Mount Vesuvius and the Destruction of Pompeii

In 79 AD, when the Roman Empire was just barely over a century old, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried with it forever the great city of Pompeii. Fortunately for history's sake, Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Younger, was there to witness the eruption firsthand and describe it in a letter to his friend, the historian Tacitus.

The town of Pompeii had long had its share of tremors, including a major earthquake in 62 AD, which is thought to have measured 7.5 on the Richter scale, as evidenced by the great damage done to the city and around the bay. Rebuilding was still being done at the time of Mount Vesuvius's eruption. Unfortunately for the citizens of Pompeii and those towns nearby, the Romans were entirely ignorant of the link between seismic activity and volcanic activity. This is indicated by Pliny the Younger's accounts of the eruption of Pompeii where his uncle, Pliny the Elder, are concerned.

Pliny the Elder was in command of the imperial naval base at Misenum, on the northwest side of the Bay of Naples. He was the senior military officer in the district, and knew more about natural science than most Romans living at the time. His 37-volume "Natural History," in fact, is the longest work on natural history in Latin that has survived to this day.

But despite Pliny the Elder's excessive knowledge in the field of natural science, he was clearly unfazed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pliny the Younger wrote later that his uncle was relaxing at the time of the eruption after having just taken a bath and finished a delicious lunch.

Upon taking notice of smoke rising over the Bay, Pliny the Elder was more curious than anything else. He and the citizens of Pompeii had clearly not anticipated this volcanic eruption. Coincidentally, just a few years prior to this eruption, the emperor Nero's adviser Seneca wrote a discussion of the scientific causes of earthquakes. He concluded that it was very likely that earthquakes around the world were all interconnected in some way, but while linking it to stormy weather, failed to make the connection with volcanic activity.