Escape from Pompeii: The Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius and Its Survivors

A story of triumph out of tragedy, uncovered in the ashes of Vesuvius

The archaeological park of Pompeii is one of the most famous sites of destruction anywhere in the world. From the time of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE until the eighteenth century, Pompeii and its neighbor Herculaneum lay preserved under a thick layer of volcanic material. Since excavations began three hundred years ago, Pompeii has been revealing the secrets of its victims and the ordinary shape of their lives prior to the catastrophe. But did anyone survive the disaster?

In popular culture, the eruption is viewed as an apocalyptic event in which everyone died, while scholars generally assume that some escaped. Steven L. Tuck settles that debate. He starts by establishing the circumstances and timeline of the eruption and the evidence that people at both Pompeii and Herculaneum had the chance to escape the eruption. From there, he moves to the search for survivors. Using evidence from inscriptions supported by archaeological, documentary, and literary sources, Tuck finds survivors in twelve different communities and uncovers details on how they rebuilt their lives, livelihoods, and identities after fleeing the volcano. While some survivors integrated quickly into their new communities and used their new city's name in the personal names of their first generation, others preserved cultural markers from their destroyed communities through language, religious dedications, and renewed businesses. Many of the families that escaped intermarried with other refugee families, but also ran for public office in their new cities, made generous donations to their communities, and integrated while maintaining their former identity. Some refugee families came to the aid of the less fortunate by taking in poor and orphaned survivors, while others married beneath their previous station. The Roman government responded to the needs of the refugee communities with new housing, infrastructure, and services, but, as Tuck demonstrates, the real work was done by the refugees themselves.

By asking new questions about Pompeii and innovatively examining the evidence, Escape from Pompeii proves the survival of Pompeians and Herculaneans after the eruption. It sheds new insight into their lives, pre- and post-eruption, and provides new conclusions about the Roman world and its response to unimaginable suffering.