Pompeii Casts. Victim number 10. Young girl lying face downwards with her head resting on her right arm.

Found on 23rd April 1875 in Via Stabiana [Now Via del Vesuvio] near the north-east corner of VI.14.

Found together with the man lying on his back, on 23rd April 1875, in Via Stabiana near the north-east corner of VI.14 in the middle of the street in the layers of ash about four metres above ground level.

Victim number 10, the young girl from Strada Stabiana. Photo: Edizioni Brogi (no.5576a, side view).

Photo courtesy of Eugene Dwyer.

In his description of this plaster-cast in his Guida di Pompei, 1877, Fiorelli described –

“Young woman [no.10], face down, with her head resting on her arm. She is denuded in part of her clothing, save for some traces on her shoulders, and her tresses are still visible, with hair knotted behind her head. (Reg. VI. Ins XIV, cardo).”

See Fiorelli, Guida di Pompei, [Rome, 1877,] p.88-89.

See Dwyer, E., 2010. Pompeii’s Living Statues. Ann Arbor: Univ of Michigan Press, (p.93).

Victim number 10. Pompeii Cast Project 2015. Photo courtesy of Estelle Lazer.

According to Estelle Lazer, there is no clear evidence that this victim is female. The volume rendered image of the CT scanned cast does not display female features.

The allegedly distended abdomen is probably a reflection of the impression of clothing that became bunched up when the victim fell during the eruption.

The epiphyses of the radius and ulna appear to be fused, which indicates that the individual was an adult.

See Lazer E., et al. 2020. Inside the Casts of the Pompeian Victims: Results from the First Season of the Pompeii Cast Project In 2015. Papers of the British School at Rome.

Victim number 10 photographed by Michele Amodio. The title is "Pompei jeune femme excavations 1878". Photo courtesy of Eugene Dwyer.

Victim number 10, photographed by M. Amodio, from an album dated April 1878. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.

Victim number 10 photographed by Roberto Rive no. 462. "Donna trovata in Pompei nel 1875". Photo courtesy of Eugene Dwyer.

Victim numbered 10 photographed by Brogi (no. 5576) "POMPEI. (Museo) Cadavere di donna" in the display case in the museum.

Photo courtesy of Eugene Dwyer.

Victims numbered 9 and 10. Man and girl found in Via Stabiana. Linocut illustration after L’Illustration.

Photo courtesy of Eugene Dwyer.

Victims numbered 9 and 10. Photograph by Giorgio Sommer, c.1875. Photo courtesy of Eugene Dwyer.

Victims numbered 9 and 10, on display. From an Album by M. Amodio, c.1880, entitled “Pompei, destroyed on 23 November 79, discovered in 1748”.

These fugitives were found in the middle of the Via del Vesuvio (Via Stabiana) at about a height of four metres from the ancient street level, near the north-eastern corner of Reg. VI.14.

Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.

Pompeii. May 2018. Victim number 10 in front. Plaster-casts from exhibition kiosk near Amphitheatre entrance.

Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

Cast of woman (Victim number 10) found on Via Stabiana. In front

According to Fiorelli’s description, the young woman was face down, with her head resting on her arms.

She was denuded in part of her clothing, except for some traces on her shoulders.

Her tresses were still visible with hair knotted behind her head.

She was found above the level of the Via Stabia [Now Via del Vesuvio] at the north-eastern corner of VI.14, in 1875.

At the rear is the plaster-cast of a man found in the garden area of I.6.2.

Pompeii. May 2018. Victim number 10. Detail of head and upper part of plaster-casts from exhibition kiosk near Amphitheatre entrance.

Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

Pompeii. May 2018. Victim number 10, detail of head of the young girl. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.

Victim number 10, rear view of young girl from Via Stabiana.

Photographed at “A Day in Pompeii” exhibition at Melbourne Museum. September 2009.

VII.7.29 Pompeii. May 2006. Victim number 10, plaster cast of body among items in storage area.

Victim number 10. From an Album c. 1875-1885. Cast of the young-girl from Via Stabiana. Photo courtesy of Rick Bauer.

Victim number 10. 1882 painting by Discanno of cast of a woman found in Via Stabiana [now Via del Vesuvio] near the north-east corner of VI.14.

See Presuhn E., 1882. Pompeji: Die Neuesten Ausgrabungen von 1874 bis 1881. Leipzig: Weigel. (Abth. IV, Taf. IX)

According to Presuhn,

On 23 April 1875, in Stabian Street, at p on the Plan, at a height of 4 metres, two skeletons were discovered on the ground on a layer of ashes, which were enclosed in the plaster with which the surrounding empty cavity was filled. Plates IX and X show us these renewed bodies.

The woman is quietly slumbering in death, lying with her face on her right arm. The plaster cast is so well made that one can still admire the gentle shapes of the limbs. At the back of the head one can see the large lock of hair in which the hair was tied together; a similar one is on the forehead. The light clothing only covers the upper part of the body. Also on the underside the body is almost fully developed. She is lying in a glass box, which can also be viewed from below.

On the other hand, how harsh a death struggles the man shows! The legs are drawn in, the hands grasp the garment convulsively and pull it up in thick folds. The face is full, the skull is high, the lips are thick and curled: in no way is he a model of beauty. The sandal straps are pronounced on the feet: Beside him lies an iron bar, eaten away by rust.

Who knows in which house on Stabian Street these unfortunates, who in their tragic fate will live on with posterity, lived 1800 years ago?

Nach Presuhn,

Am 23. April 1875 wurden in der Stabianerstrasse, bei p auf dem Plane, in 4 Meter Hohe. vom Boden auf einer Aschenschicht zwei Skelette entdeckt, die man in den Gips einschloss, mit welchem die umgebende leere Höhlung ausgegossen wurde. Tafel IX und X zeigen uns diese erneuerten Körper.

Ruhig schlummert die Frau im Tode, mit dem Gesicht auf dem rechten Arm liegend. Der Gips-Ausguss ist so gut gelungen, dass man noch die schonen Formen der Glieder bewundert. Am Hinterkopfe sieht man die große Haarlocke, in welche die Haare zusammengebunden waren; eine ähnliche ist auf der Stirn. Die leichte Kleidung bedeckt nur noch den Oberkörper. Auch auf der Unterseite ist der Körper fast vollständig ausgeprägt. Er liegt in einem Glaskasten, den man auch von unten betrachten kann.

Wie herben Todeskampf zeigt dagegen der Mann! Die Beine sind eingezogen, die Hände greifen krampfhaft ins Gewand und ziehen es in dicken Falten empor. Das Gesicht ist voll, der Schädel hoch, die Lippen sind dick aufgeworfen: ein keineswegs schöner-Typus. An den Fußen sind die Sandalen Bänder ausgeprägt: Neben ihm liegt eine eiserne Stange, vom Rost zerfressen.

Wer weiß, in welchem Hause an der Stabianerstrasse diese Unglücklichen, die in ihrem tragischen Geschick bei der Nachwelt fortleben, vor 1800 Jahren wohnten?

See Presuhn E., 1882. Pompeji: Die Neuesten Ausgrabungen von 1874 bis 1881. Leipzig: Weigel. (Abth. IV, p. 6, Taf. I, Taf. IX)