Pompeii – The Last Day

1 On 24 August AD79, the magnificent Romancities of Pompeii and nearby Herculaneumcame to a devastating end. In just 18 hours, theentire city of Pompeii and all its inhabitantswere buried in volcanic twin cities lay undisturbed under metresof volcanic debris for more than 1,500 years,during which time all memory of them seal of wet ashes preserved publicstructures, temples, theatres, baths, shops and private dwellings, as well as the remains of some of the victims, including gladiators,soldiers, slaves and their masters, and entire The Last Daytells the heart-rendingstory of the last hours of both Pompeii story is told first-hand bythose who witnessed the disaster. Based on archaeological evidence and the writings ofPliny the Younger, the film utilises dramareconstruction and state-of-the-art specialeffects to take viewers back in narrative takes viewers through the mainstages of the terrifying eruption of to popular belief, the eruptionoccurred over 18 hours.

2 From the firstrumblings, to the start of the main eruption at1pm on 24 August AD79, the inhabitants ofPompeii had to endure endless hours ofchoking pumice rain, falling debris andsustained poisonous gas emissions, until their fate was dramatically to on the morning of 25 August a large volcanic surge overran thecity of Pompeii , burying all in its path. Escapewas pointless, as those who had fled the citywere caught by the sixth deadly surge at last surge brought complete darkness, day turned to night, leading the scribe Pliny theYounger to believe the whole world was dying and me with it . vesuvius hadn t erupted for almost 1,800 years and the inhabitants of Pompeii andHerculaneum would have been ignorant of 16 Colosseum Rome s Arena Of DeathPompeii The Last DayPompeii The Last DayPompeii The Last DayStephanus (Jonathan Firth) One of the many death casts found at Pompeiithe danger of living in its noword in Latin for volcano, they might havethought the eruption was a message from The Last Dayis their story.

3 Our film offers viewers a unique opportunityto learn about the worst natural disaster tostrike the ancient world from the perspectiveof the people caught up in it, says producer Ailsa Orr. It also allows you to witness theterrifying behaviour of a volcano from as closeas you re ever going to want to! 17 Colosseum Rome s Arena Of DeathPompeii The Last DayPompeii The Last DayThe volcanic surge reaches Pompeii as Stephanus remains defiantJulius Polybius Julius is the very successful son of a freedimperial slave. He owns bakeries in Pompeiiand has strong political ambitions. As the crisisdeepens, he finds true humanity; he frees hisslaves and chooses a noble death beside hiswife and heavily pregnant daughter, whocannot flee the torrent of pumice based upon:Written accounts and askeleton found in the Polybius Stephanus is a very handsome but extremelyarrogant man. A fuller (cloth worker) by trade,he is an odious social climber.

4 His immensegreed leads to his downfall when he choosesto stay and face the horrors of vesuvius ratherthan lose his ill-gotten based upon:Written records and a skeleton found at the gates of is the timid and sensitive young wife of Stephanus. As the crisis deepens,Fortunata discovers new fortitude. Sheattempts to flee from the torrents of pumice rain and choking ash and finds 18 Colosseum Rome s Arena Of DeathPompeii The Last DayPompeii The Last DayThe main charactersStephanus (Jonathan Firth) with Hedore (Inika Leigh Wright) solace with the gladiator Celadus and his dying based upon: Skeleton of a rich youngwoman found in the Gladiator gladiator of renown, Celadus is handsome,charismatic and charming. He would rathertake his chances and flee, than die like a rat,choking on poisonous gas and ash, but chooses to stay with his mortally injuredfriend and based upon: Skeleton of a gladiatorfound in the The Younger (Gaius Plinius Cecilius Secundus)Pliny the Younger is a teenage follower of Stoicphilosophy, the adopted son of his uncle, Plinythe Elder.

5 He declines to go on a rescuemission across the Bay of Naples, but findsinner strength as the crisis the Younger was born in Como, northernItaly, on 24 August in AD61. He lost his fatherat the age of eight and was adopted by hisuncle, Pliny the the Younger was obsessed with writingand wrote in great detail about his everydaylife and the characters that surrounded account of AD79 remains the bestexplanation of the events surrounding thecatastrophic eruption of vesuvius . From hiswork, scholars have deduced that he was oneof the most truthful and thoughtful writers of his a letter to his friend, Cornelius Tacitus, Plinythe Younger wrote of the death of his uncle,Pliny the Elder, as he led the rescue mission to Pompeii : My uncle decided to go down to the shoreand investigate on the spot for the possibilityof any escape by sea, but he found the waveswild and dangerous. A sheet was spread on theground for him to lie down, and he repeatedlyasked for water to drink.

