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FLEEING FROM A burning, volcanic cloud, the people of Pompeii and Herculaneum had little time to pack, snatching a lamp, some cash or the house key as they tried to run to safety.
But the owners of the objects never made it, the key never used again, as they perished in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD, the subject of a major new exhibition at the British Museum in London.
Although the disaster has been exhaustively examined, Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum seeks to shed fresh light on the daily lives of those killed that day.
It brings together objects from both destroyed cities which display a startling similarity to those we use today, from the colander and bakeware in the kitchen to dice used in games.
One of the most evocative images is a crib which was burned to charcoal when volcanic material measuring 400 degrees Celsius swept through Herculaneum. The infant in it was incinerated.
“The Romans had rooms in homes filled with things just like we have. They had a consumer lifestyle, they liked nice things,” curator Paul Roberts told AFP.
“It’s really a way of bringing the Romans closer to us. They’re not just ‘I, Claudius’, they’re not gladiators – they’re us.”
A cast of a woman, one of more than 70 people who died in the basement of a house near Pompeii, on display in the exhibition. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Visitors to the exhibition are taken through rooms in a Roman house, decorated with frescos including one embellished with graffiti animals, likely the work of younger members of the family.
There are countless examples of everyday life, from furniture to jewellery and sculptures, as well as erotic art that would have been displayed with little embarrassment.
A cast of a man who died in Pompeii (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
But this image of two bustling cities – Pompeii the industrial hub of the region and Herculaneum a smaller seaside city – is brought to a abrupt and brutal halt, just as they were.
At the end of the exhibition are casts of a man who died as he crouched down behind a wall desperately seeking protection, and of a family flung back in agony by waves of ash and volcanic rock in Pompeii.
A mosaic panel depicting a guard dog that was found in Pompeii (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Such was the heat that hit Herculaneum that most people were incinerated immediately, but in Pompeii it was slightly cooler, allowing lava to harden around the bodies of the dead.
In the 18th century, archaeologists discovered the voids where these bodies had been and filled them with plaster, creating casts that show in gruesome detail how the people died.
Two statues, one found in Herculaneum and the other found in Pompeii, on display. (Photo: AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Many strike ‘the boxer pose’, their arms held up as if to throw a punch. It is caused by the heat which contracts the tendons.
After half an hour examining the lives of ordinary Romans at the museum, this graphic evidence of one family’s demise is shocking.
The mother is holding her toddler child on her lap as she falls back against the wave of heat, her husband next to her, his body contorted. Another child lies lifeless on the floor nearby.
“People didn’t see it coming,” said Vanessa Baldwin, assistant curator of the exhibition. “They were living their daily lives when it hit.”
(Video: britishmuseum/YouTube)
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Poor man.. Who wants to die at 58 yrs? Cancer is a terrible disease.. It’s obvious the Venezuelan people loved him immensely and he was good for them too… I wish we had a leader that was a real man and would stand up for his people like Chavez did ..we haven’t had those kind of leaders in this country in 100yrs.. doubt ill see it in my lifetime either I’m sorry to say…
Forgetting about Charlie?
Charlie who? cant think of any Charlie who’s relevant to what Joan said
Its rumoured Hugo was listening to Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel in his final hours, thoughts and prayers with the deceaseds family….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiCRZLr9oRw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Joan,
My sentiments exactly, a real woman would be great too, this old boys club in the dail has to be broken.
Charlie and the Charvet Factory
Shirts that is.
“Self anointed successor” -he’s his democratically elected Vice President so of course he takes over in the event of the death of the president. Like in many other countries! There will be elections shortly to determine who takes over unless the US decides they need ‘democracy’ now and parachute in a right wing puppet.
@ Pamela .. I thought that was kinda strange too!? ‘ Self anointed successor’…? I didn’t think he was either but thought I might’ve got my facts wrong so didn’t comment on it..
It is associated press after all
Chaves was not sworn in so technically he was no longer President. And as such neither is the vice president. Hence the requirement for fresh elections. Or would you have them just ignore the constitution like they usually did.
Nicholas Maduro is Venezuela’s vice president. He is a democratically elected member of the Venezuala national assembly and appointed by former president Chavez to vice president in 2012. The term “self anointed” is designed to imply Venezuala is undemocratic, just because the Venezualan people choose to elect a government that does not say “how high” when the US says “jump”.
