the date of the eruption and the southeast tephra dispersion". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 169 (1): 87–98. Bibcode:2008JVGR..169...87R. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2007.08.020.


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## Scholiast

Many thanks for this (# 8), Amapolas.

Pliny's text is clearly questionable, but the balance of the evidence of the diggers (clothing, tephra-dispersal, considerations about the vintage &c.) all seems to point to October rather than August.

I'll be consulting the _Journal of Volanology_ as you cite tomorrow.

Renewed thanks

Σ


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