GeologyEurope
Vesuvius buries Pompeii
A catastrophe that preserved an entire town exactly as it was
See it on the timeline →In depth
Pompeii is our most important source for daily life in antiquity precisely because it is not a monument but an ordinary town caught in the act. The graffiti gives voice to people history otherwise omits: slaves, prostitutes, schoolchildren. Pliny the Younger wrote the only eyewitness account of a major eruption from antiquity, and the eruption type is now called "Plinian" after him.
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Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompeii under metres of ash. The town lay untouched for seventeen hundred years. Today you can see bread in the oven, election posters on the walls and graffiti written by ordinary people.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org