Escape from Pompeii

The Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius and Its Survivors

Steven L. Tuck (Professor of History, Professor of History, Miami University)

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English

Oxford University Press
12 January 2026

History; Ancient history: to c 500 CE; Archaeology by period & region

A story of triumph out of tragedy, uncovered in the ashes of Vesuvius The archaeological park of Pompeii is one of the most famous sites of destruction anywhere in the world. From the time of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE until the eighteenth century, Pompeii and its neighbor Herculaneum lay preserved under a thick layer of volcanic material. Since excavations began three hundred years ago, Pompeii has been revealing the secrets of its victims and the ordinary shape of their lives prior to the catastrophe. But did anyone survive the disaster?

In popular culture, the eruption is viewed as an apocalyptic event in which everyone died, while scholars generally assume that some escaped. Steven L. Tuck settles that debate. He starts by establishing the circumstances and timeline of the eruption and the evidence that people at both Pompeii and Herculaneum had the chance to escape the eruption. From there, he moves to the search for survivors. Using evidence from inscriptions supported by archaeological, documentary, and literary sources, Tuck finds survivors in twelve different communities and uncovers details on how they rebuilt their lives, livelihoods, and identities after fleeing the volcano. While some survivors integrated quickly into their new communities and used their new city's name in the personal names of their first generation, others preserved cultural markers from their destroyed communities through language, religious dedications, and renewed businesses. Many of the families that escaped intermarried with other refugee families, but also ran for public office in their new cities, made generous donations to their communities, and integrated while maintaining their former identity. Some refugee families came to the aid of the less fortunate by taking in poor and orphaned survivors, while others married beneath their previous station. The Roman government responded to the needs of the refugee communities with new housing, infrastructure, and services, but, as Tuck demonstrates, the real work was done by the refugees themselves.

By asking new questions about Pompeii and innovatively examining the evidence, Escape from Pompeii proves the survival of Pompeians and Herculaneans after the eruption. It sheds new insight into their lives, pre- and post-eruption, and provides new conclusions about the Roman world and its response to unimaginable suffering.

By: Steven L. Tuck (Professor of History Professor of History Miami University)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 244mm, Width: 164mm, Spine: 29mm
Weight: 503g
ISBN: 9780197678220
ISBN 10: 019767822X
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 12 January 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Steven L. Tuck is Professor of History at Miami University and the author of A History of Roman Art, now in its second edition.

Reviews for Escape from Pompeii: The Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius and Its Survivors

In this refreshing new approach to the eruption of Vesuvius, Steven L. Tuck plausibly shows both that there were numerous survivors and that they or their descendants can be traced in nearby cities. The importance of family connections for refugees which emerges from close study of name patterns is a lesson still relevant today. * Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Emeritus Fellow, Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge * Since Pompeii's excavation began in 1748, focus has been on the 1,500 known victims of Mount Vesuvius. But emphasizing the volcano's fatalities has created the popular perception that most everyone except a few wealthy inhabitants died within Herculaneum and Pompeii during the eruption of 79 CE. In Escape from Pompeii, Steven L. Tuck provides a vital, new perspective by asking about the survivors of the infamous disaster. By using hundreds of inscriptions, graffiti, archaeological remains, and ancient texts, he tracks down the numerous survivors and descendants of those who survived. Although Tuck's exploration of the past may seem distant, his study of those displaced by this environmental disaster and their families have important implications for understanding the estimated 43.7 million global refugees today. * Sarah Bond, author of Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire *