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Aug. 24, A.D. 79: Vesuvius Buries Pompeii

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️Mon Aug 24 2009

__A.D. 79: __Mount Vesuvius erupts on the Bay of Naples, raining down fire and death from the skies. Thousands die, including one of Rome's greatest scientists. __ __

The eruption buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae. Though the eruption came without warning, it lasted more than a week and did not kill all at once. Many people escaped, and many who could have evacuated the threatened cities stayed behind for one motive or another.

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Erupting Volcanoes Seen From Space

Pliny the Elder was a Roman official in charge of the naval fleet in the bay. He was also a scholar of scientific matters -- everything from astronomy to zoology. He had compiled a digest of 2,000 ancient books by almost 500 writers into his own 37-volume encyclopedic magnum opus, Natural History.

Pliny made some good calls and some bad calls in evaluating the work of his classical predecessors. He rejected the scientific possibility of immortality, but also tossed aside the theory that earthly tides were caused by the moon. Oh, well: Give him credit for accepting that the Earth is round.

Despite this mixed bag, the book was an influential reference right up to the advent of the Renaissance, when actual scientific observation and experimentation replaced veneration of the classics, and began separating the wheat from the chaff.

Whether Pliny stayed around the eruption too long because he wanted to observe it as a scientist, or simply out of bravado as a government official trying to calm the populace, you can judge for yourself.

Here is an account in a letter a few years later to the historian Tacitus. It was written by Pliny's nephew, Pliny the Younger, who was staying with him when Vesuvius erupted.

My uncle was stationed at Misenum, in active command of the fleet. On 24 August, in the early afternoon, my mother drew his attention to a cloud of unusual size and appearance. He had been out in the sun, had taken a cold bath, and lunched while lying down, and was then working at his books. He called for his shoes and climbed up to a place which would give him the best view of the phenomenon.
It was not clear at that distance from which mountain the cloud was rising (it was afterwards known to be Vesuvius); its general appearance can best be expressed as being like an umbrella 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 and 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. In places it looked white, elsewhere blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes it carried with it.
My uncle's scholarly acumen saw at once that it was important enough for a closer inspection, and he ordered a boat to be made ready, telling me I could come with him if I wished. I replied that I preferred to go on with my studies, and as it happened he had himself given me some writing to do.
As he was leaving the house he was handed a message from Rectina, wife of Tascus whose house was at the foot of the mountain, so that escape was impossible except by boat. She was terrified by the danger threatening her and implored him to rescue her from her fate.
He changed his plans, and what he had begun in a spirit of inquiry he completed as a hero. He gave orders for the warships to be launched and went on board himself with the intention of bringing help to many more people besides Rectina, for this lovely stretch of coast was thickly populated.
He hurried to the place which everyone else was hastily leaving, steering his course straight for the danger zone. He was entirely fearless, describing each new movement and phase of the portent to be noted down exactly as he observed them.
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: then suddenly they were in shallow water, and the shore was blocked by the debris from the mountain.
For a moment my uncle wondered whether to turn back, but when the helmsman advised this he refused, telling him that Fortune stood by the courageous and they must make for Pomponianus at Stabiae. He was cut off there by the breadth of the bay (for the shore gradually curves round a basin filled by the sea) so that he was not as yet in danger, though it was clear that this would come nearer as it spread. Pomponianus had therefore already put his belongings on board ship, intending to escape if the contrary wind fell.
This wind was of course full in my uncle's favor, and he was able to bring his ship in. He embraced his terrified friend, cheered and encouraged him, and thinking he could calm his fears by showing his own composure, gave orders that he was to be carried to the bathroom. 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 emphasized 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.
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. By this time the courtyard giving access to his room was full of ashes mixed with pumice stones, so that its level had risen, and if he had stayed in the room any longer he would never have got out. He was wakened, came out and joined Pomponianus and the rest of the household who had sat up all night.
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 failing 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.
Elsewhere there was daylight by this time, but they were still in darkness, blacker and denser than any ordinary night, which they relieved by lighting torches and various kinds of lamp. My uncle decided to go down to the shore and investigate on the spot the possibility of any escape by sea, but he found the waves still wild and dangerous. A sheet was spread on the ground for him to lie down, and he repeatedly asked for cold water to drink.
Then the flames and smell of sulphur which gave warning of the approaching fire drove the others to take flight and roused him to stand up. He stood leaning on two slaves and then suddenly collapsed, I imagine because the dense, fumes choked his breathing by blocking his windpipe which was constitutionally weak and narrow and often inflamed. When daylight returned on the 26th -- two days after the last day he had been seen -- his body was found intact and uninjured, still fully clothed and looking more like sleep than death.

Volcanic eruptions that send large columns of ash and gas into the stratosphere, like that of the Phillipines' Mount Pinatubo in 1991, are classified by geologists today as Plinian eruptions.

Vesuvius' Plinian eruption of A.D. 79 lasted eight days, spewing pumice stone, hot blocks of lava, tons of ash, steam, poisonous gases and, finally, water that turned the huge ashfall into mud, then paste, then natural concrete.

The buried cities, with up to 16,000 or 20,000 dead, were not found until 1748.

Source: Eyewitness to History, various

*Image: Vesuvius looms above the excavated amphitheater of Pompeii.
GothPhil/Flickr
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