By 8:00 p.m., the magma traveled up the cone of the volcano, causing eruptions of ash and pumice, and over the course of the next 12 hours, the town of Pompeii was significantly buried. That night, further eruptions overtook the smaller town of Herculaneum, covering it multiple times over. As if all that was not enough, Pompeii was hit again the next morning, destroying what little remained and killing every living being within its borders. Only in the early hours of August 26, did the eruption come to a halt as the sun came out again on the stunned survivors. [34]
One of the most in-depth accounts was written by Pliny the Younger, no more than 17 years of age when he witnessed the horror of Pompeii’s destruction. In the aftermath of the eruption, the Roman historian Tacitus convinced Pliny the Younger to put his account to paper, which he duly did, expanding on his own experiences by adding hypotheses and recreations of what was known to have occurred to others during that time.
One of Pliny’s accounts discussed the actions of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, who would die during the event. One of the great figures of the Roman Empire and author of a 37-volume compendium of natural history, Pliny the Elder was transfixed by the phenomenon as he watched from nineteen miles away, across the Bay of Naples at Misenum. What he saw was the floor of the crater that had plugged the mouth of Mount Vesuvius for centuries broken by the pressure beneath. The mouth of the volcano spewed forth molten rock, a debris predominantly composed of pebbly pumice that rained down on Pompeii. [35] It set fire to the buildings, collapsed the roofs of houses and struck at those who ran through the streets, killing many. At this time, Pliny the Younger noted that the eruption looked something like a pine tree, writing that “it shot up at a great height in the form of a trunk, which extended itself at the top into several branches. It was at one moment white, at another dark and spotted, as if it had carried up earth and cinders.” [36]
Presented with this unique and previously unobserved phenomenon, Pliny the Elder sought to get closer to it in order to record as much information as possible for posterity, furthering scientific knowledge. To this end he ordered that a light vessel be prepared to take him closer to it, an order that, as admiral of the Roman fleet, he was easily able to issue. His plans changed radically however once word reached him that the people living close to the eruption were in mortal danger. This included those citizens both of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Intending to mount a rescue attempt Pliny the Elder abandoned his light vessel in favor of several large galleys, leading them across the bay towards those afflicted souls who were fleeing the burning city down to the beaches.
Pliny vividly described what he saw on August 24: “Meanwhile on Mount Vesuvius broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points, their bright glare emphasized by the darkness of night. My uncle tried to allay the fears of his companions by repeatedly declaring that these were nothing but bonfires left by the peasants in their terror, or else empty houses on fire in the districts they had abandoned. Then he went to rest and certainly slept, for as he was a stout man his breathing was rather loud and heavy and could be heard by people coming and going outside his door. By this time the courtyard giving access to his room was full of ashes mixed with pumice stones, so that its level had risen, and if he had stayed in the room any longer he would never have got out. He was wakened, came out and joined Pomponianus and the rest of the household who had sat up all night.”
In one of his letters to Tacitus, Pliny the Younger described what he saw on August 25:
“Ashes were already falling, not as yet very thickly. I looked round: a dense black cloud was coming up behind us, spreading over the earth like a flood. 'Let us leave the road while we can still see,' I said, 'or we shall be knocked down and trampled underfoot in the dark by the crowd behind.' We had scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a closed room.
“You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore.”
It has been estimated that approximately 90% of Pompeii’s population left in time to escape the death of their city, with about 2,000 staying behind. [37] Their burial shrouds were the drifts of ash from Vesuvius, a deadly end that also gave them and their city a sense of immortality, frozen in its final moments to be rediscovered again in the centuries to come. In the aftermath of the fateful eruption, when Vesuvius settled once more, some people returned to see what was left of Pompeii. A few remnants of buildings jutted above the layers of ash, and some chose to try digging tunnels through it to retrieve their lost belongings or perhaps even those of other people. They were unwittingly engaged in dangerous work, since pockets of poison gas remained beneath the ground and proved potentially fatal to those attempting to uncover Pompeii. [38] Emperor Titus, who had risen to power in Rome only months before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, worked hard to resettle the refugees and ordered senators to conduct research through a commission, looking for options for rebuilding the famous city. In the end however, the task was too great to be seriously considered. Pompeii had finally been abandoned, with no hope of saving or replacing it. [39]
There is still scholarly debate over whether the dates of August 24-25 are accurate. Some believe that the eruption actually took place later in the year, either during October or November, based on the fact that some people were wearing heavier articles of clothing than would be expected in summer. It has even been suggested that one resident was carrying a coin that could only have been minted in September, thereby discrediting the notion that the eruption took place in August. Nevertheless, August 24-25 is still widely accepted and cited as the dates of the eruption.
What is known is that in the aftermath, Stabiae became the principal city of trade in Pompeii’s absence. Herculaneum, completely buried, soon had a new village spring up on top of it. Farmers’ huts were erected overlooking the Sarno River, and the people of the region got on with their lives. The past was, if not forgotten, at least no longer at the forefront of people’s minds.
