Pompeii, the Volcanic Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

A volcanic eruption is one of the most devastating natural disasters. The worst volcanic eruption is the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, commonly known as Pompeii. Lava, hot ash, pumice and toxic gasses were all shot out from Vesuvius towards the cities below. The eruption lasted longer than a day, pouring tons of ash and pumice onto the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The eruption of Pompeii was extremely tragic, trapping in the city’s population, leaving them nowhere to hide from the devastating eruption. Nothing good came out of this eruption.

It is estimated that Pompeii was a city of about 20,000 people located about six miles from Vesuvius. It was a fairly advanced city for its time, it had a sewer system and an aqueduct brought water into the city. Its streets were paved with volcanic rock and it had a raised sidewalk along the side. Crossing the streets were raised stepping stones for pedestrians to cross so they wouldn’t have to get their feet dirty. Most streets were only about 15-20 feet wide, including the sidewalks. It had a forum, which was the business center of the city where information about recent trials and even information about politicians that were running for office could be found. There was also a Saturday market. Pompeii had lots of recreational areas. It had an amphitheater that could hold the entire population of the city where gladiators fought, and had several smaller theaters for plays and public speeches, one of which was built into a hillside.

Mount Vesuvius was about 4200 feet tall and Pompeii was about six miles away from Vesuvius. It was known to the Romans that Vesuvius had been a volcano because of volcanic rock around it, but they regarded it as inactive, so the people had no idea that they would be in danger from an eruption. Vesuvius had previously erupted hundreds of years ago but the eruption to come would be much worse.

There were a few signs leading up to the eruption, though none of them were taken as warnings of a much larger disaster about to happen. The first was in AD 63. An earthquake caused by the building pressure in Mount Vesuvius shook Pompeii and Herculaneum. It destroyed part of Pompeii and caused some minor damage to Herculaneum. Smaller quakes occurred for the next 16 years leading up to the eruption.

The actual eruption of Vesuvius was in AD 79. It started by dark smoke flowing out of Vesuvius. The smoke darkened the day so it looked like evening and within an hour and a half smoke had covered the whole sky. Then a hole was blown in the side of Vesuvius, sending out hot ash, toxic gas and pumice. The rate of pumice shooting out of Vesuvius ranged from 5000 to 80,000 tons every second and it all fell down onto the two cities. After hours of pumice falling down on the cities, waves of hot ash shot down. It traveled as fast as a jet and burned through Pompeii, killing and destroying the city and its population. After the waves of ash and falling pumice finally stopped, it rained. This mixture of rainwater and ash formed casts around the people and preserved them for over 1000 years.