On 24 August AD79, the sleeping giant Mount Vesuvius erupted with horrifying force, destroying the prosperous Roman cities Pompeii and Herculeneum. Their inhabitants were subjected to 24 hours of untold horror.
Four million tonnes of pumice, rock and ash rained on the towns, suffocating the life out of the cities, and burying alive those who had been unable to flee.
Pompeii always settled heavily in my heart because I had such a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that an entire thriving city could not only disappear, but also be forgotten – and it seems to me one of the cruellest things to happen to someone is to be forgotten.
God did something similar to the wicked cities of the plain, though apparently without a volcano…
“The Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah — from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities and also the vegetation of the land.” (Gn 19:24–25).
An archaeologist named Collins found what looks like what’s left of Sodom and Gomorrah in the southern Dead Sea. He described melted pottery, scorched wood and human remains blasted apart and scattered over a wide burned area.
Pyroclastic flow had never been documented (because no one survived) until Mt St Helens.
Awesome clip….very well done.
I would like to go see Pompeii and surrounds.
…modern disaster behavior makes me wonder if any of those “unable to flee” were ACTUALLY looters.
…times and tech change, but people do not…
The hands on the clock are coming to take our footprints away…
I was in Pompeii and Herculaneum, dodging rocks and boulders!
“The camper to the south of me is covered… It’s going to get me too, no way I can get out of here.”- Gerry Martin, W6TQF, reporting the death of USGS Volcanologist David Johnston at the Coldwater II observation point.
They were 6 and nearly 10 miles from the blast. They got hit by a cloud of ash and debris as dense as concrete, ~680/F and moving at a substantial fraction of the speed of sound. Neither has ever been found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fBxCrglvts
i visited pompeii
what an eye opener
these people were very modern
copper pipes for water flow into their homes
beautiful paintings on the walls of the homes
beautiful brick streets
very modern
the gas from the volcano was very toxic
and that is what killed most
and then the ash covered their bodies and preserved them in like a cast
saw bodies like this,even kids bodies,hard to take
however, very eye opening to the fact at how advanced and modern this city and the surrounding cities that were also destroyed by this volcano
it makes me believe that people in those times were advanced like us in many ways
we are not unique in our modern ways
super interesting place to visit
and very very beautiful
pray everyday for italy’s sovereignty
beautiful culture
The plaster casts of the victims in the positions they died in is eerie.
I find it odd that no Roman brought in an army of slaves to dig up the place for loot. I suspect the wealthy beat feet with their gold and silver long before the final cataclysmic eruption fried and suffocated everyone left.
More evidence of Man Made Climate Change.
Wait, no?
You can always depend on MJA to bring a little history and/or culture to us otherwise uncouth IOTWR readers.
Thanks, MJA.
🙂
southernsue,
Visiting the town is only a small part of the experience. You can go to local areas and see the same buildings and streets as in Pompeii but living. Then the real gem is the museum in Naples. There you see the artifacts and you would not believe how advanced these people were. I saw medical instruments that are almost the exact same as those I use now. Then there was a silver dinning set, you could not make such a thing now. But, you need an escort at the museum and can pick up a Phd at the door, good buy. And you need a guard or limo in Naples that will take you directly to the museum door.
Then Naples has changed considerably since I was there in the 70’s.
“Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.” Geo. Orwell