Core Study: Cities of Vesuvius – Pompeii and Herculaneum
What you must understand
The core study rewards precise knowledge of both cities, not Pompeii alone. Know the eruption chronology (the Plinian phase of pumice fall, then pyroclastic surges that destroyed Herculaneum), the geography of each site, and the range of evidence: public buildings (forum, basilica, macellum, temples, baths, theatres), domestic architecture (atrium, peristyle, insulae, shops), and the economy (wine and oil production, garum, fulling, bakeries, harbour activity). Understand society: magistrates (duumviri, aediles), decurions, freedmen and slaves, women's public roles, and the evidence for each. Know the techniques of archaeology - stratigraphy, excavation history from the Bourbon tunnels to modern open-area work, and scientific methods such as plaster casts, DNA and isotope analysis, and site conservation issues including volcanic risk, tourism and deterioration.
Traps
Questions often ask you to evaluate the reliability of sources, not list them. Don't treat plaster casts as direct evidence of how people died; they record voids. Don't assume inscriptions are typical of the whole population - elite self-promotion skews epigraphy. Be careful with the word 'destroyed': Herculaneum was buried by surges and largely sealed, while Pompeii's roofless ruins reflect both eruption and later looting. Watch dates and reign references.
Rule of thumb
For any source question, use a three-step frame: what the source is → what it shows → its limits. For example, a campaign poster from Pompeii shows electoral organisation and elite competition, but its formulaic language limits what it reveals about actual voting behaviour.
Key points
- Compare Pompeii and Herculaneum explicitly; each question rewards both.
- Link every artefact to a category of evidence and to its limitations.
- Know magistracies and social groups with named evidence.
- Treat conservation, tourism and volcanic risk as assessable content.