History of Pompeii
Pompeii is an ancient city in Italy. There are a …show more content…
Mount Vesuvius was formed by two tectonic plates, the African and Eurasian, colliding. Mount Vesuvius has had a lot of eruptions, but the most famous, was in 79 AD. Since 79, there have been at least 30 eruptions between 172 and 1944. There have been no more eruptions since …show more content…
Although it is accepted that Mount Vesuvius erupted in August of 79, archeological digs have suggested that it erupted about three months later. We will probably never know for sure. A writer, Pliny the Younger, was across the bay when Mount Vesuvius erupted and was able to see it firsthand. Researchers used Pliny’s notes to find out about Pompeii. One of his writings said, “ cloud of unusual size and appearance to a pine tree that rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches.” This type of eruption today is called, Plinean eruption. Pliny also said, “Most Pompeiians had plenty of time to flee.” People who stayed behind, thinking it would be safer there, thought wrong. The conditions got worse. More ash fell, making it hard to breath, and buildings collapsed. It is thought that the intense heat that followed the ash is what caused the people to die. The next day, everyone was gone, buried under millions of tons of volcanic ash. When people came back to Pompeii to look for family or possessions, they found nothing but ash. Everything was buried deep beneath their feet. At least 2,000 people