This Day in History: , Mount Vesuvius Erupts.
August 24, 79 A.D.
This longtime dormant volcano erupted
just after noon, spewing a
mushroom cloud of ash and
molten pumice ten miles up into the atmosphere.
The wealthy summer vacation cities
of Pompeii and Herculaneum
sat in the wake of the eruption.
For twelve hours, the sky rained pumice
and ash on the residents and
opulent structures of Pompeii.
Thousands were killed.
Both cities were covered under a
thick layer of mud and volcanic molten ash.
An account of the eruption was
captured in two letters written to the
Roman historian Tacitus by a witness, Pliny the Younger.
After being rediscovered and excavated in the 1700s,
the remarkably preserved city of Pompeii became
a popular tourist destination
