Who To Befriend
Pliny the younger This future Roman senator is staying at his aunt and uncle’s house in Misenum. From here, he’s got the perfect view of Vesuvius right across the Bay of Naples while being almost completely out of harm’s way. His vivid and insightful letters to his friend Tacitus a few years later, about the “black and dreadful cloud, broken with rapid, zigzag flashes” will form a basis for future historians studying the catastrophic event. If you stick with this Pliny, all should be fine.
extra tip: Whatever you do, don’t go with Pliny the elder — the younger’s uncle — on his rescue mission across the bay. While the roman Navy fleet commander’s intentions are nothing but good, the trip is doomed as he’s going to sail right into trouble. Though he’ll make it across the stormy sea and reach herculaneum, winds will trap him there and the choking air will kill him.