And I believe that when they are referring to ” his self appointed successor” they are referring to the party leadership. Usually when a party loses its leader their is a vote for a new one but not seemingly in this case.
He hasn’t been elected yet.
Chavez was not sworn in and neither was he.
The courts ruled that the constitutionally the leader of the National Assembly should be interim leader until the elections are held.
Maduro has decided to ignore the courts and declare himself leader.
Hence self anointed.
Looks like he is a real chip of the old block at least.
Actually I stand corrected.
The issue is not that he wasn’t sworn in.
The constitution states that the leader of the national assembly is the executive vice president and should be in charge in the event the president dies with elections held within 30 days.
Mr Maduro however is above concepts like law and constitutions.
I bet you Muduro and the rest of the gang have their “get out of Dodge” money stashed in off shore accounts. And it won’t be in their local currency either.
Nor is it the case in the United States. There when the President dies the Vice President succeeds him as soon as he can be sworn in. Its seems to be the same system with the Chavez regime as the US, so whats the problem they were elected in fair elections weren’t they.
Martin He was not sworn in. He went to Cuba for treatment before being sworn in. The Speaker of the Parliament is the legal Authority until a new President can be sworn in and that means New Elections.
Well said Pamela. The US hates a democratic state that dissents from their agenda, they call that terrorism
RIP Hugo Chavez.
I admired his resolve to rid his country of all the “international interests”.
The “international interests” were willing to flush Venezuela down the tubes of hunger and poverty just like Nigeria and the other oil producing nations of Africa and then tell us…(I meant them, it would never happen here…would it???) them they were lucky because IT’S JUST SOOOO EXPENSIVE TO EXPLORE AND VERY LITTLE MONEY TO BE MADE.
My Arse!!!!!
These pillagers will be back with a vengeance in Venezuela and all the roads and schools and hospitals and services for the poor and the elderly and higher wage cuts and taxes for our ( …I meant those in Venezuela) those people and luckily the IMF etc will help them to structure their “debts” and tell them sell off their resources to pay for it.
I’m so glad I live in Ireland, a democracy that puts its people first!
Viva Chavez.
My vote for comment of the week goes to billy
All the fancy clinics and things are already starting to close as Chavez squandered all the Oil revenue buying votes.
There was a reason he went to the Chinese for 38bn, secured on the country’s oil reserves, the country is going bust.
With Chavez gone the suppression of the free press and anyone who disagreed with him will lessen hopefully and we’ll hear more about the corruption.
Although already the pro Chavez mobs have been out brandishing guns and beating up protesting students.
Sadly he won’t be around to see the consequences of his actions and will no doubt be exonerated of his part of what awaits Venezuela.
The 32% devaluation of their currency last month is just the beginning.
i second that
Top comment. Well done.
Viva Chavez siempre!
I implore all of you have had the wool pulled over your eyes by Chavez’s cult of personality to read this
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/05/venezuela-chavez-s-authoritarian-legacy
A report from Human Rights Watch on Chavez’ brutal reign.
Ah but you see Carl, he was always slagging off the US so therefore he was a legend. Never mind the fact that a lot of the time he did it he was just trying to put a smile on the faces of his good friends/dictators/thugs Putin, Castro and Ahmadinejad.
So true brian…all the commies on here with their crocodile tears,this man was a tyrant.Hated the U.S but he still sold them his oil “with the kennedy family doing his bidding. He could’nt be seen to be getting treatment at the best cancer Hospitals in the world in Miami or New York .Instead he went to some witch doctor in Cuba.
@Brian and Paul – I doubt if there are any / many commies on here – and if u want a brutal regime – look up tne USA – or would u rather stay with comfortable lies . Look up Znet , John Pilger , Noam Chomsky , Democracy Now – ———–or stay as u are – your choice .
C4 did a good graphic on before and after – he achieved a lot – including getting Venezuala and other S American countries away from being vassal states of USA .
Here is graphic
http://www.channel4.com/news/hugo-chavez-how-did-he-change-venezuela-graphic as u can see unempolyment and extreme poverty came down dramatically and GDP/capita rose dramatically – as did oil revenue exports .
now if Irish Govet blueshirt had done that — or anyting remotely like it — instead of selling off the country to save their banker freinds ??
as for the witch doctors in Cuba – Cua has an excellent health service – and were first in with 400 doctors and Nurses after the Haiti earthquake . The USA arrived with destroyers and troops – to safeguard their interests .
