|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the middle years of the first century AD, life in the towns and cities round the Bay of Naples seemed comfortable and peaceful. But a brooding presence had been looming over the inhabitants all along. Vesuvius had not erupted in over a thousand years; but all that was about to change.
In AD62 there had been a severe earthquake centred close to Pompeii. Considerable damage was done to both public and private property. So much so, that even 17 years after the earthquake, repairs were still being made.
Then in early August, AD79 the tremours returned. On the 20th of August a more severe tremour shook the area around Pompeii. On the 24th of August, in the early hours, ash began to issue from Vesuvius. At about 1pm that day, however, the lives of the inhabitants changed forever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
'The ninth day before the calends of September (24th August), in the early afternoon, my mother drew to his attention a cloud of unusual size and appearance. Its general appearance can best be expressed as being like an unbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first blast then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed.'
|
The eruption begins. Molten rock shoots 27 kilometres into the stratosphere, turning into a flat cloud of dust and pumice. The volcanic cloud is driven south-eastwards in the direction of Pompeii and Stabiae. By 1.15pm volcanic ash and debris begins to rain down on Pompeii and the surrounding area.
|
|
'He hurried to the place which everyone else was hastily leaving, steering his course straight for the danger zone. Ashes were already falling, hotter and thicker as the ships drew near, followed by bits of pumice and blackened stones, charred and cracked by the flames. For a moment my uncle wondered whether to turn back, but when the helmsman advised this, he refused, and they should make for the home of Pomponianus at Stabiae. The wind was in my uncle's favour, and he was able to bring his ship in.'
|
|
The cloud column now rises to 32 kilometres. Atmospheric conditions are now so charged that lightning pulses in the volcanic cloud. The depth of the ash and debris in Pompeii is now over a metre, causing structural damage to buildings. Some of the population decide to escape the fallout; others take shelter inside, trying to make safe their roofs by clearing some of the burden of pumice and ash.
|
|
'After his bath he lay down and dined; he was quite cheerful, or at any rate he pretended he was, which was no less courageous. Meanwhile on Mount Vesuvius broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points, their bright glare emphasised by the darkness of night. My uncle tried to allay the fears of his companions by repeatedly declaring that these were nothing but bonfires left by the peasants in their terror, or else empty houses on fire in the districts they had abandoned.'
|
The eruption continues unabated. Those who have elected to stay (in Pompeii perhaps as many as 2,000) scramble about on the rising drifts of pumice or shelter under surviving roofs. So far the area around Pompeii has borne the brunt of the onslaught from Vesuvius, but time is running out for Herculaneum.
|
|
'Then he went to rest and certainly slept, for as he was a stout man his breathing was rather loud and heavy and could be heard by people coming and going outside his door.'
|
The eruption continues. Lightning lights up the sky. At about 1 am, as pressure briefly abates, the volcanic column collapses producing the first pyroclastic surge. This torrent of hot volvcanic debris rushes down Vesuvius and sweeps through Herculaneum with deadly effect. In a matter of moments it reaches the waterfront, killing everything in its path. Herculaneum is utterly dead.
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Contempory account by Pliny the Younger
|