Pompeii was gone, but Mount Vesuvius was still very much present. The eruption of 79 was the first in the recorded history of the region, but it was far from the last. Vesuvius erupted again in 202, then again in 306, 472, 513, 533 D and 1631. Some of these were little more than convulsions, but the 1631 eruption was another tragedy. Many towns had sprung up at the foot of the volcano by then, and lava overflowing from the crater above rushed down to cover them, killing as many as 18,000 people. [40] The same factors that had drawn the Oscan settlers to the area in the first place kept bringing people back: the rich fertility and the prime location for trade. But now, the people who chose to live knew they were residing in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano that might look dormant but threatened to erupt once more at any given moment.
The crater of Mount Vesuvius today
Due to the direction of the prevailing winds during the eruption, Neapolis miraculously emerged largely unscathed, even if the people’s faith in the gods was no doubt shaken. [41] An area of about 200 square miles surrounding the volcano had been wholly destroyed, covered by blankets of lava that are estimated to have been 5-10 cubic kilometers in volume. Not a blade of grass survived. Archeologists surmise that Rome must have sent aid to the area, but there are no descriptions of public works projects that are left behind in surviving classical texts. What they do know is that Pompeii and Herculaneum would only remerge after 17 centuries when archeologists discovered the bodies and structures that had been remarkably preserved beneath.
Other towns, such as Cumae, Pozzuoli, Baiae, Misenum and Capua were able to return to - and surpass -
their previous state of productivity, as were the islands of Ischia, Capri, and Procida, and the Sorretino Peninsula. These towns, however, were relatively far from the site of the disaster. One town, Stabiae, which had been partially hit, was able to regain its strength by the 3rd century.
Economic records of the time suggest that the Roman Empire was hit by the eruption in more ways than just the loss of life. After the eruption, they had to start importing increasing quantities of wine, olive oil and fish in order to compensate for the shortages caused by Vesuvius. There were cultural repercussions as well - for approximately 60 years following the tragedy, Roman emperors avoided the area, as did poets and aristocrats. [42]
In the 4th century CE, another major turning point came when the Emperor Diocletian ordered a massacre of Christians throughout the Roman Empire. One victim of this massacre, the Bishop of Benevento, was taken as a martyr and canonized as Saint Gennaro. [43] Over the next few centuries, as the Roman Empire fell into turmoil, the Neapolitans would have many occasions on which to pray to him for protection.
A depiction of the saint in Naples Cathedral
Naples during the Middle Ages
In the 5th century, the Western Roman Empire collapsed and Naples was subject to repeated invasions. [44] The Goths’ sack of Rome in 410 was a major blow to the empire, and the Vandals followed up with another sacking in 455. The Huns also ran through Italy, wreaking havoc everywhere they went. [45]
In 440, Emperor Valentinian II tried to reinforce the city walls through the addition of watchtowers, allowing the Neapolitans to resist incursions a little while longer. It was against this tense backdrop that Vesuvius erupted once more, sometime between 469 and 474. Ancient accounts indicate the Neapolitans hid themselves in the network of catacombs beneath their city and prayed to San Gennaro for protection. Legend has it that the ash stopped falling as soon as the prayers began, and on that day, San Gennaro was made the patron saint of Naples, becoming one of the most venerated saints in all Christendom (an honor he maintains to this day). [46]
The Roman Empire’s control of Neapolis formally ended in 476 when the Ostrogoth king, Odoacer, defeated the last emperor of the West, Romulus Augustus. Romulus spent his exile in a glorious Neapolitan villa, and after the fall of Rome, Neapolis was first ruled by the Goths, followed by the Byzantines. Under the Byzantines, who maintained control for approximately five centuries, Naples also faced incursions by the Lombards, who invaded the city in 568. [47] These enemy attacks motivated Neapolis to strengthen its connection to the Byzantine Empire for protection. [48]
From 661-1137, Naples became a “ducato,” or duchy, a privilege granted by the Byzantine Emperor Constans II. During this time, they returned to their Greek origins, making Greek the official language once again. About midway through this relationship, however, the Byzantines started losing control of their empire, and they faced Arab attacks in Sicily. Naples was able to profit from this turmoil and took the opportunity to strengthen their already positive relationships with the Arabs to their economic benefit.
