O Monte Vesúvio não matou todos em Pompeia. Onde os sobreviventes foram?
Quando o Monte Vesúvio entrou em erupção em 79 d.C., a rocha derretida do vulcão, detritos abrasadores e gases venenosos mataram quase 2.000 pessoas nas antigas cidades italianas vizinhas de Pompeia e Herculano. Mas nem todos morreram. Então, onde os refugiados, que não podiam voltar para suas casas cheias de cinzas, foram?
Dado que este era o mundo antigo, eles não viajaram longe. A maioria ficou ao longo da costa sul da Itália, reassentando as comunidades de Cumae, Nápoles, Ostia e Puteoli, de acordo com um novo estudo que será publicado nesta primavera na revista Analecta Romana.. [Preserved Pompeii: A City in Ash]
Dado que este era o mundo antigo, eles não viajaram longe. A maioria ficou ao longo da costa sul da Itália, reassentando as comunidades de Cumae, Nápoles, Ostia e Puteoli, de acordo com um novo estudo que será publicado nesta primavera na revista Analecta Romana.. [Preserved Pompeii: A City in Ash]
Pinpointing the refugees' destinations was a huge undertaking, as
historical records are spotty and scattered, said study researcher
Steven Tuck, a professor and chair of classics at Miami University in
Oxford, Ohio. To determine where people went, he devised several
criteria to look for while combing through the historical record, which
included documents, inscriptions, artifacts and ancient infrastructure.
For example, Tuck made a database of family names that were distinct to
Pompeii and Herculaneum and then checked whether these names showed up
elsewhere after A.D. 79. He also looked for signs of unique Pompeii and
Herculaneum culture, such as the religious worship of Vulcanus, the god
of fire, or Venus Pompeiana, the patron deity of Pompeii, that surfaced
in the nearby cities after the volcanic eruption.
Public infrastructure projects that sprung up about this time, likely
to accommodate the sudden influx of refugees, also provided clues about
resettlement, Tuck said. That's because between 15,000 and 20,000 people
lived in Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the majority of them survived Vesuvius' catastrophic eruption.
One of the survivors, a man named Cornelius Fuscus later died in what
the Romans called Asia (what is now Romania) on a military campaign.
"They put up an inscription to him there," Tuck told Live Science. "They
said he was from the colony of Pompeii, then he lived in Naples and
then he joined the army."
In another case, the Sulpicius family from Pompeii resettled in Cumae,
according to historical documents that detail their flight and other
records, Tuck said.
"Outside the walls of Pompeii, [archaeologists] discovered a strongbox
(similar to a safe) full of their financial records," he said. "It was
on the side of the road, covered by ash. So clearly, someone had taken this big strongbox when they fled, but then about a mile outside the city, dumped it."
The documents in this strongbox detailed several decades' worth of
financial loans, debts and real estate holdings. It appears that the
Sulpicius family members chose to resettle in Cumae because they had a
business social network there, Tuck said.
During his research, Tuck also found resettlement evidence for quite a
few women and freed slaves. Many refugees married each other, even after
they relocated to new cities. One such woman, Vettia Sabina, was buried
in a family tomb in Naples with the inscription "Have" adorning it. The
word "have" is Oscan, a dialect that was spoken in Pompeii both before
and after the Romans took over the city in 80 B.C. "It means 'welcome,'
you see it on the floor in front of houses as a welcome mat [in
Pompeii]," Tuck said. [Image Gallery: Pompeii's Toilets]
No entanto, olhar para nomes de família únicos pode levá-lo apenas até o momento. "Meu estudo realmente reduz drasticamente o número de romanos que saíram", disse Tuck, já que muitos estrangeiros, migrantes e escravos não registravam nomes de família, o que dificultava o rastreamento.
Em relação à infra-estrutura pública, Tuck descobriu que o imperador romano Titus dava dinheiro para as cidades que se tornaram pontos de refugiados. Na verdade, esse dinheiro veio de Pompeia e Herculano - basicamente, o governo se ajudou com o dinheiro de quem morreu na erupção que não tinha herdeiros. Então, esse dinheiro foi dado a cidades com refugiados, embora Titus assumisse o crédito por qualquer infraestrutura pública que fosse construída, observou Tuck.
Em relação à infra-estrutura pública, Tuck descobriu que o imperador romano Titus dava dinheiro para as cidades que se tornaram pontos de refugiados. Na verdade, esse dinheiro veio de Pompeia e Herculano - basicamente, o governo se ajudou com o dinheiro de quem morreu na erupção que não tinha herdeiros. Então, esse dinheiro foi dado a cidades com refugiados, embora Titus assumisse o crédito por qualquer infraestrutura pública que fosse construída, observou Tuck.
"As pessoas cujo dinheiro foi para esse fundo nunca recebem crédito", disse ele.
Despite this, the new infrastructure likely helped the refugees settle into their new homes.
"The cities Pompeii and Herculaneum were gone," Tuck said. "But the
government is obviously building new neighborhoods and aqueducts and
public buildings in communities where people have settled."
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