Glimpse what life was like for survivors of the Pompeii disaster

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A New Perspective on Pompeii’s Living History

For generations, visitors have viewed Pompeii as an extraordinary frozen moment in time—a thriving harbor town that suddenly ceased its vibrant existence when Mount Vesuvius unleashed its fury, covering the ancient settlement beneath a heavy blanket of volcanic ash during the year 79 AD. Dr. Steven Tuck, who serves as both professor and department head of classics at Miami University located in Oxford, Ohio, shared his thoughts with CNN regarding this enduring tale. “It is such a great persistent narrative,” he explained. “You walk around Pompeii, and you’re pretty much hit with that story: Everybody dies, everything’s wiped out.”

However, through numerous visits spanning many years, Tuck discovered something remarkable that he describes as “evidence via absence.” This concept refers to the silent testimony left behind by objects that should have been present but were conspicuously missing from that fateful day. Empty household shrines and vacant stables stood as quiet witnesses to human departure. “When you look more closely, you realize that there’s a lot of stuff missing that should be there,” Tuck observed. “There are no boats tied up on the dock and all of the strong boxes where people kept their cash in in the Roman world, they’re all empty. Eventually, it occurred to me that this doesn’t jibe with that story that everybody died.”

Uncovering the Survivors’ Stories

Over the last ten years, Tuck has dedicated himself to the Pompeii Survivors Project, conducting a comprehensive investigation into individuals who successfully escaped before both Pompeii and the neighboring town of Herculaneum met their destruction. His research culminated in the 2025 publication titled “Escape From Pompeii: The Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius and its Survivors.” To compile his findings, he examined online databases established by international scholarly teams, searching through Latin inscriptions containing names from both cities—names that had been carved into stone plaques almost two millennia ago. By tracing these individuals through historical records, Tuck determined whether their life stories concluded on the day of the catastrophic eruption.

The journeys of three remarkable individuals form the centerpiece of the new documentary series “Pompeii: Out of Time.” This production is executive produced and hosted by actor Tom Hiddleston, who earned his classics degree from the UK’s University of Cambridge and experienced his first visit to Pompeii in 1998 when he was just seventeen years old, captivated by ancient history. The series makes its television debut on Wednesday across National Geographic channels, followed by streaming availability beginning Thursday on both Disney+ and Hulu platforms.

Bringing Ancient Lives to Modern Audiences

While the haunting ruins of Pompeii appear remarkably preserved, contemporary discoveries are revealing an often-overlooked chapter in the city’s history. This docudrama combines compelling dramatic reenactments with thorough investigative research to transport viewers into the daily existence of a teenage blacksmith apprentice, a successful businesswoman, and a member of the Praetorian Guard—all experiencing the eruption while a countdown timer tracks their ultimate fate in real-time.

“What is so remarkable about the story of Pompeii is that we have the privilege of access to the breadth and diversity of detail about their ordinary lives,” Hiddleston reflected. “Pompeii is a living monument to the past. You can reach across time and feel connected to a thread of human history.”

Continuing research initiatives at Pompeii, including projects directed by specialists like Tuck who appear throughout the series, are illuminating previously concealed dimensions of everyday existence for the city’s inhabitants before and following the catastrophe. These discoveries demonstrate that as our understanding evolves, we gain increasingly nuanced insights into human bravery and perseverance when confronted with sudden natural disasters.

The opening sequence of “Pompeii: Out of Time” depicts seismic activity shaking through the city, yet residents continue their routines without particular concern. Christopher Jackson, a geologist and visiting professor within the Earth science and engineering department at Imperial College London, provided context for CNN regarding this phenomenon. “There wasn’t the awareness of the relationship between those earthquakes and what was to come later,” he noted. Within the series, Jackson guides Hiddleston through the eruption’s progression, explaining that earthquakes persisted for four days preceding the main event. Additionally, a sequence of tremors seventeen years prior had already weakened structures and water systems throughout the city—infrastructure still undergoing repairs when Vesuvius finally erupted. “People didn’t really probably know they were living in the shadow of an active volcano because it hadn’t erupted in their lifetimes,” Jackson explained.

Roman lawyer and writer Pliny the Younger observed the destruction from across the Bay of Naples, documenting what scholars consider among the earliest written records of a volcanic eruption. His uncle, Pliny the Elder, served as a naval and military commander for the Roman Empire and perished while attempting to save lives across the bay. Modern scientists including Jackson have cross-referenced Pliny the Younger’s narrative with geological evidence preserved at Vesuvius, utilizing his meticulous chronicle to rebuild the volcano’s behavior. The eruption progressed through five distinct phases spanning approximately twenty-four hours.

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