FACTS ABOUT THE VESUVIUS ERUPTION

The people of Pompeii and Herculaneum did not even know they were living near an active volcano. It had not erupted in 1,800 years. They did not realize the reason why the soil was so fertile was because of previous deposits of volcanic ash. They did not even have the word volcano (named after the Roman god Vulcan) until years later.

There had been a massive earthquake in 82 A.D. which destroyed some buildings but may have saved many lives because a lot of people moved away from Pompeii.

The first effect was a rain of pumice and ash. The pumice stones did not seem dangerous, but they gradually got larger. Roofs collapsed under the weight of the stones. Some were killed huddled in their homes. It is believed that many inhabitants escaped during the pumice rain. This would explain the relatively low death count of around 1,500 (out of a population of 20,000). The death count would have been even lower, but the winds (which usually blew away from Pompeii) were blowing towards the city that day.

Hours later came the pyroclastic flow which was the flow of hot gas, ash, and molten rock. It was the heat that killed most, although there was also poison gas. Being in a home made no difference. The city was covered in up to 20 feet of ash and lava.

The volcanic explosion is estimated to have been 500 times greater than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. It threw debris 20 miles high.

Pompeii had been a popular resort city. It was in some ways a mini-Rome, but without the poverty. It had an amphitheater for gladiators and other sports. There were many homes of the wealthy that had walls decorated with beautiful murals. 25 houses of prostitution have been excavated. Some have menus in the form of murals.

Much of our information about the eruption comes from the eye-witness account of Pliny the Elder. He lived across the bay from Pompeii. His uncle, Pliny the Elder, was the most famous victim. He took some ships to the site to try to rescue people and was killed by the pyroclastic flow. Pliny the Younger, who was 17, wisely declined to accompany his uncle.

Pompeii remained undiscovered until 1748 when a man digging a water tunnel uncovered some of the buildings. He shut the digging down and did not tell anyone about the discovery. It is believed that he was upset with sexual murals that were uncovered.

When Herculaneum was discovered in the 1740’s, the King of Naples commissioned the excavation of Pompeii to recover art treasures. It has been under continuous excavation since then.

The famous bodies of victims are actually plaster casts of the vacuums the bodies left in the ash that covered them. They died instantly when the pyroclastic flow washed over them.