The city of Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

It would be hard to find someone who has never heard of Pompeii, the glorious Ancient Roman city that got destroyed and buried under ash after the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. But do you know any further information about the tragedy? Do you know how many people lost their lives under the ash or why were the consequences of the disaster so enormous and tragic? To expend your knowledge of the Pompeii destruction, check out these little unknown facts.

Source: http://list25.com/25-mind-blowing-facts-about-the-pompeii-destruction/

https://www.pinterest.com/agcinnamongirl/pompeii-italy/
Cc: Ishilove, lalasticlala, obinoscopy

Founded around 7th century BC, Pompeii was a highly developed and flourishing city before the disaster. It was a popular holiday resort for rich Romans who came to spend their holidays there.

Even Nero, one of the most famous Roman Emperors, is thought to have had his villa or holiday home in Pompeii andhis second wife Poppaea Sabina was a native of the town.

Mount Vesuvius, an active stratovolcano located 9 km (5.6 miles) east of modern Naples, was just a few miles away from Pompeii but at that time, the locals didn’t even know it was a volcano.

nice Sile12 I toured the place in Italy 2012 WE Stayed in one hotel called hotel diana we really enjoyed the place for 48hours a very big restaurant i will recommend is garum we also visited and Sanctuary of the Madonna of the Rosary This is a beautiful church that sits about 150 feet above the dug out part of Pompeii i didn't regret making this a stop part of my visit. we made sure we took the time to explore each part of this church and take in the sight, art, history and evrything i am a muslim but i felt something spiritual about that place
termas Stabiane The biggest attraction was the two people cast in plaster which is kept in a glass box inside You really feel you're going back in time!its architecture at its finest Seeing all these bath houses and how it was constructed is amazing. Something that old Looking the way it is today is incredible

aminho:
I toured the place in Italy 2012

That's wonderful.

They couldn’t know how dangerous Vesuvius was because the last major eruption before the one in 79 AD was 1800 BC. At that time, it destroyed several Bronze Age settlements.

Allegedly, the 79 AD eruption started in the morning of August 24, just one day after Vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire.

The eruption probably lasted about 24 hours but the ash, molten rock and pumice kept covering the city for two more days, burying it up to 6 meters (20 feet) deep.

The molten lava reaching a temperature of about 700 C (almost 1300 F) flooded the city at a speed of 110 kilometers per hour (68 mph). There was no escape.

The molten rock and pumice were expelled from the Mount Vesuvius at an incredible rate of 1.5 million tons per second.

The lava and ash covered a total area of over 500 square kilometers (200 square miles) and destroyed not only Pompeii but also a few more surrounding towns and villages.

The eruption had the tragic consequences also due to the adverse wind direction. Usually, the wind blew in a direction,which would have blown most of the ash and pumice away but on that fateful day, the wind was blowing in an unusual northwesterly direction straight over Pompeii.

The estimates of how many people died in the tragedy vary greatly but it might have been as many as up to 25,000 people.

There is a detailed account of the disaster thanks to Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet who watched the eruption from distance, questioned survivors, and recorded their statements. Pliny’s letters, which are the only eyewitness accounts of the eruption, were discovered in the 16th century.

Excavation.


Contrary to the generally accepted fact that the disaster hit Pompeii on August 24, some archeological excavations suggest that the city was buried about 3 months later. This is also supported by an authentic document which gives thedate of the eruption as November 23.

The site was lost for about 1500 years until its rediscovery in 1599 when the digging of an underground channel to divert a local river ran into ancient walls covered with paintings and inscriptions.

During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids between the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed the archeologists to see the exact position the people were in when they died.

Unearthing plaster casts made from decayed bodies at Pompeii.

A large number of people were sheltering in this
seaside boathouse when the Vesuvius eruption took out Pompeii.

Sile12:
The molten lava reaching a temperature of about 700 C (almost 1300 F) flooded the city at a speed of 110 kilometers per hour (68 mph). There was no escape.

WTF!! How can you out-run that? With a horse or what? Scary mehn!

Preserved 2,000 years old bread in Pompeii wth the stamp of the baker.

Probably praying when it started.

Plaster cast of a victim of the eruption of Vesuvius at Pompeii. The casts were obtained by filling with liquid plaster the hollow shapes left by the hardening of the lava around the corpses.

Was it a punishment from God, a gain of negligence from the people or fate?
What do we call this? The pains involved and the likes is better imagined than experienced.

Ruins: A street in Pompeii.

Special thanks to my lecturer,Dr Olanusi for the detailed explanation on Volcanic Eruptions and other natural disasters,Geography is indeed a very beautiful course, I will say thank you sir because your student has learn alot,Back to the topic,Pompeii!!!City of ruins,it's such a sad event,God love Nigeria so much and i pray you and I won't be a victim of any disasters whatsoever,@OP,thanks for this beautiful thread

SirHouloo:
Was it a punishment from God, a gain of negligence from the people or fate?
What do we call this? The pains involved and the likes is better imagined than experienced.

Ignorance!

That much was stated, that the last eruption happened thousands of years before theirs.

We take science for granted now, but then they didnt have the luxury.

Imagine sitting in a house all glowy, when just underneath you is a furiously brimming magma-Exactly.

Nice job @OP

Pompeii Amphitheatre from the stand, one of the oldest.

SirHouloo:
Was it a punishment from God, a gain of negligence from the people or fate?
What do we call this? The pains involved and the likes is better imagined than experienced.

Punishment from God?A gain of negligence from the people?and Fate?This really got me laughing,Bro, i don't know how best to reply you

darefestus:


Ignorance!

That much was stated, that the last eruption happened thousands of years before theirs.

We take science for granted now, but then they didnt have the luxury.

Imagine sitting in a house all glowy, when just underneath you is a furiously brimming magma-Exactly.

Nice job @OP

Thank you for the last statement or sentence or what should i call ir ,a good response i must say

I've always found the history of Pompei interesting. Such a beautiful city went down in less than 24 hours if I'm right.

Seriously no escape, even if you own a private jet to fly you out.

I read there were survivors.

Large deal of artistic artefacts excavated at Pompeii was of a highly erotic nature. The Romans had a completely different attitude to sex and eroticism.
Paintings from Pompeii like this caused huge embarrassment when they were discovered by archaeologists in the 18th and 19th centuries.


Sources: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2439371/Nude-paintings-obscene-sculptures-gods-having-sex-animals-Pompeiis-explicit-artefacts-kept-secret-prudish-scholars-19th-century-Europe.html

Wooow, pardon my ignorance. Never knew Pompeii was a real city o. Just watched the movie and never knew it was actually non-fiction