Thanks to this increased economic activity, 9th century Naples saw a burst of cultural production, including the building of new churches and the embellishment of old ones. Paradoxically, as the 10th century began and the turmoil died down, Naples saw its fortunes reverse. The only positive development was that the Lombards had finally stopped trying to take over the city, and the rivals found a way to live in a certain harmony with one another, including intermarrying for strategic alliances. However, their connections to the Arab world weakened. The Neapolitans seemed marginalized in terms of the geopolitics of the time, and, as they were about to enter into the Middle Ages, they were about to be faced with attacks from the first Norman adventurers who would be the next group of foreigners to put their imprint on Naples. [49]
Naples had entered the Middle Ages with a strong reputation as a place of distinguished learning. [50] Its urban space was also quite neatly organized; divided by neighborhoods, it had a sophisticated series of decentralized political organizations that represented the nobles and the lower classes. Those who were affiliated with one of the five noble districts of the city were afforded special privileges, including the right to march in high-profile parades and processions, while only one district represented the lower classes. The traditions connected to the districts would continue for centuries, and even after the Spanish conquest of 1503, the nobles and the lower classes would continue to exhibit their affiliations by parading through the streets and piazzas. [51]
Unlike the Norman period in Sicily, relatively little is known about the Norman period in Naples, insofar as the severe bombing damage in World War II devastated the archives of the city and destroyed countless sources of records that had not been published. [52] What is known is that in 1040, the Norman French invaders conquered Campania, and the Normans were the ones who first formed Naples into a distinct political entity. [53] In 1059, Robert Guiscard (1015-1085) was invested by the Pope as Duke of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily, making Naples a feudatory of the Holy See. [54] When Roger “the Norman” became King of Sicily in 1071 in Palermo, he ruled over a territory that included the modern regions of Sicily, Calabria, Puglia, Basilicata, Abruzzo and Campania. Although this territory constantly changed rulers, it maintained this border with the papal state to the north with virtually no alteration for nearly seven centuries. This rare territorial stability is often unfairly overlooked, in favor of an emphasis on the tumult of the people actually ruling the territory. [55]
In 1190, the German Hohenstaufens (or the Swabians) took the region as their own, [56] and eight years later Naples also enjoyed being ruled by Frederick II (1194-1250), the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily and Jerusalem. Frederick II was based in Palermo, but he invested considerable resources in the development of Naples. For example, he founded the university there in 1224, making it was the first institution in Europe that was dedicated to training government administrators and civil servants. [57] As the only university in the entire kingdom, it served to draw the best talent from all of southern Italy. [58] The university brought Aristotelian natural philosophy and Christian theology into a symbiotic relationship that laid the groundwork for the flourishing Renaissance humanism that arose in the 15th century courts of the Aragonese kings. [59]
Wolfgang Rieger’s picture of a 13 th century statue of Frederick II
Thanks to the stewardship of Frederick II, by the beginning of the 13th century, Naples could easily be considered amongst the most important cities of Europe. Its population reached 30,000 inhabitants, which made it smaller than Venice, Milan, and Florence (which each had approximately 80,000 at the same time), but no less powerful. [60]
After Frederick’s death, Naples was caught up in the Angevin-Guelph, Aragonese-Ghibelline wars of the Middle Ages. [61] In 1266, Naples passed to the French Angevins. [62] Naples gained inhabitants during the Angevin rule, and it also changed in appearance as the Angevins built castles and churches in a French Gothic style. [63] In 1284, following the rebellion of the Sicilian Vespers which deprived King Charles of Anjou his control of the island of Sicily, Naples became the capital of the Kingdom of Naples, instead of Palermo. [64] Despite the loss of the island, the kingdom remained a formidable territory, and by far the largest area of Italy ruled by a single government. Thanks to this alignment with the Angevin kings of Naples, who brought French court culture to Naples, the nobility of the city married into some of the most powerful families of Europe, guaranteeing the well-being of the elites of society. [65]
As an international capital, Naples also enjoyed good trade relationships with the rest of Europe, as well as across the Mediterranean, which brought new blood into the city as well as valuable resources to support a thriving cultural scene. [66] All the while, thanks to its status as the political capital of the kingdom, Naples experienced a number of advantages. It grew in size, as the feudal, aristocratic families left their rural domain in order to be closer to the center of power repr
esented by the viceroy and his court. In their wake, the lower classes followed, trying to take advantage of low cost of living and plentiful work opportunities engendered by the aristocrats’ presence, from domestic service to production of luxury textiles, jewelry, furniture and even coaches. [67]
Miguel Hermoso Cuesta’s picture of the Castel Nuovo, where medieval kings lived in the city
Around the 1300s, the Angevin rulers decided to make a more serious investment in cultural life. [68] When they started their initiative, Naples was lacking a strong local artistic culture, so the court and the church both invited artists from outside Naples to satisfy the artistic needs of wealthy patrons. [69]
The Angevins arguably set Naples on a course to reach its cultural apex, but according to one early historian of Naples, this rapid passage from the Normans and the Hohenstaufens to the Angevins was the origin of the misfortunes of the kingdom. To Giuseppe Maria Galanti, the French and Germans were the “natural” rulers of the kingdom, while the Angevins were foreigners who mistreated their subjects. [70]
In the 1430s, the Angevin line in Naples died out, leaving the city to the Aragonese. Scholars have described the second half of the 15th century as one of the most obscure eras in the history of Naples, but it also represents the start of an important era of continuity. Starting in 1442, when the kingdom was conquered by Alfonso the Magnanimous, the Spanish ruled the city for 250 years, and though they were still a subjugated people, Spanish rule provided at least a veneer of stability at a time when Naples faced a number of other serious challenges. [71]
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