The Fires of Pompeii is the second episode of the fourth series, starring the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), and written by James Moran. Set during the 23rd-24th August 79 AD, the Doctor and Donna arrive in Pompeii on volcano day and investigate the mysterious soothsaying abilities of the Sibylline sisters. They discover the alien race Pyrovilles to be behind it, having lost their home planet and the Doctor is forced to erupt Vesuvius destroying Pompeii to save the rest of the world.
The main historical focus point for the episode is the historical location of Pompeii. Pompeii was an Ancient Roman city destroyed and buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 AD. The city was rediscovered and unearthed in 1763. Preserved under the ash, Pompeii is our best glimpse into Ancient Roman life today. The Doctor claims 22,000 people died in the eruption – actual estimates are closer to 16,000 and included the town of Herculaneum as well as Pompeii. The episode does highlight one genuine unique aspect of Pompeii – “We’re very advanced in Pompeii. In Rome, they’re still using the old wood-burning furnaces, but we’ve got hot springs, leading from Vesuvius itself.” It was true that Pompeii did have its own sort of central heating that Rome did not.
The character Lobus Caecilius in the episode (played by Peter Capaldi) is named after and inspired by the historical figure Lucius Caecilius Iucundus. The real historical Caecilius was a banker whose house still stands in the ruins of Pompeii. Bank book-keeping materials and wax tablets used as receipts were found belonging to him. Lobus Caecilius in this episode is a marble merchant, dealing with its mining, polishing and design. Caecilius was made famous by his prominence in the Cambridge Latin Course stories. His wife Metella and son Quintus also feature in the episode. The real Caecilius actually had two sons, although the Cambridge Latin Course also only acknowledges one – as well as Quintus Caecilius Iucundus, he also had a son named Sextus Caecilius Iucundus Metellus (named after his mother.) Their daughter in the episode: Evelina, was made up for the episode, though may have been partially inspired by the slave girl character Melissa in the Cambridge Latin Course who serves Metella. Caecilius’ records stop a few days before an earthquake on the 5th February 62 AD so historians assume he died in that earthquake. Lobus Caecilius is said to live on Foss Street in Pompeii, whereas the real Caecilius’ house is on Stabiae Street.
Much is made of average Roman lifestyle in the episode. There is a sign for amphoras being sold two for the price of one – a modern sales technique for ancient objects. An amphora was a container of a distinctive shape (bottleneck, two handles, large ‘waist’) and the plural would actually be amphorae. The TARDIS is sold for 15 Sestercii (roman currency. 1 Sesterce was worth a quarter of a Denarius, the standard Roman silver coin). Caecilius requests ants in honey and maybe a dormouse when he’s feeling peckish. Dormice were considered a delicacy and a status symbol for wealthy Romans so unlikely to be eaten as a snack on a whim. Quintus is accused to spending time at the Thermopolium – the shop for hot ready-to-eat food – with Christians and Etruscans. Reference is also made to the hypocaust – the Roman system of central heating in each house that could afford it. The Doctor mentions Appian Way in a throwaway joke – Appian Way was one of the main roads of Rome.
The TARDIS translation allows the Doctor and Donna to hear the Roman speaking English but it is acknowledged that they would be speaking Latin and they hear the Doctor and Donna speaking Latin. Donna decides to test what would happen if she spoke actual Latin using the famous phrase ‘Veni vidi vici’ meaning ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ The famous Latin phrase is attributed to Julius Caesar from the year 47 BC in a letter to the Roman Senate after a quick victory in the Battle of Zela. The man she tries it on doesn’t understand her and assumes she is talking Celtic, which the Doctor tells Donna means Welsh.
The episode also uses the English proverb: caveat emptor – which is Latin for ‘let the buyer beware’ – and the phrase ‘ipso facto’ – Latin for ‘by the fact itself’. In both cases, the Doctor speaks the phrase with Caecilius not understanding and assuming he’s Celtic. The Doctor also later says ‘morituri te salutant’ – Latin for those who are about to die salute you. In popular culture, this is known as the gladiator’s salute to their emperor before combat but in fact was likely never, or rarely, used. Only a couple of Ancient Roman historians mention it, long after the fact, and there’s little indication it was common usage. In this case though it is the Doctor who says it, showing off his Latin knowledge/popular culture knowledge to Donna, and Lucius Petrus Dextrus (the villain) interprets it as a Celtic prayer.
Lucius Petrus Dextrus is introduced as the chief Augur for Pompeii and is later revealed to be a servant of the Pyrovilles. Petrus is Latin for ‘stone’ and dexter is latin for ‘right’ as in right-handed, hinting at the transformation to his arm hidden beneath his robes. The Augur’s job was to predict the future, largely from the flight of birds. Lucius was inspired by another character in the Cambridge Latin Course – a villainous soothsayer named Lucius Marcius Memor. As well as the augur, reference is also made to the haruspex who also predicted the future but via inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals to interpret omens.
Pompeii isn’t the only city touched upon by the episode as the Doctor and Donna when they first arrive believe themselves to be in Rome. The Doctor compares Rome to “like Soho but bigger” in terms of fashion, suggesting that “anything goes” for clothing in Rome. Clothing in Ancient Rome usually consisted of sleeveless knee-length tunics for boys/men, and sleeved longer tunics for girls/women, with togas for men on formal occasions and palla and stola for married women. Most Romans wore colourful clothing as clean, bright clothing was a sign of respectability and status. Purple and Yellow colour dyes were particularly expensive, so Donna’s dress later in the episode would be a sign of very high status indeed, and her comparison to the Goddess Venus would not be entirely unjustified. A prediction is made of Rome becoming “an almighty empire, bestriding the whole of civilisation” which history would prove to be correct.
