logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2025
39m 26s

Excavating Pompeii

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY
About this episode

Pompeii has been excavated for hundreds of years, and in that time techniques, practices and philosophies have changed. We’re now finding out a lot more about the city and the people who lived there, and there’s still more to find out.

The When in Rome podcast is now fundraising for an upcoming series 8. Please give your support.

Guest:

Dr Sophie Hay (Archaeologist, Archaeological Park of Pompeii)
Professor Steven Ellis (Classics, University of Cincinnati)

Up next
Jun 26
The House That Crassus and Pompey Built
After the death of Crassus his powerful name, his fortune, and his family’s honour survived. In this episode we’ll trace the life of the Crassi yet to come, and how the family comes together with an old rival. Episode CCXLIII (243) Part V of Crassus Guest: Assoc. Professor Rhiann ... Show More
29m 49s
May 29
Glory and Gold
Crassus had power, he had money, but he still felt something was missing. With an army and a province in the east, he sets off to win the glory he had always been denied Perhaps it lay in Parthia. Episode CCXLII (242) Part IV of Crassus Guest: Assoc. Professor Rhiannon Evans (Cla ... Show More
33m 51s
May 22
Crassus and the Triumvirate
As Crassus gathered more power and wealth his success was aided by two allies. One, Julius Caesar, had received financial aid from Crassus for many years. The other, Pompeius Magnus, was at the best of times a bitter rival. Together they formed the triumvirate - more powerful tog ... Show More
35m 11s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 3
Herculaneum
In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius unleashed devastation on the Roman world, burying entire towns beneath volcanic ash. While Pompeii is world-famous, another extraordinary site met the same fate - Herculaneum. In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Andrew W ... Show More
1h 3m
Oct 2024
The Last Regular Day in Pompeii
October 24th, 79. Pompeii is one of the crown jewels of the Roman Empire, a bustling city that serves as a coastal retreat for Rome's elite. But Pompeii also has a large, often overlooked middle-class population. They don't live in Pompeii's massive villas. Instead, they live a t ... Show More
40m 38s
Nov 2019
The Destruction of Pompeii
In the year 79 CE, Mt. Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman city of Pompeii. The ruins were only rediscovered in the the late 1700s, and have been under excavation ever since. In this episode we discuss written references and the archaeology of Pompeii, Vesuvius and the day the vo ... Show More
37m 37s
Nov 2024
Fall of the Etruscans
Before Rome came the Etruscans - they were the dominant culture in ancient Italy in the centuries before Rome's imperial expansion. But how did they fall? In this episode of the Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by archeologist Lucy Shipley to chronicle the decline of this once ... Show More
55m 48s
Aug 2023
Sex Work in Pompeii
This episode contains some strong language references to sexual content. Pompeii is shrouded in myths and legends about it's vibrant, after hours, night life. With theories of carved stone penis' pointing towards brothels, frescoes of graphic images, and bawdy graffiti immortalis ... Show More
37m 16s
Apr 19
The Etruscans: everything you wanted to know
Lasting from the ninth century BC right up until Roman conquest in the first century BC, the Etruscans were a powerful ancient civilisation who inhabited Etruria in ancient Italy, and rubbed shoulders with the other iconic ancient cultures of their day. Often painted as a mysteri ... Show More
54m 48s
Jan 2025
Inside the Brothel of Pompeii
Sex work was everywhere in the ancient world, but a known dedicated space for it (a brothel), is an extremely rare and important thing. Pompeii offers exactly that, with details such as graffiti and drawings immaculately preserved in the only known brothel from this period. Who w ... Show More
46m 45s
Jun 5
Pompeii and the Vesuvius Eruption
"What happens when a volcano erupts just six miles from a bustling city? In 79 AD Mount Vesuvius is regarded as a source of bounty by those who live in its shadow. But one of history’s most infamous natural disasters soon unfolds. How did the lucky ones make their escape? And how ... Show More
45m 3s
Aug 2024
The Parthenon: Wonder of Athens
It is the most famous monument of ancient Greece. Its remains standing tall above modern Athens today, more than 2,000 years old. The Parthenon. A temple, treasury, the residence of a powerful general after Alexander the Great’s death…and his courtesans, a church, a mosque, a gun ... Show More
58m 44s
Nov 2021
8 - La storia di Pompei
Pompeii history 
20m 9s