Almost 1945 years ago, August 24/25th, AD79, the Roman colonia of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed in the infamous Vesuvian eruption, an event witnessed by Gaius Plinius Secundus and his nephew (later adopted son) Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus . Pliny the Elder, and Pliny the Younger.
The Elder was in charge of the Roman fleet stationed at Misenum in the bay of Naples and the Younger was staying with him, when the Younger notes what happens, in an account he later relates to the historian Tacitus:
“On 24 August, in the early afternoon, my mother drew our attention to a cloud of unusual size and appearance….It’s general appearance can best be expressed like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the fire blast and then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by it’s own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed. Sometimes it was white, sometimes blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes carried with it”
Immediately the Elder mobilizes the fleet to sail to the rescue, sailing straight into the danger zone and the looming clouds.
“Ashes were already falling, hotter and thicker as the ships drew near, followed by bits of pumice and blackened stones, charred and cracked by the flames. Then suddenly they were in shallow water and the shore was blocked by debris from the mountain”
They landed at the villa of a friend at Stabiae, some four miles south of Pompeii and attempts to leave were hampered by a ‘contrary wind’ and ‘wild and dangerous waves’. Vesuvius by now was shooting out ‘broad sheets of fire and leaping flames.’ The Elder went to bed.
“By this time the courtyard giving access to his room was full of ashes mixed with pumice so that its level had risen and if he stayed in the room any longer, he would never have got out….. The buildings were now shaking with violent shocks and seemed to be swaying to and fro, as if they were torn from their foundations”
Early in the morning of the 25th, the Elder rises.
“But they were still in darkness at this time [from the eruption], blacker and denser than any night...he stood leaning on two slaves and then suddenly collapsed, I imagine because the dense fumes choked his breathing.”
Pliny the Elder’s body was recovered on August 26th, AD79, buried in the pumice. He was 56.
(Letters vi.16)