Lets look at Venezuela today. The economy is in the toilet with rampant inflation, the currency has been devalued by 37-38% there are shortages of food stuffs in the shops, power cuts are a regular occurrence, the murder rate is equal to LA, Washington DC and New York combined and general crime has increased 10 fold.
Now I don’t know about you but you would think that lifting people out of poverty would make the crime rate fall not increase exponentially.
@brian…you should have added ollie stone and micheal moore to your list.As for chomsky even his buddy christopher hitchens exposed him as nut. For what its worth I too use to belive in this left wing socialist stuff,but then I left college and had to get a job…..
I wonder if the ordinary people of Venezuela could afford to go to Cuba for cancer treatment, or is it as George Orwell said, that “some pigs are more equal than others”.
I’m not sure why Chavez had to travel to Cuba for treatment anyway, given that his supporters are constantly claiming that Venezuela has a world class health system of its own…
RIP Hugo.
Sleep well Chavez. One can only hope that the USA doesn’t get it’s filthy hands on the oil. Chavez did amazing things for the poor but pissed off a lot of rich folk, hence the bad reporting all over the world including the hrw reports which have been discredited by many sources.
Mic
So you don’t want Venezuela to sell its oil to the biggest consumer in the world which would result in an increase in the Global price of oil and thus petrol pumps in Ireland.
You just have to be a member of the Extreme Left as your comment is so economically illiterate.
Peter Daly. That is Ireland’s problem being part of the American imperialism We have our own oil out in the sea sold to foreign investments who are laughing their bollocks off especially Stanoil. It is time to learn from Chavez how to run the country of our own.
Mic, Venezuela exported its oil to the US under Chavez! Are you thick?
You do know that Venezuela exports its oil to the U.S. Chavez was a hippcrite, what was he doing with all this yankee money? Maybe he should have built a modern Hospital with a world class cancer wing.Venezuela is better of without this self appointed dictator,the true voice of the people in this country will be heard
Peter, if you read my comment properly you would see that I said I hoped the USA didn’t get it’s hands on the oil like it had before Chavez. Of course I know that Chavez sold oil to the states. Venezuela is the fourth largest supplier of oil to the states. Independent sources?! Ha ha ha!
Declan, don’t call me thick. Read my comment ya tool.
Chavez may have sold oil to the USA on his country’s behalf not under US imperialisation I read views of him in willing to help the poor States of the US. He wasn’t anti American, loved Baseball and had American friends such as Sean Penn. He just couldn’t stand American imperialisation, slaverly and investments going on around Mother Earth
@peter daly. I think he means he doesn’t want America going in themselves to south American countries, buying the oil fields for fractions of their values. They did this all the time I the 40s 50s and beyond. Not just oil either, any resource they could make money on. They hired peasants at slave prices. That’s what got el Che so riled up.
Mic, I did read your comment and that’s why I said you are thick, you tool.
At the end of the day it was the American dollar that funded all his social programs. Do you not get the irony in that. Chavez despised the US but needed the American market to fund his so called revolution.
So I will say again “are you thick”?
The AP doing alot of incorrect reporting this morning.. ie.. ZOO-.. Should be sanctuary( in other post)… SELF ANOINTED SUCCESSOR ???? Who are these people?
The president of the national assembly should be the interim leader according to the constitution.
Maduro has illegally declared himself leader.
It’s OK he is backed my Chavez party which is all that matters in Venezuela not the law.
Is this General suggesting that the US has weaponised cancer?
In fairness weaponised cancer ain’t a new thing. Russians were working on that in the 70s. Whether it was used on the Latin American leaders is another thing.
I read he didnt die on monday but died in cuba on friday and was brought back to Venezuela so the government could tell the people he died in Venezuela.now for ya
Joe turn off Fox News.
Did US Cancer Weapon Kill Hugo Chavez?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZUx8P-BYCuo
Now,now, Sean Penn only visted him a couple of times.
And how did they do it without him noticing? Couldn’t have been an injection he would have felt that. Maybe in his food but again they would have to get close enough to make sure it was only him that ate it. I know!!! They used their “Secret Death Ray” from space. The one they got from the Aliens!!!
Get a grip. The man got cancer. The same way as everyone that ever had it.
The US tried several times in the 60′s to posion Castro and that’s documented are you saying there is not even the slightest chance the US would’nt have considered getting rid of one of there main enemies so cheaply. After all Arafat’s body was found to have plutonium posion present in his bones when the french exumed him.
