Vesuvius, AD 79
Vesuvius is the focus of one of the world's most famous and beautiful landscapes. The view from the Via Partenope in Naples has been painted and photographed so often that Vesuvius has been instantly recognizable for centuries. Its serenity in repose, however, belies the vehemence of its temper. Vesuvius is the most violent and dangerous volcano erupting regularly in Europe and it has become an archetype of lethal volcanic activity. Its outbursts, recorded with varying degrees of fantasy and accuracy for more than 2000 years, have repeatedly destroyed the crops, property and sometimes the lives of those enticed to its flanks by the renowned fertility of its soils.
The eruption in the reign of the Emperor Titus that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum made them the most famous of archaeological sites and also made Vesuvius the most celebrated volcano on Earth. It is the subject, too, of the first account of scientific value of any volcanic eruption, which was given by Pliny the Younger in two letters to the historian Tacitus. The eruption in AD 79 was the grandest of all the historical outbursts of Vesuvius and it has become a prototype of powerful eruptions called Plinian in honour of Pliny the Younger and his uncle, Pliny the Elder, who was the most distinguished victim of the catastrophe. All these archaeological, historical, geological and cultural associations have given this particular volcanic disaster a glamour that perhaps no other can match.
In AD 79 Pompeii was one of the largest towns in Campania, with a population of about 20000; it lay 10km southeast of Vesuvius. Herculaneum was a smaller seaside town situated 7km due west of the mountain. Although classical scholars such as Strabo had recognized its volcanic nature, Vesuvius had been calm for centuries and there was no apparent reason to suppose that it presented any threat whatsoever to one of the most idyllic places in the Roman world. The main perceived hazard in the area was earthquakes. Most caused no more than a shudder in the ground and people alike, but a larger earthquake on 5 February AD 62 had so severely damaged Pompeii that the city still had not been fully repaired 17 years later. The eruption in AD 79 was thus totally unexpected and was also of an intensity that has not since been equalled in Europe. Pliny the Elder was a scientist and author of a famous natural history, as well as being a commander of the Roman fleet. His nephew, not yet 18 at the time of the eruption, himself later became a noted writer. When the eruption began on 24 August AD 79, Pliny the Elder, his sister and her son, Pliny the Younger, were staying at Misenum, the naval base 32 km from Vesuvius at the western end of the Bay of Naples. Pliny the Elder died at Stabiae, across the Bay, 17km south of Vesuvius, on the morning of 25 August, most probably either from a heart attack brought on by his exertions in the suffocating atmosphere, or by inhaling volcanic ash and toxic gases. Meanwhile, Pliny the Younger and his mother wandered amidst a terrified crowd in the stifling darkness that persisted throughout 25 August in and around Misenum until the eruption ended early on 26 August. None of them ever went to Pompeii during the eruption and Pliny the Younger does not mention the city in his narrative. But his accounts - both slightly abridged here - of his uncle's death in the first letter, and his own nightmare experiences at Misenum in the second, have retained their vivid impact and reveal some of the horror of a really powerful eruption. Listen.
My
uncle was at Misenum in command of the fleet. On 24 August, about one in the
afternoon, my mother pointed out a cloud with an odd size and appearance that
had just formed. From that distance it was not clear from which mountain the
cloud was rising - although it was found afterwards to be Vesuvius. The cloud
could best be described as more like an umbrella pine than any other tree,
because it rose high up in a kind of trunk and then divided into branches. I
imagine that this was because it was thrust up by the initial blast until its
power weakened and it was left unsupported and spread out sideways under its own
weight. Sometimes it looked light-coloured, sometimes it looked mottled and
dirty with the earth and ash it had carried up. Like a true scholar, my uncle
saw at once that it deserved closer study and ordered a boat to be prepared. He
said that I could go with him, but I chose to continue my studies.
Just
as he was leaving the house, he was handed a message from Rectina, the wife of
Tascus, whose home was at the foot of the mountain and who had no way of escape
except by boat. She was terrified by the threatening danger and begged him to
rescue her. He changed plan at once and what he had started in a spirit of
scientific curiosity, he ended as a hero. He ordered the large galleys to be
launched and set sail. He steered bravely straight for the danger zone which
everyone else was leaving in fear and haste, but still kept on noting his
observations.
The ash already falling became hotter and thicker as the ships
approached the coast and it was soon superseded by pumice and blackened burned
stones shattered by the fire. Suddenly the sea shallowed where the shore was
obstructed and choked by debris from the mountain. He wondered whether to turn
back as the Captain advised, but decided instead to go on. "Fortune favours
the brave", he said, "take me to Pomponianus". Pomponianus lived
at Stabiae across the Bay of Naples, which was not yet in danger, but would be
threatened if it spread. Pomponianus had already put his belongings into a boat
to escape as soon as the contrary, onshore wind changed. This wind, of course,
was fully in my uncle's favour and quickly brought his boat to Stabiae. My uncle
calmed and encouraged his terrified friend and was cheerful, or at least
pretended to be, which was just as brave.
