The last day of Pompeii: A volcanic catastrophe with a silver lining
r By Dianne King
On Wednesday, September 7, at 6:00 p.m. the Springville Senior Center (65 E. 200 S.) will host its next in a series of lectures. Dr. Roger Macfarlane, professor in BYU’s Dept. of Comparative Arts and Letters, will present “The Last Day of Pompeii: A Volcanic Catastrophe with a Silver Lining.”
Dr. Macfarlane directs the Herculaneum Papyrus Project, which uses space-age technology to read the written records that were preserved in the destruction of Roman cities near Mount Vesuvius. By looking more clearly at what was preserved in the catastrophe, we can understand more fully the life of those cultures that ended that day. He will explain the technology we use to read the carbonized record saved, miraculously, in the eruption but will first talk about the circumstances of the eruption itself.
The event is free, and all are invited to attend.
