Pompeii 2014 Film Historical Inaccuracies

[David Atherton]

OK, first let me confess I'm a huge fan of films about Pompeii and the 79 AD eruption - no matter how bad they are. The amount of drivel and soapy melodrama committed to films in the name of Pompeii is exhaustingly immense - the new "Pompeii" is no exception. It's "Titanic" meets "Gladiator", just to underline the point. That being said, I quite enjoyed the film for what it is - a light popcorn adventure mixing love, gladiators, and a volcano blowing up.

However, the film was frustrating to watch at times. So, in honour of "Pompeii" being released on DVD/Bluray in a couple of weeks I thought a thread devoted to some of the film's historical inaccuracies would be appropriate.

1. The opening title sequence quotes Pliny the Younger's description of the eruption with the tag "Pliny the Younger, AD 79". Pliny wrote his description of the eruption to Tacitus nearly 30 years later.

2. In the film the Pompeians are confusingly referred to as non Roman. They are treated as some sort of second rate provincials. Probably to help propel the plot.

3. The eruption itself has giant fireballs raining down on the town, added for visual effect I assume.

4. A giant tsunami engulfs the harbour carrying large seagoing vessels into the town. While a tsunami did indeed occur, it was no where near the size depicted in the film.

5. The CGI effects* showing the countryside around Pompeii depict very little in the way of agriculture and instead show vast forests. Herculaneum is absent as well.

6. During the eruption tons of ash and pumice fell on Pompeii, burying the town up to 16 feet. The film barely hints at this.

Those are the handful of inaccuracies that bothered me the most. If any of you come across other blunders please feel free to post them!

*Despite some mistakes the CGI was amazing.

[David Atherton]

A couple more.

7. Plaster casts of the victims are shown with ash falling on them. These casts were made in the 19th century by pouring plaster into the voids in the ash layers where the bodies had been.

8. In the initial stage of the eruption great sections of Pompeii's arena are shown collapsing. In reality it pretty much survived intact.

[David Atherton]

For those who haven't seen the film here are a few screen shots of the best CGI scenes.

The town.

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[David Atherton]

More of the town.

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[David Atherton]

The eruption.

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[David Atherton]

More of the eruption.

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[David Atherton]

Keen eyed observers will notice that Pompeii's arena is situated in the wrong place, on the northside wall facing the volcano. Again this is likely due for dramatic effect during key scenes.

Here is the damage the poor arena suffers in the film.

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[SC]

Thanks for posting the images.  Not seen the movie yet but I will try to soon.

Looking at the images one issue that comes up is the harbour.  The real one has never been found.  Its location is usually thought to be southwest of the city at the mouth of the river, not right at the western coast as shown in the CGI.  There may have been separate military and civilian harbours.  So the location, the shape, the mole, the lighthouse and the colossus shown inside are all conjecture.

I still hope to see Harris' Pompeii made in to a movie and see the proper Plinian eruption.  The development of HUGE eruption column over days followed by a pyroclastic flow of 1000 degree plus, red-glowing rock, mud and gas hurtling downhill at over 500 km per hour should provide enough drama for any Hollywood producer without the need to go fantasy on it.

Shawn

[David Atherton]

Thanks for posting the images.  Not seen the movie yet but I will try to soon.

Looking at the images one issue that comes up is the harbour.  The real one has never been found.  Its location is usually thought to be southwest of the city at the mouth of the river, not right at the western coast as shown in the CGI.  There may have been separate military and civilian harbours.  So the location, the shape, the mole, the lighthouse and the colossus shown inside are all conjecture.

I still hope to see Harris' Pompeii made in to a movie and see the proper Plinian eruption.  The development of HUGE eruption column over days followed by a pyroclastic flow of 1000 degree plus, red-glowing rock, mud and gas hurtling downhill at over 500 km per hour should provide enough drama for any Hollywood producer without the need to go fantasy on it.

Shawn

I agree with all of the above. You're right about the harbour being pure fantasy as presented here. I imagine the only reason it is situated as so is for dramatic effect when the tsunami strikes the town and is shown going up to the western wall of the city carrying ships and debris.

FWIW, here is another angle of the harbour.

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[Rich Beale]

Glaring inaccuracies are these days, alas, a staple of mainstream pseudo-historical films produced to 'shock' or 'wow' otherwise rather hard to please audiences.

'You know nothing, Jon Snow'.

[Adrian W]

I will be in Pompeii in 2 weeks and looking forwards to that as never been before

[SC]

Enjoy it!  The real thing is 1000 times better than any CGI.  The ruins are huge and awesome and you can't help turning to look at Vesuvius every few minutes as it looms on the horizon.

Shawn

[Jay GT4]

Especially so when you're taking the Circumvesuviana train.  Depending on the day some of the better houses will be gated but sometimes you can gain access via another entrance around the corner. 

Another thing I noticed was that Vesuvius is shown as an already existing volcano when in fact the people in Pompeii knew it as just another mountain.

[Robert_Brenchley]

The fireballs are obviously wrong. Pompeii was hit by a pyroclastic flow, which isn't particularly spectacular unless it's coming straight at you, but utterly deadly; it's essentially a vast aerosol of hot gas and semi-molten lava.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvjwt9nnwXY

[David Atherton]

A great video of the eruption that is perhaps a bit more plausible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY_3ggKg0Bc

[SC]

That is a much better representation of what occurred than the movie though I still have a few quibbles based on the latest works, including Paul Roberts "Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum" for the 2013 British Museum exhibition:

The largest dense airborne projectiles were about 1' diameter.  Overall the 6" to 1' diameter projectiles were quite rare.  Tiny pebbles and pumice made up 99.99% of the ejecta which landed on Pompeii.  Thus the massive impact on the temple is unlikely.

The greatest structural destruction occurred when the pyroclastic flows swept over Pompeii, whereas the video shows most of the destruction, including to the temple, complete earlier due to the "pumice rain".  Yes many small buildings collapsed early due to pumice (weight load on roof), or burned down due to lamp fires, but temples/columns etc generally survived until the pyroclastic flows.

The morning is too light.  It was described as continued night.

The pyroclastic flows actually consisted of two stages - a surge of lighter materials (super-heated dust and gasses) followed by a flow of denser material.  And they would have glowed in the dark due to the heat.

Finally, the comment at the end is wrong.  Pompeii was not lost in a short time.  It was buried to slightly less than two stories height.  Large parts stuck up through the new surface level.  Large scale excavations, possibly ordered by Titus, plus extensive looting occurred soon after.

Nevertheless, despite these quibbles this is a good video of a proper lava-less Plinian eruption.  It shows many accurate details including the late evening "first pyroclastic flow" which went down the western slopes of Vesuvius and completely destroyed Herculaneum.  Also the multiple flows which assailed Pompeii with the walls stopping the first one or two.

Shawn