Today, August 24, back in the year A.D. 79, Mt. Vesuvius blew its top, burying Roman towns such as Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Interestingly, prior to the erruption the crater of the mountain had been used by Spartacus and his comrades to hide out in. That was around 150 years before the big explosion, though.
When A.D. 79 came:
The eruption is thought to have lasted about 19 hours, in which time the volcano ejected about 1 cubic mile (4 cubic kilometres) of ash and rock over a wide area to the south and south-east of the crater. Pompeii, Herculaneum and many other towns around Vesuvius were destroyed, with about 3m (10ft) of tephra falling on Pompeii. Around 2,000 people are believed to have died in the town, the vast majority as the result of suffocation by volcanic ashes and gases. Herculaneum, which was much closer to the crater, was buried under 23m (75ft) of ash deposited by a series of pyroclastic flows and mudflows. Due to the lack of remains found in the town, it had been long thought that the inhabitants had escaped, but hundreds of skeletons were discovered in the 1980s in the former beach-side boatyard, where they had taken shelter. Many of the victims and other organic objects (such as beds and doors) were carbonized by the intense heat, which reached temperatures of up to 750°. In one of the more gruesome discoveries made in Herculaneum, many of the victims were found with the tops of their skulls missing — their brains had literally exploded in the intense heat.
The total number of casualties across Campania is unknown but is likely to have been upwards of 10,000 people. Pompeii and Herculaneum were never rebuilt, although surviving townspeople and probably looters did undertake extensive salvage work after the destructions. The towns’ location was eventually forgotten until their accidental rediscovery in the 18th century. Vesuvius itself underwent major changes – its slopes were denuded of vegetation and its summit had changed considerably due to the force of the eruption.
The explosion was also witnessed and written about by such notable literary figures as Tacitus and Pliny the Elder.
Always something interesting Jimmy!
Isn’t ‘denuded’ a funny word? I’m putting that on my list of strange words, right next to ‘antidisirregardless’.
You made a slight error Jimmy. It was Pliny the Younger who witnessed and wrote about Vesuvius. He was staying across the bay at the villa of his uncle Pliny the Elder, who as admiral of the Roman fleet took off in a galley to examine the eruption and was killed by toxic gasses.
–arthur
William A. Jurgens believes that the eruption is what Clement of Rome referred to in the introduction in his first epistle to the Corinthians. That and other things caused Fr. Jurgens to put the date of the epistle at ~80 A.D. in his Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 1.
Arthur: You are correct. My mistake.
Pliny the Elder witnessed but did not write about the event (so far as we know, unless he was scribbling down notes at the time. If so, I hope he got to write “Aaaargh!” before being overcome by gas).
Given what Pliny the Younger says about his compulsive study and note-taking habits . . . who knows? ;-D
Look, if he was dying, he wouldn’t bother to write ‘aaaaaggh’. He’d just say it!
Perhaps he was dictating.
Do you suppose he meant the Camaaaaaargue?
Where’s that?
France, I think.
Incidentally, that film also contains a vicious ally of the Easter Bunny, with HUGE pointy teeth!
No Boom Today. Boom Yesterday.
What is this? Honor Jar Jar Binks day at Jimmy’s?
Oooo! Sorry! The judges say that only a partial score can be granted to the plucky canon lawyer.
He correctly identified the genre on which the title of this post is based as science fiction, but he incorrectly identified the franchise and character.
As long-term sci-fi fans may recognize, the title is based on the line “No boom today. Boom tomorrow.” by the character Susan Ivanova in the franchise Babylon 5, not Jar-Jar Binks in Star Wars.
I translated Pliny the Younger’s account of the eruption when I studied Latin in college. (We also translated his letter to Trajan in which he described the Christians and their practices in early second century Asia Minor.)
Having visited Pompeii and Herculaneum when I was in high school, doing that translating was very interesting for me.
And speaking of Roman history this is also the day on which Alaric the Visigoth sacked Rome in AD 410.
–arthur
I only saw Babylon 5 when it was first-run on the networks– what was the Ivanova line referencing? It doesn’t ring a bell…
Nice Alex Trebek impersonation, Jimmy.
Margaret,
A character nicknamed Jinx because all previous four Babylon stations had either been blown up or disappeared after he left had just left the station for good. If he really were cursed, then it would follow that Babylon 5 would suffer a similar fate. It didn’t, so Ivanova said, in response to someone else asking, “No boom?”: “No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There’s always a boom tomorrow.”
Ahhhh… Thanks, Tim. That sounds kinda familiar. Further incentive to start watching B5 via Netflix…
Doh!!! That should say, “Thanks, Publius.” Knew I shoulda hit the preview button first.
you rock!! How do you do it? Well I have to go now so bye….
HI