Roman Times
All the News Romans Need to Know
January 18, 257 AD
Rome
A Day Never Forgotten
By: Tabacius
BREAKING NEWS: As you may
know, in 79 AD Mt. Vesuvius erupted
and caused destruction in Pompeii.
This is the first time in 700 years that
Vesuvius erupted. The eruption
destroyed towns, villas, and houses. A
total of 2,000 people died and were
covered by ash in this devastated
town near Naples, Italy. The city of
Pompeii was under a layer of thick,
volcanic ash.
Pompeii had a population of
about 20,000 people who worked at
factories, taverns, cafes and
bathhouses. When Vesuvius erupted,
all of these places were destroyed and
covered under millions of tons of
volcanic ash.
Lava, ash and rocks were shot
up 22 miles high in the sky. The blast
could have been seen 100’s of miles
away. The air was hard to breathe so
many people could not survive.
When Pompeii was
rediscovered in 1748, the ashes
preserved everything so well. The city
was almost the same size and so was
different items left behind. Human
skeletons, buildings, household items
and goods, and even loafs of bread
were still intact. All of these remains
taught us about everyday life in the
ancient world. (Name of Person) was
able to see the eruption from her
hometown city, which is about 110
miles away. She recalled seeing it like
a bomb just went off and the whole
sky turned dark grey. At first she
didn’t know Vesuvius was an active
volcano since it had not erupted in
700 years.
One of the spectators who
watched the tremendous explosion
was Pliny the Younger. While
watching he said “It was not clear at
that distance from which mountain
the cloud was rising. In places it
looked white, elsewhere blotched and
dirty, according to the amount of soil
and ashes it carried with it.”
When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in
79 AD, the life of many Romans have
been changed.
Pompeii and other cities affected
by the eruption of Vesuvius (left).
Some remains of humans covered
in volcanic ash (right).
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