The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
A City in Ruin
On a regular day like this more than 1,900 years ago, citizens of a city in Italy were going about their business when a mountain about six miles away rumbled and then exploded.
Let’s learn about the city of Pompeii (pom-PAY) and Mount Vesuvius (veh-SOOvee-us), the volcano that buried the city and many of its inhabitants on Aug. 24, A.D. 79*.
Signs of trouble
Living so close to Mount Vesuvius, citizens of Pompeii were used to feeling earthquakes. In fact, in A.D. 62, a strong earthquake caused many buildings to fall down and streets to buckle. Builders, plumbers and slaves repaired much of the damage over the next 17 years.
In the days before Aug. 24, people in Pompeii felt small tremors, or vibrations. Hanging lamps swung. Water stopped flowing from the aqueduct, a pipe for moving water. Birds flew away from the area.
The explosion
WhenMount Vesuvius exploded, a large, dark cloud rose up from it. A manwho lived across the Bay of Naples from Pompeii, Pliny the Elder, saw the cloud and wanted to get a closer look. He ordered his servants to prepare a boat and began sailing across the bay. *A.D. stands for anno Domini, which means “the year of our Lord” in Latin. When we use it with a year, it refers to the time after Jesus Christ was born. B.C. stands for “before Christ.” Some people say B.C.E. (before common era) and C.E. (common era) instead.
His nephew, Pliny the Younger, wrote these observations about the explosion:
“Ash was falling ... (B)road sheets of flame were lighting up many parts of Vesuvius. … (People) tied pillows on top of their heads as protection against the shower of rock. It was daylight ... but there the darkness was darker and thicker than any night.”
Buried cities
In Pompeii and nearby cities, ash and rocks rained down from Mount Vesuvius. Pompeii was buried in about 20 feet of the
debris, or rubble. The city of Herculaneum, between Pompeii and Naples, was completely buried.
Experts think about 20,000 people lived in Pompeii at the time of the eruption. Only about 2,000 bodies were found when scientists began excavating (EX-cavay-ting), or digging, in the area.
Survivors of the volcano probably returned fairly soon to Pompeii and tried to dig for valuables buried in their homes or businesses. When they dug deep, they may have released poisonous gases. These vapors probably killed some of the survivors.