Visiting Pompeii

nearly 2,000 years on

Tuesday September 7th, 2010

It is the day after our son's birthday and he is visiting us along with his girlfriend so we decide to get in the hire car and head south towards Pompeii for the day.  It took just over an hour from Ceccano and we were all very impressed with the speed of our arrival on what turns out to be a very hot day.

After parking the hire car and taking in a coffee, we head off to the site of Pompeii which costs 11 euros each.  We have our map of the site and I notice to my right that people are hiring bikes.  Enzo tells us that hiring a bike will turn out to be useless since most of what we will see is only accessible by foot and sensing our (or my) disappointment, he continues that we will see what he means later. 

Once you lift your head from the map and your attention is turned away from the bikes, you can now begin to focus your attention on the huge wall infront of you, behind which is just one of the amphitheaters found in Pompeii. 

The first thing you see

Through the tunnel we climbed a path that brought us back out into the blazing sun and the streets of old Pompeii.  We began to get a feeling for the size of the disaster that struck this once vibrant, cosmopolitan city.  

	Streets and bars of Pompeii	The forum with Monte Vesuvio in the background

In large Roman cities the forum was an open place where people would gather and were places of government, worship and commerce.

	The rooms	Tuesday September 7th, 2010: Enzo examines the structu

The events of August 24th, AD 79

Letter to Tacitus from Pliny the Younger

• 12.00pm

Residents of Oplontis, Terzigno and Pomeii notice the first effect of the eruption: they feel the tremors and see the volcanic column rise above Monte Vesuvio.  They quickly seek shelter from the thick raining ash composed mainly of pumice, that the strong northwest winds begin dropping on the area.

Soon a cloud of ash blocks the sun, and continual earthquake shocks and deafening noises force farmers in Terzigno back to their farmsteads, while others press on to seek refudge in Pompeii, or near the coast at Oplontis.

• 3.00pm

At least some of the residents of Pompeii, and the surrounding areas, decide to flee as they realize the eruption and seismic shocks are not diminishing.

Refugees run in different directions and some Pompeians seek refuge in Moregne. Others head in the direction of the territory of Nuceria, wihile others flee to the seaport in the present location of Bottaio.  But there, like those who had fled from the other towns in Vesuvio’s path, realize that escape by sea is futile.

Meanwhile: Many Herculaneans decide to leave the city and head towards the seashore.  Others head northwest towards Naples, which ultimately proved to be the only path to safety.

• 6.00pm

 The volcanic activity seems to be waning, and the surviving Pompeians emerge in search of a way of escaping the city.  On their own or in small groups, the survivors exhaustedly trudge towards the southern sector of the urban area in the hope of reaching the roads at the edge of the city.

• 1.00am

The erupting volcanic column above Vesuvio finally collapses and the first lethal pyroclastic surge reaches Herculaneum, extinguishing all life there.

• 7.30am

The third pyroclastic surge, and the first to reach Pompeii, strikes and buries the entire region.  Continuing surges throughout the day bury Herculaneum under more than 75 feet of volcanic matter.

An unwilling messenger of Pompeii thought to be protecting their face against the dust

Continue reading and view Enzo's Flip Video round-up of Pompeii >>

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Letter to Tacitus from Pliny the Younger