6 Then the flames and the smell of sulphur gavewarning of the approaching fire drove othersto take flight and roused him to stand up. Hestood leaning on two slaves and then suddenlycollapsed. I imagine because the dense fumeschoked his breathing by blocking his windpipe,which was constitutionally weak and narrowand often daylight returned onthe 26th two days after the last day he hadbeen seen his body was found intact anduninjured, still fully clothed and looking morelike sleep than death. Character based upon:The real-life personalitywho recorded the events of Rome s Arena Of DeathPompeii The Last DayPompeii The Last DayPliny The Elder (Gaius Plinus Secundus)Pliny the Elder is the Admiral of the Romanfleet stationed across The Bay of Naples atMisenum. He is in charge of the rescue missionand is a well-thought-of academic and in AD24, also in Como, northern Italy,Pliny the Elder was a remarkable man.

7 Aprolific scholar, whose biggest work,NaturalisHistoria(The Natural Histories an ancientencyclopaedia of natural phenomena),encompassed an incredible 37 from the writings of Pliny the Youngerthat Pliny the Elder was a man of great powersof mental concentration, who could managewith very little sleep. Instead of walking aroundthe city, he would be carried so he couldspend the extra time in an important place in the hierarchy of the Roman Empire, Pliny the Elder was a lawyer who also served as a Calvary officerthroughout Europe. He died in his attempt to lead a rescue mission to the stricken city of based upon:The real-life personalitywho died leading a rescue mission to Rome s Arena Of DeathPompeii The Last DayPompeii The Last DayPliny the Elder, played by Tim Pigott-Smith The inhabitants of Pompeii did not know thatVesuvius was a volcano it hadn t erupted inalmost 1,800 years. So much so, there is noword in Latin for volcano.

8 The longer a volcano sleeps, the more deadlythe were signs that Vesuviuswas beginning to stir earthquakes, groundrising up, underground springs drying up butthe people didn t know how to read thesesigns or understand what they meant. A reservoir of boiling magma some 3km widehad formed beneath vesuvius , trapped inside bya plug of old magma. A chemical reactioninvolving water and gases finally shattered thelava plug and vesuvius roared back to life. The eruption of AD79 was very unusual,without lava or other characteristics normallyassociated with volcanoes. It was a Plinianeruption the most dangerous and fearedkind of all involving superheated gas, magmaand ash that form a giant towering columnthat builds up into the magma coolsand falls to the earth as in this way approximately every 2,000 years. Mixed in with the pumice stones were lithics cold, dense rocks torn from inside thevolcano and carried up into the atmosphereonly to fall back to earth as deadly missilestravelling at speeds reaching 180kph.

9 At the peak of the eruption, a staggering100,000 tons of magma, ash and gas wasreleased from the volcano every second,travelling upwards at the speed of a jet planeto reach 33km in height that s times theheight of Everest. The eruption took just under 24 hours fromstart to end. Had the eruption taken place on any otherday, the people of Pompeii might have stood abetter chance of escape. Usually, the wind blewin a south-westerly direction, which wouldhave blown the column out over the Bay ofNaples. But, on that fateful day, the wind wasblowing in a north-westerly direction straight over Pompeii . vesuvius ejected more than four cubic km ofmaterial over Campagnia that day. Ash fall wastraced as far away as Africa. The seaside resort of Herculaneum wasburied under 25m of pyroclastic material,extending the coastline by some 450m. vesuvius emitted enough ash to fill a cube miles on each side. Pompeii was first uncovered in 1594,although archaeological excavations only beganin 1748 and have been continued since then.

10 Amassive area has now been excavated;however, even today, more than a quarter ofPompeii still awaits Rome s Arena Of DeathPompeii The Last DayPompeii The Last DayFascinating facts I d already done a lot of the historical andscientific research before I visited Pompeii forthe first time on a filming recce last year, saysproducer, Ailsa Orr. But it was only when Ifirst saw the casts of victims that the fullhorror of what took place in Pompeii reallyhammered were ordinary people men, women, children, babies who got upas usual one morning and, hours later, they haddied in the most traumatic and devastatingway. It really compelled us to want to tell thestory of what happened to them particularlyfrom their perspectives. The BBC team first had to piece together the evidence of who these people were, howthey spent their final hours and why they hadchosen to stay in Pompeii rather than fleewhen the eruption began; clues came from the victims themselves.