Meanwhile, tall, broad flames blazed from several places on
Vesuvius and glared out through the darkness of the night. My uncle soothed the
fears of his companions by saying that they were nothing more than fires left by
the terrified peasants, or empty abandoned houses that were blazing. He went to
bed and apparently fell asleep, for his loud, heavy breathing was heard by those
passing his door. But, eventually, the courtyard outside began to fill with so
much ash and pumice that, if he had stayed in his room, he would never have been
able to get out. He was awakened and joined Pomponianus and his servants who had
sat up all night. They wondered whether to stay indoors or go out into the open,
because the buildings were now swaying back and forth and shaking with more
violent tremors. Outside, there was the danger from the falling pumice, even if
it was only light and porous. After weighing up the risks, they chose the open
country and tied pillows over their heads with cloths for protection.
It
was daylight everywhere else by this time, but they were still enveloped in a
darkness that was blacker and denser than any night and they were forced to
light their torches and lamps. My uncle went down to the shore to see if there
was any chance of escape by sea, but the waves were still running far too high.
He lay down to rest on a sheet and called for drinks of cold water. Then,
suddenly, flames and a strong smell of sulphur giving warning of yet more flames
to come, forced the others to flee. He himself stood up, with the support of two
slaves and then suddenly collapsed and died, because, I imagine, he was
suffocated when the dense fumes choked him. When daylight returned on the
following day, his body was found intact and uninjured, still fully clothed and
looking more like a man asleep than dead.
* * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile,
my mother and I had stayed at Misenum. After my uncle left us, I studied, dined
and went to bed, but slept only fitfully. We had had earth-tremors for several
days, which were not especially alarming because they happen so often in
Campania. But that night they were so violent that everything felt as if it were
being shaken and turned over. My mother came hurrying to my room and we sat
together in the forecourt facing the sea.
By
six o'clock the dawn light was still only dim. The buildings around were already
tottering and we would have been in danger in our confined space if our house
had collapsed. This made us decide to leave town. We were followed by a
panic-stricken crowd that chose to follow someone else's judgment rather than
decide anything for themselves. We stopped once we were out of town and then
some extraordinary and alarming things happened. The carriages we had ordered
began to lurch to and fro although the ground was flat, and we could not keep
them still even when we wedged their wheels with stones. Then we saw the sea
sucked back, apparently by an earthquake, and many sea-creatures were left
stranded on the dry sand. From the other direction over the land, a dreadful
black cloud was tom by gushing flames and great tongues of fire like
much-magnified lightning.
The
cloud sank down soon afterwards and covered the sea, hiding Capri and Cape
Misenum from sight. My mother begged me to leave her and escape as best I could,
but I took her hand and made her hurry along with me. Ash was already falling by
now, but not very thickly. Then I turned round and saw a thick black cloud
advancing over the land behind us like a flood. "Let us leave the road
while we can still see", I said, "or we will be knocked down and
trampled by the crowd". We had hardly sat down to rest when the darkness
spread over us. But it was not the darkness of a moonless, or cloudy night, but
just as if the lamps had been put out in a completely closed room.
We
could hear women shrieking, children crying, and men shouting. Some were calling
for their parents, their children, or their wives, and trying to recognize them
by their voices. Some people prayed for death because they were so frightened of
dying. Many begged for the help of the gods, but even more imagined that there
were no gods left and that the last eternal night had fallen on the world. There
were also those who added to our real perils by inventing fictitious dangers.
Some claimed that part of Misenum had collapsed, or that another part was on
fire. It was untrue but they could always find somebody to believe them.
A
glimmer of light returned, but we took this to be a warning of approaching fire
rather than daylight. But the fires stayed some distance away. The darkness came
back and ash began to fall again, this time in heavier showers. We had to get up
from time to time to shake it off or we would have been crushed and buried under
its weight. I could boast that I never expressed any fear at this time, but I
was only kept going by the consolation that the whole world was perishing with
me.
After
a while, the darkness paled into smoke or cloud, and the real daylight returned
but the sun was still shining as wanly as during an eclipse. We were amazed by
what we saw because everything had changed and was buried deep in ash like snow.
We went back to Misenum and spent an anxious night switching between hope and
fear. Fear was uppermost because the earth-tremors were still continuing and the
hysterics still kept on making their alarming forecasts. But, by then, my mother
and I had no intention of leaving the house until we got news of my uncle.
