Join Greg Jenner for a fun Homeschool History lesson on life in Roman Pompeii, as we share what archeologists have discovered from the town that was frozen in time 2000 years ago. How did they brush their teeth? What was the name of the local pub? And just how do we know so much about what they ate? Historical Consultant: Professor Mary Beard. Produced by Abi Paterson Scripted by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner Research Assistance by Hannah MacKenzie An Athletic production for BBC Radio 4
BBC sounds music radio podcasts.
Hello and welcome to Homeschool History.
I'm Greg Jenner, the historian behind tv's horrible histories and the host of the BBC podcast you're dead to me.
I'm here to deliver a snappy history lesson to entertain and educate the whole family who says that homeschooling can't be fun?
And today we are journeying back nearly 2000 years to visit an ancient roman town that was frozen in time by a volcanic eruption.
Yes, were off to Pompeii in Italy.
Now, Pompeii was a pretty ordinary port town with lots of ships arriving all the time.
It had lots of nice bits, but it wasnt particularly posh compared to Herculaneum, the much fancier seaside resort next door.
Now, Pompeii hadnt started out as a roman town.
It was founded centuries before by a tribe called the Samnites, who spoke the Oscan language.
In fact, archaeologists have found bits of Oscan graffiti scribbled on the ancient walls.
So how did Pompeii become roman?
Well, about 170 years before that volcano went Kablang, there was a huge punch up called the social war.
No, thats not when celebrities have arguments on twitter, but rather was a massive outbreak of violence among Romes allies, known in Latin as the Sochii, which resulted in the Romans smashing the Samnites in 89 BCE and then forcing them to all be Romans.
Now, this was obviously a bad time for Pompeii, but not as bad as 79 CE, when life suddenly stopped.
The town was close to a massive volcano called Vesuvius, and one day it suddenly went kaboom.
Over two days killed everyone in the area and the town.
And people were buried under meters of thick volcanic ash, and they werent rediscovered until 1748.
This meant that everything and everyone in Pompeii was preserved in ash, frozen.
In that horrible moment, there were even half baked bread rolls still in the oven.