Mt. Vesuvius, Italy
Pompeii
Introduction
On the west coast of Italy, Mt. Vesuvius is the only activity volcano on mainland in Europe. Vesuvius is a stratovolcano with an explosive eruption that erupted and destroyed the city of Pompeii in A.D. 79,17,000 years ago.
Pompeii
Pompeii
Mount Vesuvius is hundreds of thousands of years old and has erupted more than 50 times. Its most famous eruption took place in the year 79 A.D., when the volcano buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash. The dust poured and shrouded the city in “a darkness…like the black of closed and unlighted rooms.” Two thousand people died, and the city was abandoned for almost as many years. When a group of explorers rediscovered the site in 1748, they were surprised to find that–underneath a thick layer of dust and debris–Pompeii was mostly intact. The buildings, artifacts and skeletons left behind in the buried city, taught us a great deal about everyday life in the ancient world.
Mt Vesuvius Volcano
The volcano is a stratovolcano that erupted before and has killed many people. Thousands of lives were lost and it might erupt again. Tons of destruction happened and we don't know when another volcano will erupt. Pompeii grew from a settlement of Oscan speaking descendants of the Neolithic inhabitants of Campania. Pre-Roman Pompeii, as a part of Campania, was a recipient of a complex set of cultural influences: Etruscans from the north, Greek colonists from the south, and Samnites and other Italic peoples all around.