Roman Empire · 79 AD

Pompeii and Vesuvius, AD 79

In AD 79 Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash and hot volcanic flows. Students use the eyewitness letters of Pliny the Younger and the work of archaeologists to rebuild a Roman town and its last day.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
10–13
On the map
3 steps, AD 79
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In AD 79 Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash and hot volcanic flows. Students use the eyewitness letters of Pliny the Younger and the work of archaeologists to rebuild a Roman town and its last day.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe what happened when Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, using Pliny the Younger's eyewitness account.
  • Locate Vesuvius, Pompeii, Herculaneum and Misenum on the map.
  • Explain what Pompeii teaches us about everyday Roman life.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 79

The bay

Open the map in AD 79 and zoom in on the Bay of Naples. Turn on Historical Events, choose Natural Disasters and find the Vesuvius marker. Which towns lie around the volcano?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 79

An eyewitness

Pan west to the tip of the bay at Misenum, where the 17-year-old Pliny the Younger watched the eruption. Roughly how far was he from the volcano?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 79

A buried town

Zoom in on Pompeii, southeast of the volcano. Type into Ask the atlas: "What have archaeologists found in Pompeii?" Write down three things you learn.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Most people around the bay did not know that Vesuvius was a volcano. Why might they have stayed after the first signs of danger?
  2. Pliny the Younger described the eruption in letters written about 25 years later. How reliable is an eyewitness account written years afterwards?
  3. His uncle, Pliny the Elder, sailed toward the eruption to rescue people and died. What does that tell you about him?
  4. The ash that killed the people of Pompeii also preserved the town. Why is Pompeii so valuable to historians?
  5. Hundreds of thousands of people live around Vesuvius today. Should people live near an active volcano?
4

Game round

10 min

No ruler in Rule History reigned in AD 79; the emperor that year was Titus. Play one round as Marcus Aurelius, who also faced a disaster he could not control: a plague. Discuss: what can a ruler do when nature strikes?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.