Activity One - The Process - How did the disaster unfold?

We are going to watch the first YouTube to discover how the disaster of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius unfolded. To record the information given in the clip you are going to use the 'Investigating Historical Events' grid. When you are making notes they are for you but they do need to make sense. Think about using bullet points to help structure your notes, use key words, data and even different coloured pens. 

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Activity Two

You have now watched a dramatisation of the event that took place. This is a secondary source of information as it was taken at the time of the event but has been created about the event using primary sources of information. While the eruption took place in 79AD we do have primary sources that we can explore, including writing. We are going to interrogate two letters written by Pliny the Younger. 

Before we look at the letters we need to know who Pliny the Younger was. Pliny was a lawyer, author and magistrate of Ancient Rome. He was born into the equestrian rank. Not horses but a lower member of the aristocratic order of equites (knights). His uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped to bring him up. This is important as Pliny the Elder was known throughout the Roman Empire for his intelligence. Pliny the Younger wrote a lot of letters and 247 still survive today. He wrote his letters to reigning emperors and even historians such as Tacitus who he classes as a friend. These letters help to inform us of Ancient Rome and are primary sources of information. His uncle died trying to rescue people from the Vesuvius eruption and the Younger inherited his estate. Pliny the Younger become known as 'Gaius Plinius Luci filius Caecilius Secundus' (taken from Kiddle).

Pliny the Younger wrote two letters about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but they were written over 25 years after the explosion took place. The historian Tacitus asked him to write the letters. The first letter outlines the events before the eruption and before the death of his uncle. The second letter describes his movement during the time of the eruption. While many of us may forget events from over 25 years ago (or even last week), Pliny's letters are considered to be very detailed and accurate, so much so that volcanologists have termed composite volcanic eruptions as 'Plinian eruptions'.

1. Collect a copy of each letter. 

2. Take out two different coloured pens or highlighters. 

3. In one colour, highlight or underline any information given about the eruption that could/would help scientists (volcanologists) to research about volcanoes.

4. In the second colour, highlight or underline information that could/would help a historian know more about life in a typical Roman city. 

5. This could be done in pairs with each person choosing to focus on the life in Rome or the eruption. 

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