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Kate Bunting, Individual Assignment
I decided to choose this topic as I have been to Pompeii and therefore have personal experience, connections and first-hand photos.

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This article is about the "curse of Pompeii". The article explains that the curse is imposed on those that take a piece of Pompeii with them. One man took a stone from Pompeii and after that, he has experienced many traumas. Anyone that has been effected by this 'curse' has been sending back the pieces that they have taken from Pompeii. The Reason for Belief for this article would be Simplicity. Simplicity occurs when strange coincidences happen. When someone takes a piece of Pompeii home with them, it is a coincidence when bad things occur right after they take the artifact. A Red Flag for this article could be Confusion of Correlation with Causation. This occurs when two events occur together to establish a cause and effect relationship. So when someone takes an artifact from Pompeii and bad luck occurs, people automatically assume that taking the artifact resulted in the bad luck. The evidence this article presented was subjective and therefore not reliable. The probable bias in this article is that the author is from Rome which could mean that she could have had a personal experience with this 'curse'.

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Massimo Osanna, Pompeii's archaeological superintendent, said he had received up to a hundred packages from across the world in recent years containing items from the site, often accompanied by letters explaining the relics had brought them bad luck.

Fragments of amphora, pieces of frescoes and small statues have all been sent back. One Canadian woman who had taken away a decorative terracotta tile while on her honeymoon during the Seventies wrote asking for forgiveness for "an error she made in her youth".

Another parcel contained a beautiful piece of a fresco from the Casa del Frutteto, which had been discovered missing during its reconstruction in Germany.

The "curse of Pompeii" is an old story that says the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 was punishment inflicted by the gods after legionaries destroyed holy buildings.

"At a certain point, people started believing in this story again," said Mr Osanna. "Even proper thieves have returned things to us."

In one instance, five packages were sent to Pompeii containing stolen items, including a bronze statue that had disappeared in 1987. The accompanying letter was sent from Spain and the writer complained the statue had brought a "curse on his entire family".

However, some plunderers are afflicted by guilt, rather than an ancient curse. Mr Osanna said that an English woman had recently returned around 10 mosaic tiles that her parents had taken while on holiday during the Seventies.

"When her mother died, she inherited this little piece. But in the letter she described it as an 'uncomfortable' inheritance and said she wanted to give it back," he said.

Mr Osanna is considering setting up an exhibition of all the letters he has received, calling it "What I brought back from Pompeii".

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Pompeii's pilferers punished with a curse from the gods

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Massimo Osanna, Pompeii's archaeological superintendent, said he had received up to a hundred packages from across the world in recent years containing items from the site, often accompanied by letters explaining the relics had brought them bad luck. Fragments of amphora, pieces of frescoes and small statues have all been sent back.

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This video claims that Pompeii is a hoax and that the preserved bodies are just a bunch of art pieces. The video uses the bible to support it's argument multiple times. The video also claims that the Mount Vesuvius is fake and that it is just there to scare people. The video uses the Red Flag,Ideological Support, which is used to push a belief onto someone that is based on ideology than by science. Instead on using facts to support the argument, the video relies on the bible. The video also uses Proof of Verbosity which uses an overload of information to create the appearance of reliable information instead of quality research. The creator of the video demonstrates this by continually explaining his belief's instead of relying on real evidence. Lastly, the reason for belief in this video is Emotional Connection which is when people's emotions blur their rational thought because of a personal connection. The creator of this video frequently mentions the bible which could indicate that his personal beliefs are interfering with his rational thought. There are many flaws to this video. The evidence used to support his argument is fake. The creator of this video seems to be no credentials in relation to this topic. Overall, the creator of this video is completely wrong in every aspect and it seems that his motivation of this video is to troll people to elicit a response from someone to gain attention.

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This photo is a cast of a pregnant woman that was preserved because of the dust and debris caused by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. This image could represent the Reason for Belief- Patternicity. Patternicity is a belief where people look for patterns in objects they see. This cast made of debris caused by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius resembles a pregnant woman laying down to protect herself. The bias of this image is that it was taken by the author of this Padlet. The motivation of this source is that the photographer of the image is using it for their Word Mysteries Assignment.

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This image is of a headstone in Pompeii. There is a theory that 15 years before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, there was an earthquake since there was so much litter buried in the tombs of Pompeii. However, it could also be likely that citizens of Pompeii were just messy. The Reason for Belief for this is Unexplained. The Unexplained occurs when someone is confronted with something they cannot explain and try to explain it themselves. So, historians wondered by there was so much litter near the tombs and have tried to explain it themselves. The limitation or flaw in this is that there is missing/incomplete evidence to support this theory.

