The new discoveries in the insula Seridionalis reveal that, after the eruption of 79 AD, Pompeii was not immediately abandoned: among the devastated ruins, the city lived a second forgotten life, made of survival, poverty and improvised settlements.
For centuries, the dominant narrative on Pompeii has crystallized around the eruption of Vesuvius of 79 AD, instantly tragic who petrified lives, houses and hopes under a blanket of ash. But what happened later? The new discoveries in the insula Seridionalis tell a different story: that of a city that, at least in part, tried to be reborn.
The return between the ruins
The archaeological data today confirm that some survivors – perhaps those who did not have the means to start over elsewhere – returned to the rubble, adapting what remained to survive. They probably joined them new arrivals, homeless or resources, who attempted to live in the ruins and dig in search of valuable objects. Post-ensection Pompeii was no longer a city: it was an improvised agglomeration, made of basements, outbreaks obtained between the debris and rooms adapted to the best in the upper floors still accessible.
A precarious but alive community
Despite the devastation, life resumed. Archaeologists have found remains of domestic fires, rudimentary systems for the preparation of food, daily use tools. The vegetation returned to grow and the city – or rather what remained – turned into a poor but vital settlement, similar to an urban camp, a sort of “favela” ante litteram in the heart of the Roman Empire.
The failed attempt of Rifondazione
Aware of the importance of the area, the emperor Tito sent two former consuls like Cantatores Campaniae RESTITUENDAEwith the aim of relaunching Pompeii and Herculaneum. The two also had to redistribute the assets of those who had died without heirs, but the initiative was not successful. Pompeii never returned to being an organized urban center. Rather, he remained a place of marginality, where daily survival took the place of city life.
The definitive abandonment and the silence of history
This fragile and irregular settlement lasted for centuries, until a new eruption – the so -called Pollena one around 472 AD – put an end to any activity on the site. Since then, Pompei was completely abandoned. But the memory of this second life has long been ignored: modern excavations, often concentrated on the levels of 79 AD, have neglected or deleted the traces of post-ensection re-occupation.
A story to rewrite
“Today we recover a removed part of memory,” explains Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. «To date, the perfect moment was sought: the intact frescoes, the rooms frozen over time. But now a different, more human, more tiring Pompeii emerges: that of survival ». And he adds: “We archaeologists are a bit like memory psychologists: we take out what has been removed or forgotten, and this invites us to reflect on what history decides to leave in the shade”.
