54 pages • 1 hour read
Pompeii: A Novel
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Background
Historical Context: The 79 AD Eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Pompeii depicts the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano located in the Bay of Naples in the south of Italy. The eruption of the volcano occurred on 24 August, 79 AD at around noon. At this time, the increasingly prosperous city of Pompeii was home to 15,000 citizens. Pompeii and the surrounding towns were built in the shadow of the volcano but, according to contemporary sources, the Romans believed the volcano to be extinct. In the lead-up to the eruption, small earthquakes were felt across the Bay of Naples. Pompeii had been badly damaged by a large earthquake 17 years before and seismic activity in the area was dismissed as a common occurrence. The pressure beneath the volcano continued to build until it burst through the rock at the top of the volcano.
Eye-witnesses described the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They describe how a dark pillar of black smoke could be seen rising from the volcano. Vesuvius spat out smoke, ash, gas, and pumice stone. The black smoke blocked the sun from the sky as the volcano spewed more than a million and a half tons of debris into the air. The eruption is thought to have had more than 100,000 times the power of the nuclear weapons dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of World War II. The city of Pompeii was five miles from Vesuvius. The pumice, ash, and molten rock rained down on the city and buried the buildings and any person who had not already fled. Pompeii was buried under 10 meters of volcanic debris.
Pompeii is now famous as a historical site. Though the city remained buried for many centuries after the eruption, excavation work began in the 1700s. The first excavations revealed the preservation of the city. Large parts of the city have since been excavated by archeologists; the removal of the ash, pumice, and debris has uncovered houses, artworks, public buildings, and human remains. These findings provide a great deal of insight into the day-to-day life in a Roman city of the time, including rich and poor people alike. Excavations continue to this day and the city has become something of a tourist destination. In Pompeii, the speed with which the city is buried is shown in the final chapters. Likewise, Ampliatus receives a prophecy from an oracle. In the prophecy, Ampliatus is told that Pompeii will one day be the site of many people from many cultures, coming together. Ampliatus takes this as an indicator of Pompeii's future success. In reality, the prophecy is describing the tourist destination that the buried city has become.
Historical Context: The Roman Aqueducts
In Pompeii, Attilius is sent by the Roman authorities to the Bay of Naples to work on the local aqueduct system. The Roman aqueducts were used to move fresh, drinkable water to areas which contained many people. The flow of fresh water in these cities allowed for the local population numbers to grow far beyond the previous levels. Aqueducts of this type were not a Roman invention, as civilizations in Egypt and India had previously constructed such aqueducts. Roman engineering allowed for the proliferation of civil engineering projects across the Roman Empire, refining and building upon existing ideas to construct aqueducts of a far greater size and throughput. Given the size of the Roman Empire at its peak, aqueducts were built across Europe, North Africa, and parts of the Middle East. Remnants of these aqueducts can be found in countries such as Greece, Turkey, and Spain.
The Roman aqueducts functioned with the aid of gravity. Tunnels, pipes, bridges, and canals were built along the natural slope of the landscape. Aqueducts were built at a precise angle, allowing the Romans to accurately predict the speed and volume at which the water would flow from the top of the aqueduct to the reservoir at the bottom. The aqueducts take fresh, drinkable water from sources such as lakes or natural springs. The water enters the aqueduct at the source and then flows down into the collecting pool through a series of carefully calibrated pipes and tunnels. Bridges were built to direct the flow of the water down from the high sources to the reservoirs below. Once collected in the reservoir, the water could be used for a variety of functions. As well as using the water for drinking, the aqueducts allowed for the irrigation of land in previously dry, arid, and unfarmable locales. Additionally, aqueducts supplied public facilities such as water fountains, fisheries, and public baths. Given the size, scale, and importance of these engineering projects, the aqueduct systems were typically commissioned by emperors. The aqueducts were then named after the respective emperor in tribute.
In Pompeii, the protagonist Attilius is an “aquarius,” the name given to the civil engineers who work on the aqueducts. Attilius is from a long line of such engineers. He uses the knowledge of the aqueduct system to find and resolve a blockage in the Aqua Augustus, the local aqueduct. The potential non-functionality of the aqueduct poses an existential threat to many towns across the bay. Within a day of the aqueduct breaking, riots break out in several cities as the people demand access to water. The precarity of the situation in these towns shows the importance of the aqueducts and the engineers who maintain them.
Historical Context: Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman historian, author, naturalist, and scientist who was born in 23 AD and died in 79 AD. As the son of a wealthy Roman family, he was able to study in the capital city of the Roman Empire. By the time he was 23 years old, he was ready to join the military. He served in the Roman Army during excursions in what is now Germany. After rising to the rank of commander in a cavalry unit, Pliny returned to Rome. He likely studied law during the latter days of the reign of Emperor Nero. With his reputation as a notable citizen of the Roman Empire growing, Pliny was appointed as a procurator in Spain. During the ensuing years, he spent most of his time writing. His research and his books would become his main legacy.
To modern readers, Pliny the Elder is most notable as an author. Though he wrote on topics as diverse as Latin grammar, Roman history, military history, and how to hurl a lance, his only surviving work is Natural History. Natural History comprises 37 books which detail everything Pliny learned about nature. To his knowledge, no previous author had tried to gather together the wealth of human scientific research in such a manner. Pliny wrote in a simple, understandable prose style which distinguished his encyclopedia from more literary or political works. He also repeatedly credits the sources for his information, rather than take credit for the research and learning that fill the pages of Natural History. Despite the care and attention Pliny lavished on Natural History, his work is not free of errors. His translations from original Greek texts contain mistakes which distort the intent or meaning of a number of entries. Despite these occasional errors, Pliny's work became a definitive scientific text in the centuries after its publication.
In the latter years of his life, Pliny became a naval commander in the Bay of Naples. His main objective was to combat piracy in the region. He is a prominent character in the novel Pompeii because he was present at the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. While the novel portrays a fictionalized version of Pliny—especially in his interactions with Attilius—many elements of the Pliny character are accurate. His commitment to research and documentation is present in the novel, while his decision to sail out into the bay to monitor the eruption for himself is a fact of history. Though Pliny did not die in the city of Pompeii, he was one of the many people who were killed by the fumes which poured out from the volcano into the bay. Pliny's nephew Gaius also features in the novel. He would later become known as Pliny the Younger for his continuation of his uncle's work.
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