When was the last day of Pompeii?

For Italian archaeologists working in Pompeys under the leadership of Professor Massimo Osanna, 2018 turned out to be extremely successful: among the numerous finds there were one of the longest that preserved Roman epitaphs with extremely interesting information about the events in the pompey in the last two decades before the eruption of Vesuvius, and the excavations of the street, on which (which is unusual for Pompius) preserved the second The floor of the houses, and a wonderful new fresco with Ledo and Lebed, and graphite from the election campaign of Gelvius Sabin to the position of Edil (magistrate responsible for the order in the markets and public entertainment).

But perhaps the greatest attention was attracted by a small graffito coal of the fifth quarter (archaeologists conditionally divide Pompeii into numbered quarters), which is just mentioned in the common Latin: “On the sixteenth day before the November calendy, I entered the dump” ( XVI [ante] k [allendas] nov [ete] in [d] ulsit proMasumis esurit [ioni]) (see. Fig.). It's nice to know, of course, but what's the interest?

The fact is that such an ephemeral inscription would not last ten months on the wall, especially taking into account the fact that in the house in which it was found, at the time of the eruption there was a repair - it should have been left in the last days, at most weeks before the disaster. And this means that since October 17 (if you transfer the date to us to the usual format), a resident of Pompei was able to eat well, and then go to the construction site, then the eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed the city, could not happen on August 24, which, until recently, gave all standard benefits and encyclopedias.

This date goes back to the most detailed preserved story about the eruption written by an eyewitness - the letter of the Roman politician and speaker Pliny the younger historian Tacitus, in which he talks about the death of his uncle and namesake, the Roman encyclopedist and administrator Pliny the Elder. He commanded the Roman fleet on the other side of the Gulf of Neapolitan, in Mizen, and from a combination of a sense of duty and scientific curiosity, he personally led an attempt to evacuate, which ended with the death of volcanic gas.

Pliny, of course, could not confuse the date of the death of his uncle (the events of that day he remembered extremely vividly), but the medieval scribes that copied the manuscript of his published letters could be easily mistaken, especially since the dates were recorded in abbreviated. Graffito, modern eruption, as a certificate is preferable.

In itself, however, it would not be unconditional evidence: in the end, its author could write about the remembered lunch for the next year-or write the wrong date in thought, because at that moment he talked about something that was supposed to happen in November. It happens with everyone. In fact, the new find only served as a confirmation of what the researchers have already assumed for some time - and moreover, one of the manuscripts of Pliny’s letters gives the date of eruption as on October 24, and the historian of the III century BC. e. Cassius Dion writes that the eruption happened in the fall (the word that he uses normally means in ancient Greek time from about mid -September). The English scientists Alison and Melvin Kuli in his wonderful anthology “Rompeii and Herculaneum”, published by the second edition in 2014, have already accepted the October date and bring convincing arguments in its favor.

Back in 1889, a laurel tree with ripened berries was found at the Stabi Gate of the city, which indicates October or November; Among the nuts and fruits found in the city there are chestnuts ripening in the fall, walnuts and grenades; Wine storage vessels were full, while in August they would have to be devastated in front of a new harvest; And finally, a coin was found in the wallet of one of the dead, which, according to changes in the imperial title, can be dated earlier than September.

The new Graffito gives just another confirmation of this, and only the brightness of the description in the letter of Pliny, the inattention to archaeological finds and the power of the usual reason for the fact that the October date of eruption did not receive universal recognition earlier and remained the property of scientists who were specially engaged in the history and archeology of Pompeii and Herkulanum. It is characteristic that all the standard translations of Cassius Dion, including the recently published full Russian translation, convey his words as “at the end of summer” to bring them into line with the usual date, and few people recalled alternative reading in Pliny manuscripts.

It is hoped that the attention of the press to the new find will serve here a good service and the date of death of Pompei will be corrected on October 24, 79, 79 everywhere.

George Kantor,
Antiquity historian (Oxford University)