Pompeii Casts. Victim 35 found in I.21.2/6, the Garden of the Fugitives, April 1961.

This area, once hosting homes, had been transformed in a vineyard in the years preceding the eruption, with a triclinium for outdoor banquets covered by a pergola.

13 victims, adults and children, were found at various points inside the enclosure, seized by death while trying to find a way out of Nocera Gate, running above the layer of pumice stones that had already reached a height of 3.5m. The flight was interrupted by the arrival of the pyroclastic flow, which was fatal due to asphyxiation and high temperatures.

The casts of the 13 victims can now be seen near the back wall of the garden, in a viewing area.

I.21.6 Pompeii. May 2016. Plaster cast of victim 35. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

The body was found between the 17th and 22nd of April at about 17.9m from the southern wall and approximately 1m from the eastern wall.

The victim is a male aged over 20 years.

Perhaps traces of drapery can be seen on the torso.

The body was found next to victim 39 but oriented in the opposite way. Not far from victim 35’s head were found victims 36 and 37.

See Osanna, N., Capurso, A., e Masseroli, S. M., 2021. I Calchi di Pompei da Giuseppe Fiorelli ad oggi: Studi e Ricerche del PAP 46, p. 402-3, Calco n. 35.

I.21.6 Pompeii. Identification of locations of victims 35 to 47 on display in I.22.6.

Photo 2000 courtesy of Lancevortex, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We have added the victim numbers.

I.21.6 Pompeii. May 2016. Detail of plaster cast of victim 35. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

Victim 35. I.21.6 Pompeii. May 2010. Front view of plaster cast of body.

I.21.6 Pompeii. May 2016. Plaster cast of victim 38 (right), victim 37 (front), victim 36 (rear) and victim35 (left). Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

I.21.5, Pompeii. 1961. Plaster-casts of fugitives recently found. Victim 39, right, victim 36, front, and victim 35 at left rear.

A newspaper report at the time reported the finding of eight bodies.

Two families were reported, supposedly of market gardeners, with one family found nearby the other.

One family was made up of the parents and two children, preceded by a man carrying a sack on his shoulders.

The second family consisted of a man also carrying a sack, a woman and child.

The three in this photo were reported as being from the family of five.

The mother was said to be on the right, the father to the left and the child in the foreground.

Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.