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This article discusses how scientists have discovered that the people of Pompeii had perfect teeth which is linked to a healthy diet.  The Red Flag for this website would be Red Heerings. Red Herrings is a red flag that uses irrelevant information to distract someone from the actual facts of the argument. The website's main topic is that the people of Pompeii had perfect teeth however, the article also addresses irrelevant information about artifacts that were discovered in Pompeii. The flaws of this article was that it was written by an author named Adrienne LaFrance who has no credentials to analyze artifacts. The article was also produced by a large American magazine and multi-platform publisher which could mean that the company published the article to make a profit. The bias in this article could be that the author's last name, LaFrance, could insinuate that she could have some family origin that relates to this article.

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This squares with the famous account by Pliny the Younger, who wrote of his uncle's death after the eruption in an account that is treasured by historians. Here's a portion of one of Pliny's letters, translated from Latin by Betty Radice:

They debated whether to stay indoors or take their chance in the open, for the buildings were now shaking with violent shocks, and seemed to be swaying to and fro, as if they were torn from their foundations. Outside on the other hand, there was the danger of falling pumice-stones, even though these were light and porous; however, after comparing the risks they chose the latter. In my uncle's case one reason outweighed the other, but for the others it was a choice of fears. As a protection against falling objects they put pillows on their heads tied down with cloths.

The smoke and ash that poured out of the volcano was likely still stifling to those who experienced it. In the early 1990s, when researchers uncovered the first remains found at Pompeii in many decades, archaeologists determined that some of the victims had tunics wrapped around their mouths as make-shift masks. Pliny the Younger described victims surrounded by broad sheets of flame, the air reeking of sulphur and the sky darker than night.

The latest findings build on an astounding body of knowledge about Pompeii. "Because of careful scholarship, we collectively have been able to get beyond the study of the victims' death and have opened up exciting information about what the victims' lives had been like," said Roger Macfarlane, a professor of classical studies at Brigham Young University. "And, so, any technological development, such as CT scanning of the skeletal remains of those who perished in 79 A.D., promises to introduce potentially interesting new evidence about how those people existed before their death."

Over the centuries, researchers have discovered unbelievable artifacts: erotic murals on walls, emeralds, coins, marble busts-and, in one case, an entire oven filled with dozens of loaves of bread still inside. Other food scraps found in Pompeii's ancient drainage system have suggested the city's wealthy residents dined on delicacies that included sea urchin, flamingos, and even giraffe.

The 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius was, as Pliny the Younger wrote, "a catastrophe which destroyed the loveliest regions of the earth." But before that Pompeii was a vibrant city full of people who lived and, in one sense, continue to live, centuries after they died.

In Photos: The Ancient Civilization With Perfect Teeth

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

Adrienne LaFrance is the executive editor of The Atlantic. She was previously a senior editor and staff writer at The Atlantic, and the editor of TheAtlantic.com.

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The Ancient Civilization With Perfect Teeth

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This squares with the famous account by Pliny the Younger, who wrote of his uncle's death after the eruption in an account that is treasured by historians.

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This dog died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and is now a preserved plaster. The dog was tied to a post when he died during the eruption and was unable to escape. When I was visiting Pompeii, our tour guide was the one who was explaining the story of this dog. The Red Flag for this image would be Appeal to Authority. Appeal to Authority is when arguments are based on the information given by people of some type of authority. The tour guide has a high degree of knowledge about Pompeii and therefore the knowledge explained about the story is relied upon by the tour guide and not the facts of the story. The limitations of this source is that the tour guide could be bias or have a emotional connection to Pompeii.

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This article discusses the religious beliefs that the citizens of Pompeii held. The Reason for Belief would be Ideology. Ideology is a set of ideas based on politics, culture, religion and social norms. This article discusses Pompeii's belief in Roman gods and their influence on religious practice which is a set of ideas or beliefs that are related to social norms and religion. The limitation in this article is that there seems to be no credentials for this source- just a bunch of references from other articles.

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This video demonstrates what life was like in Pompeii before the eruption, how people died in the eruption, and how the information was gained. The Red Flag for this video would be Appeal to Authority. The video was based on information from anthropologists at a university in Italy. Therefore, people are relying on the validity of the information being explained based on the fact that someone with a fancy degree or certification in the topic was explaining it. The possible flaw for this video is the fact that it was produced by a well known television network. The motivation of this source could be that they produced this video to make a profit.

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Pompeii: New Studies Reveal Secrets From a Dead City | National Geographic

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This video shows the progressed eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction it had on Pompeii. This video could represent the Reason for Belief- Unexplained. The belief Unexplained is when people are confronted with something that they cannot explain and try to explain it themselves. This video shows what people believe Pompeii looked like on the day of the eruption, however there is no one alive to validate this information. Therefore, it is left up to historians to explain it themselves. The flaw of this video is that the video was made for an exhibition in Melbourne which could mean that the motivation to produce this video was to attract a large amount of people in order to make profit.

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A Day in Pompeii - Full-length animation