Roman Explosion

I love ancient history, in particular that of the Roman Empire, and that is why I am so excited to see that there is going to be a Pompeii exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago. This is definitely an exhibit I do not want to miss. The explosion of Mount Vesuvius may have been horrific for the residents in 79 AD of the city of Pompeii and its neighbor Herculaneum, but the objects that have been preserved in the volcanic have given historians a great glimpse into Romans and their way of life. One thing in particular that is an unprecedented find were the people who were the actual victims of the explosion. In Pompeii, they were covered in ash that hardened while the bodies decomposed, leaving cavities that have since been filled with plaster. The resulting statues show the agonies of the last minutes of the citizens' lives. Herculaneum, however, was not buried in the rain of ash and bodies of its people were covered instead in the mountain's pyroclastic flow with only their skeletons left behind, but there is still much to be learned from their bones and how the Romans lived. The volcano also preserved other parts of the daily life such as ointment bottles, jewelry, and food still on someone's dinner table, although I wouldn't recommend trying to eat it since it is thousands of years old and hard as a rock. I am definitely looking forward to this exhibit.