Remains of people who tried to escape from Vesuvius found in Pompeii
19 May 17:25
Archaeologists have discovered in the ancient city of Pompeii the remains of four people, including a child, who tried in vain to escape the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD by blocking the door with furniture. This is reported by CNN with reference to a study in the E-Journal of the Pompeii Excavations, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The discovery was made during excavations in the so-called House of Hella and Phrixus, named after a mythological scene on a fresco found inside. Archaeologists discovered that at the time of the tragedy, the house was undergoing renovations, and the fresco’s plot-the escape of Hella and Phrixus on a golden ram-is ominously similar to the residents’ desperate attempts to escape.
At first, they hid in their bedroom, blocking the door with a bed to protect themselves from the fine volcanic ash falling from above. However, later, presumably realizing that the danger was growing, they pushed the bed away and tried to escape. Their remains were found in the banquet hall.
The researchers suggest that death could have come either from the first pyroclastic cloud-a deadly mixture of gases, ash, and debris-or from the collapse of structures due to pressure and vibrations. During the research, archaeologists even made a plaster cast of the bed that people used for protection.
The fresco on the wall, which depicts the moment when Hella holds out her hand to her brother Fricks in the hope of being rescued, seems tragically symbolic today. According to Gabriel Zuktrigel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, this story may no longer have had a religious meaning for the Romans of that time, but today it reflects human despair and defenselessness before the natural elements.
Earlier in Pompeii, during the excavation of a huge tomb, two almost full-size sculptures of a man and a woman, who, according to speculation, could have been a priestess, were found.
