Vesuvius 200 ft high, of southern Italy on the eastern shore of the Bay of Naples. A violent eruption in A.D. 79 destroyed the nearby cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Since that time it has erupted about three dozen times, most recently in the period from 1913 to 1944.
There are a few pictures of Mount Vesuvius erupting in the picture part of the site. Mount Vesuvius is an active volcano located just east of Naples, Italy. It is the only volcano on the continent of Europe that erupted in the last one hundred years. In 1631, 3,000 people were killed by an eruption from Mt. Vesuvius. Since 1631, the 4,200 foot high volcano has erupted at least 21 times. Mount Vesuvius is considered dangerous because today nearly three million people live in the direct path of a potential future eruption. Mount Vesuvius is most famous for its awesome eruption in the year 79 AD, which engulfed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in layers of burning ash. The only account of the eruption that survives is from Pliny the Younger. From his words, scientists believe the cloud of ash he witnessed descend upon Pompeii was 20 miles high. The city of Pompeii was completely buried. It was rediscovered in 1748, more than 1600 years after the eruption. The people of Pompeii were found buried under 12 layers of soil. Many of the buildings were amazingly well-preserved, as were the bodies of those who were just going about their daily routines when the eruption occurred. The ruins at Pompeii have provided archaeologists with valuable information about how people in the Roman Empire lived. Today, Pompeii is one of the most visited sites in Italy.
Taken unawares by the eruption, the population of the towns and villas that circled the Bay could only respond with panic. Pliny depicts his uncle as a model of Stoic fortitude: calmly sailing directly into the danger zone (where he subsequently died), and taking a bath, dinner and sleep while the catastrophe unfolded. But all around him is panic - Rectina in her villa, Pomponianus in his.
The young Pliny too stays calm, but his mother weeps and implores, and by the time they set out to flee northwards, a dense black cloud of ash has blotted out the light, and the crowds of screaming people fleeing around them are in terror. The skeletons found in Pompeii and Herculaneum give us an equally eloquent testimony of panic and uncertainty.
The eruption lasted for more than 24 hours from its start on the morning of 24 August. Those who fled at once, unburdened by possessions, had a chance of survival, for the rain of ash and pumice, mixed with lithics, that descended for several hours was not necessarily lethal. It is clear that many, like the elder Pliny, thought their best chance was to take shelter and weather the storm.
It was not until around midnight that the first pyroclastic surges and flows occurred, caused by the progressive collapse of the eruptive column, and these meant certain death for the people of the region. (A pyroclastic flow is a ground-hugging avalanche of hot ash, pumice, rock fragments and volcanic gas, which rushes down the side of a volcano as fast as 100 km/hour or more.)
The hundreds of refugees sheltering in the vaulted arcades at the seaside in Herculaneum, clutching their jewellery and money, met their end swiftly - from the intense heat of the first surge that reached the city.
Subsequent waves reached Pompeii, asphyxiating those who had survived the fall of 3m (10ft) of pumice, and were fleeing across the open in the dark, or hiding beneath roofs. The waves that followed smashed flat the upper floors of houses, and left the corpses encased in successive blankets of gaseous surge and pumice fall.
It is impossible to tell what proportion of the inhabitants died, but the Romans were accustomed to losses mounting to tens of thousands in battle, and even they regarded this catastrophe as exceptional. The corpses found by archaeologists in Pompeii or Herculaneum should be regarded as only a small sample: the destruction encompassed the entire landscape south of Vesuvius to the Sorrentine peninsular. As many died in the countryside or at sea as in the cities. Even as far north as Misenum, the ash lay deep in drifts.
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