Pompeii is often depicted as a time capsule in which life came to an abrupt halt after the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, when volcanic ash covered the Roman city in a thick layer and buried it completely.
The narrative has long prevailed that all the inhabitants died in the disaster, and that the city remained preserved as it was at the moment of destruction.
However, Professor Stephen Tuck, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Classical Studies at Miami University in Ohio, believes that this account is not complete.
"It's a very well-established narrative. When you walk around Pompeii, you almost run into this story everywhere: Everyone died, everything was wiped out," he told CNN.
Through his repeated visits to Pompeii, he noticed what he described as “absent evidence,” that is, things that should have been there but had disappeared before the disaster.
"When you look closely, you realize that there are a lot of things missing that should have been there," he continued.
He found that the household shrines were empty, the stables were empty, there were no boats anchored in the harbor, and the chests in which the Romans kept their money were empty. To him, these observations indicate that many residents left the city before the final eruption hit.
For more than 10 years, Tuck worked on the “Survivors of Pompeii” project, which sought to track down the people who managed to escape Pompeii and the neighboring city of Herculaneum before they were destroyed. The results of his research were published in a 2025 book titled “Escape from Pompeii: The Great Eruption of Vesuvius and Its Survivors.”
The researcher relied on databases containing thousands of Latin inscriptions discovered by archaeologists, where the names of the residents of the two cities were engraved on stone tablets. He then traced these names to other Roman cities to see if their owners' lives continued after the day of the disaster.
This research led him to find evidence that a number of residents had already managed to survive and rebuild their lives elsewhere.
The new documentary series "Pompeii: Out of Time" examines three of these stories, presented by British actor Tom Hiddleston, known for his passion for history and classical studies. The series mixes re-enactment and scientific research, following the lives of a young blacksmith's apprentice, a businesswoman, and an Imperial Guard soldier during the day of the eruption, with a countdown detailing each character's final fate.
Hiddleston said: “What makes the story of Pompeii so extraordinary is that we have the privilege of seeing so many and varied details about their ordinary daily lives. Pompeii is a living monument to the past. You can stretch your hand through time and feel connected to a thread of human history.”
Modern research also reveals new aspects of life in the city before and after the disaster, and changes the traditional view of events, as the story is no longer limited to destruction and death, but has also become a story of courage, resilience, and the human ability to adapt to natural disasters.
The series explains that the people of Pompeii did not realize the real danger they were living under. Earthquakes were common for them, and there were frequent tremors before the eruption. A major earthquake 17 years ago damaged buildings and water systems, and repair work was still ongoing when the volcano exploded. However, the residents did not know that these earthquakes were a prelude to a catastrophic eruption, because Vesuvius had not erupted during their lifetime.
Geologist and visiting professor at the Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Imperial College London, Christopher Jackson, explains that scientists relied on the description of the Roman writer Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the disaster from the other side of the Bay of Naples and wrote down one of the oldest historical accounts of a volcanic eruption.
“People didn't realize the connection between those earthquakes and what would happen next,” Jackson told CNN. In the series, Jackson takes Hiddleston on a journey that explains the stages of an eruption.
His careful observations, along with geological evidence, helped reconstruct the sequence of the eruption, which lasted about 24 hours and went through five successive phases.
The disaster began with the fall of huge amounts of ash, which led to the collapse of the roofs of houses, then was followed by incendiary volcanic flows that rushed at tremendous speed towards Pompeii and Herculaneum, causing the death of large numbers of residents within a short time.
Mount Vesuvius is still an active volcano today, even though its last eruption occurred in 1944. Scientists confirm that it is currently in a state of calm, but they are constantly monitoring it in anticipation of any future activity.
As for the results of the Survivors Project, they showed that those who fled were distributed among 48 different Romanian cities. Most of them settled in areas about 32 kilometers from their original homeland, choosing communities similar to their previous environment.
But Tuck noticed a distinct difference between the inhabitants of Pompeii and Herculaneum; The inhabitants of Herculaneum remained close to their city, while the inhabitants of Pompeii spread out over wider areas, taking advantage of their trade relations and their ability to integrate into new societies.
Among the stories that Tuck reconstructed is the story of a woman who lost her husband during the disaster but succeeded in fleeing with her infant daughter to the city of Ostia, the ancient port of Rome, where she later married a doctor working for the emperor. Then her daughter grew up, married, and had children, so that family life could continue despite the tragedy.
“The population of Pompeii was more widely dispersed,” Tuck said. “They appear to have had better resources and networks. They rebuilt their businesses, their sons ran for public office, and they made religious vows to gods that there is no evidence they worshiped in Pompeii. They seem to have really adapted to their new communities.”
Tuck believes that these discoveries completely change our understanding of the story of Pompeii, as they embody a story of hope and resilience, and highlight the ability of man to overcome the harshest disasters and continue to create his future despite the losses.
