Natalie Haynes Stands up for the Classics

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics

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BBC Radio 4 LW

Comedy: Standup

Natalie Haynes creates stand-up routines about figures from ancient Greece and Rome.

Natalie Haynes takes a fresh look at the ancient world, creating stand-up routines about figures from ancient Greece and Rome.

BBC Radio 4 FM

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: Series 8: Pompeii

Pompeii

Series 8

BBC Radio 4 - Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, Series 8, Pompeii

Why are ripe pomegranates and squashed grapes key archaeological finds from Pompeii?

Why are ripe pomegranates and some squashed grapes such key archaeological finds from the ancient city of Pompeii? Natalie discusses with archaeologist Dr Sophie Hay.

It seems that classical scholars are wrong about the date of the volcanic eruption that destroyed the ancient city of Pompeii almost two thousand years ago.  It's taken a few ripe pomegranates and some squashed grapes, carbonised by pyroclastic flow, to change our minds about this UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The eruption was definitely in the year 79, but the month?  Most written sources mistakenly suggest it was August but if you know your fruit, you will know that pomegranates and grapes ripen in the autumn in Italy.  So the presence of these fruit in the remains of the city suggest the eruption must have taken place later in the year.

Natalie draws on the blisteringly dramatic account of the disaster by Pliny the Younger, writing to his friend, the historian Tacitus.   She talks to archaeologist Dr Sophie Hay, who has spent nineteen years living and working in Italy and is a leading expert on the site.  There are poignant details: many bodies discovered there were carrying keys, because people expected to be able to return to their homes once the eruption had subsided.  Others had pillows wrapped around their heads to protect them from the pumice and lava raining down on them as they tried to escape.

‘Rock star mythologist’ and reformed stand-up Natalie Haynes is obsessed with the ancient world. She explores key stories from ancient Rome and Greece that still have resonance today.  They might be biographical, topographical, mythological or epic, but they are always hilarious, magical and tragic, mystifying and revelatory. And they tell us more about ourselves now than seems possible of stories from a couple of thousand years ago.  

With guests Dr Sophie Hay and Professor Llewelyn Morgan

Producer Mary Ward-Lowery

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: Series 8

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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Natalie Haynes explores lives from ancient Rome and Greece that still have resonance today

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Pompeii

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