And where did the Plutonium come from? It can be traced to the particular reactor.
Martin
You mean Polonium.
Had to laugh at fox news calling Chavez “an anti-American terrorist”, fox news that’s a whole different thread!
Asociated Press seem to be American-based? Is this why they’re using the term “self-appointed”? As said above he’s the vice president, just like Joe Biden is in the States. Also Chavez expressed the wish that the Venezuelan people would back Maduro to carry on his reforms.
I hope the US doesn’t start to meddle in South American affairs again.
This thread has become a Left/Right argument and both have great merit.
I’ve never bought the cult of Chavez in his political/ideological sense. It’s obvious that he couldn’t run the country’s economy and his time was at the beginning when he did all the right moves. His mistake was to stay on and not let proper economic management happen.
As for the U.S…. I like America and its culture. There is no country without its blemished history and screw ups. For Chavez, he got caught in the “if ya ain’t wid’us, y’all are again’us!” Bush business model and history tells us the rest.
My point is that he recognised the rampant pillaging of Venezuelan natural resources by the “international interests” with little or no return to Venezuelan coffers and did something about it.
We were once a nation that counted for something. We were once a nation that struggled against colonialism and won. In recent times we fought to rid ourselves of Perverts and slavery in the guise of “good morals” and won.
I am a firm believer in the capitalism and entrepreneurial spirit but not at ANY cost. The governments of recent years have behaved spinelessly and allowed unethical and “interests” of dubious integrity in the guise of the IMF/Troika dictate and foist upon us 40% of the EU wide bank debt to be paid by us. Meanwhile, we have abundant resources to meet the bonds under our feet but not in our control but mired in some hogwash of “>>>(whiney voice) nobody will want to drill for it!!!<<<"
You know your sh1t! You should lead us back to prosperity. I’d vote for you:-)
Billy they would drill for it but then the drilling would get stopped by the NIMBY brigade.
@Billy Mann – i agree with a lot of what u say – but I would suggest that the US history is a little more than ”blemished ”- — It is atrocious .
—–and it is still at it warmongering and trying to rule and rob any country that it wants to . It is a Tyranical State – and will not change – as it is wedded to its war economy – which in a way is as unfortunate for it as its victims of whom there are many in US itself .
also how can u believe in capitalism – when the Neo-liberal variety has delivred such a disaster to much of Worlds Economy ?.
RIP, but how did he sacrifice himself for his country?
Estar tranquilo Hugo.
Sorry about last post…page open in the pocket!!!!!
R.I.P. Comandante Chavez
Hi Jim, The issue here isn’t Neo-Lieralism but acquiescence to a complete and total abdication of integrity and honesty to the actions of the few. I think the American people are as ruled and robbed as a nation as any.
I’m not an America basher Jim, I suspect that we tend to have a pot at them and hold them to account far more than we run the rule over other nations. History has shown that when a nation has unified its borders and peoples internally then it will invariably want to expand and that applies to many tyranical states in the world…or perhaps they feel their brand of Humanity is the best. I can’t answer that and I find it hard to demonize a whole nation for whatever reason.
Before you shout at me Jim… I am a stubborn optimist and I genuinely believe in Humanity. As is evident is our country, when we acquiesced to the Church and the State regarding the care and wellbeing of our people without first outlining that there are consequences for their behavior. The same can be said for the American people about the actions of their leaders.
I am a liberal Jim, I believe that people should come and go as they please, sell what they want to sell, pray what they want to pray, eat what they want to eat, sing what they want to sing and loan what they want to loan and on and on.
People should behave like Adults because when we do we intrinsically respect the others right to co-existence and will act with integrity and in the best interests of ourselves and others. We must never acquiesce to the left or the right and allow fundamentalism to dictate rather that we set in stone the penalty for abusing Cause and Effect..
Have higher expectations Jim and demand higher standards of yourself and others. “Neo-Liberal is a vague catch all label that delivered disaster when in fact it is a number of real people who’s greed ran unchecked and the world allowed it and while we all enjoyed the odd new car and holiday, we too must now hold ourselves to higher standards, say “I had a bit to do with it too”…smile and get the **** on with re-building the dream.
I CD c
Maduro will romp away with the election. Ecuador, Argentina, brazil, Bolivia, all socialist governments. The people voted for the governments. More power to them all.
Wishful thinking?
have your say