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Pompeii, 79 AD: The Eruption That Buried Two Roman Towns #Shorts

Oct 25, 2026

Pack: 02 - Pompeii, 79 AD The Eruption That Buried Two Roman Towns

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In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

• Pliny the Younger watched from Misenum; his letters to the historian Tacitus describe thick darkness and falling ash (Pliny, Letters, Fordham Internet History Sourcebooks)
• Pyroclastic flows, fast currents of hot gas and ash, buried Herculaneum and swept into Pompeii (Dellino et al., Scientific Reports 2021; Archaeology magazine)
• The date is debated: long given as August 24, but a charcoal inscription found in 2018 reads October 17, pointing to an October eruption (Archaeology magazine; The Local Italy)
• The towns were rediscovered in the 1700s, and from 1863 Giuseppe Fiorelli made plaster casts from the hollows left in the ash (J. Paul Getty Museum; Pompeii Archaeological Park)

Which detail of Pompeii stays with you the most?

Sources

• Pliny the Younger, Letters (Internet History Sourcebooks, Fordham University)
• Archaeology magazine, "Family History," Jan/Feb 2016
• Dellino et al., Scientific Reports, 2021
• The Local Italy, Oct 16, 2018
• J. Paul Getty Museum, "The Last Days of Pompeii"
• Pompeii Archaeological Park, "The Casts"

Images

• The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, John Martin, Public domain
• Pliny the Younger and his Mother at Misenum, 79 A.D., Angelica Kauffmann (Princeton University Art Museum), Public domain
• Eruption of Mount Sinabung, Indonesia (modern example), Yosh Ginsu, CC0
• Eruption du Vésuve, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (Musée des Augustins), Public domain
• The Forum, Pompeii, with Vesuvius in the Distance, Christen Schjellerup Købke (J. Paul Getty Museum), Public domain