Reference is made to the most famous sites of Rome: the Collisseum (the largest amphitheatre ever built), the Pantheon (a public temple in ancient times, nowadays a church) and the Circus Maximus (chariot racing stadium) as well as the Seven Hills of Rome. The Doctor also makes passing reference to the Great Fire of Rome (July, 64 AD) – the fire lasted 9 days and destroyed two thirds of Rome. The Doctor claims it had nothing to do with him – “well, a little bit” – referencing a classic First Doctor story called the Romans where the First Doctor with his companions Barbara, Ian and Vicki travelled back to Ancient Rome and lived there for a while, meeting Emperor Nero, and the Doctor inspired Nero to start the Great Fire of London when he accidentally set fire to a map.
Frequent reference is made to Ancient Roman gods and religion in the episode. Caecilius’ family are seen respecting the Household Gods by sprinkling water on their image. Each Roman home had its own set of protective deities. The end of the episode shows that Caecilius’s family pay tribute to the Doctor and Donnas as their new household gods having escaped Pompeii. Reference is also made to ‘the mountain god’ (potentially Vulcan but probably just a way of referring to Vesuvius’ volcanic activity), ‘the gods of commerce’ (Mercury was the main god of commerce), ‘the Goddess Venus’ (Venus was goddess of beauty and love), ‘gods of the underworld’ (Pluto was the main god of the Underworld – the Underworld being where souls go after death) and to ‘the great god Vulcan’ (Vulcan was god of fire).
Reference is specifically made by Lucius to the Cult of Vulcan. In the episode, they are also servants of the Pyrovilles. In real history, they were simply followers of the god Vulcan and were based outside Rome. Caecilius then refers to the eruption of Vesuvius as proof that “the great god Vulcan must be enraged” and sees the eruption as “so volcanic” that he christens it “some sort of volcano.” The earliest use of the word volcano we know of was in 1514 describing Vesuvius’ eruption in the year 1500 where it is referred to as ‘the volcano.’
The main area of religion dealt with by the episode though was with the Sibylline sisterhood. An oracle was someone who could divine prophecies for the future. The Sybils were oracles in Ancient Greece. The Sybilline sisters in Pompeii for this episode are fictional and follow the teachings of a Sybil who wrote set of books of prophecy known as the Sibylline oracles which foretold in the thirteenth book the appearance of the TARDIS. The Doctor claims to have met her once. Although this temple and sisterhood was purely fictional, in 1981 a temple was excavated at Pompeii dedicated to Vesta with Vestal Virgins living there instead of the Sisterhood of Sybill. Vestal Virgins maintained the sacred fire of the goddess Vesta burning on their altar (Vesta was the virgin goddess of the hearth, home and family). The episode does mention the possibility of Evelina becoming a vestal virgin if they lived in Rome, and Quintus follows this up with a cheeky comment. In the Series 10 episode The Eaters of Light, the Twelfth Doctor claims he was a vestal virgin.
One of the most memorable scenes of the episode is when the Sybilline Sisterhood attempts to sacrifice Donna. Sacrifices have often been associated with Ancient Roman life. While animals were routinely sacrificed as offerings of food to the gods, human sacrifices were exceptional circumstances such as after disasters in battle. It is quite clear in the episode though that the sacrifice is an excuse to get rid of Donna rather than an actual religious sacrifice.
There are, as ever with Doctor Who, numerous references and jokes relating more to modern culture using Ancient Rome. As well as the ‘two for the price of one’ sale of Amphorae, Donna also joking referees to TK Maximus (the modern shop TK Maxx), the Doctor mentions San Francisco and Caecilius assumes it is a new restaurant in Naples (Pompeii is very near the coast of the Bay of Naples and nowadays only 30 minutes by car from Naples), the Doctor and Donna call themselves Spartacus in reference to the film Spartacus where all the slaves declare they are Spartacus to protect the real one. Spartacus was a real Thracian gladiator who led a slave uprising which the film is based on. The soothsayers also identify the Doctor as being from “the Cascade of Medusa herself” which has previously been mentioned as the location of Gallifrey, but Medusa in Ancient Roman terms was a Gorgon (a winged female with snakes for hair that turned people to stone by looking at them). Coincidentally, a Gorgon appeared in one of the earliest episodes of the Sarah Jane Adventures spin off.
The Fires of Pompeii uses a huge amount of history to add to and support its story with a large amount of storyteller’s licence but also a large amount of accuracy. The episode is an exciting and thought provoking retelling of the destruction of Pompeii that does justice to the history while also crafting an excellent episode of Doctor Who.
Trivia
· Russell T. Davies originally planned to feature an episode set in Pompeii during Series one of the show but that episode was replaced by Boom Town due to budget
· “You must excuse my friend, she’s from Barcelona” was a reference to the comedy show Fawlty Towers where the wife of the owner is called Sybil Fawlty
· The 9th Doctor and Captain Jack previously referred to the eruption of Vesuvius and destruction of Pompeii as ‘Volcano Day’ in the Series One episode The Doctor Dances, and it is implied Captain Jack may be in Pompeii somewhere pulling a con
· Caecilius’ belief that the TARDIS is ‘modern art’ is a reference to the classic story City of Death in which two art critics inspect the TARDIS
· The episode was originally intended to be the third episode of the season but was swapped with Planet of the Ood as the latter was deemed too dark by Russell T Davies to be the second episode
· This episode was commissioned as a replacement for an intended Mark Gatiss episode The Suicide Exhibition set in World War 2 with a Nazi task force assaulting the National History Museum in London while it was overrun by monsters.
· Steven Moffat has said that he does not consider Karen Gillan’s soothsayer character to be an ancestor of Amy Pond despite having the same actress
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