The changes wrought by the eruption were even greater than Pliny described. It was Pompeii, however, 10km southeast of Vesuvius, that bore the brunt of the eruption, and it suffered much more than Misenum because the northwesterly wind blew ash and pumice over it for 18 hours. Unknown to the Pompeiians, a nuee ardente had also destroyed Herculaneum the previous evening, and other nuees were to devastate neighbouring towns before the eruption ended. Pompeii and Herculaneum then remained entombed until they achieved immortality after excavations were initiated in 1748. The early excavations were scarcely more than treasure hunts. In 1820, for instance, the French poet Lamartine was offered a pick, which he promptly gave to three young girls, to excavate a Pompeiian house. Later, Fiorelli developed the technique of making plaster casts of the remains of the victims before the enveloping ash was disturbed, thus preserving their outlines for posterity. As scientific techniques of excavation advanced, the sheer variety of the relics brought to light has made Pompeii and Herculaneum perhaps the greatest single sources of everyday Roman culture. In recent years, too, the accuracy of Pliny the Younger’s account has been fully appreciated and it can now be closely linked with the archaeological and geological evidence revealed on the sites.
From 20 August, earth-tremors of increasing frequency centred on Vesuvius gave premonitory, but unheeded signs of the impending eruption. On the morning of 24 August, the initial phreatic explosion cleared the conduit and was sufficiently disturbing to induce Rectina to send to Pliny the Elder for assistance. The next phase had just begun when her messenger reached Misenum.
It was 13.00 on 24 August when the Plinian eruption began. Its column was seen from Misenum rising into the stratosphere, with its upper parts branching outwards like a pine (Pinus pinea). The upward self-sustaining thrust of gas and fragments soon reached a height of 27 km, while the upper winds winnowed out the ash and pumice and rained them down southeastwards beyond Stabiae. Pompeii was situated in the zone of maximum accumulation, and throughout the next seven hours the city was covered by about 1.40m of white ash and pumice that caused roofs to collapse under its weight. Probably by the evening most of the Pompeiians had panicked, fled, and saved their lives. Meanwhile, pumice was falling so heavily in the afternoon that Pliny the Elder could not land near Rectina's house and was forced to sail to Stabiae and death.
From about 20.00 on 24 August, grey, coarser fragments were erupted in a column that rose to a height of 33 km as the eruption reached its climax and covered a wide area southeast of Vesuvius. However, the western areas around Misenum remained unaffected on 24 August and Herculaneum, much closer to Vesuvius, had been spared all but showers of fine ash. But not for long.
At 01.00 on 25 August came the major change in the eruption, when a series of lethal nuees ardentes began to form as the lower column collapsed from time to time, crumbling like a pillar of fire.
The first nuee ardente, at 01.00, was tunnelled westwards at a speed of at least 100km an hour and reached Herculaneum in less than 4 minutes. Its remaining inhabitants had time only to flee to the shore, where they died choking in the hot swirling toxic cloud that engulfed the town. Hundreds of victims were discovered on the coast in excavations in 1982 and many more may be unearthed as they proceed. As less than a dozen victims had previously been discovered, it was assumed that the people of Herculaneum had been able to flee to safety, and thus that the town must have been among the last casualties of the eruption. Herculaneum, in fact, seems to have been the first major victim of Vesuvius in AD 79.
Meanwhile, as the grey pumice continued to fall over Pompeii, a second nuee ardente at about 02.00 completed the burial of Herculaneum. A third nuee ardente at about 06.30 spread as far as the northern walls of Pompeii, and may have mobilized the many hundreds of inhabitants still remaining in the city. A great increase in earth-tremors about that time can only have reinforced their fears. By now, Pompeii was already blanketed by 2.4m of ash, pumice and even larger rock fragments that were still raining down in the stifling pitch darkness. Those that tried to flee stirred up clouds of hot dust as they waded through the fragments choking the streets. The same conditions reigned at Stabiae, where Pliny and his friends were afraid of being trapped in their rooms by the rapidly thickening blanket of pumice as the night progressed.
At
07.30 on 25 August, the vertical impulse of the eruption waned once more, and
the resulting collapse of the column created a fourth nuee ardente which
completely overwhelmed Pompeii and flattened most of its upper storeys. All the
2000 inhabitants remaining in the city suffered a terrible fate. Some were
killed by facing columns or tiles and bricks ripped from the buildings, others
were poisoned by the toxic gases, yet others were baked, but most were
asphyxiated by a mixture of hot ash and mucus that they inhaled with their last
breaths. Many suffocated clutching their most treasured possessions, writhing in
breathless agony, trying to keep the hot ash, but not the stifling air, from
their mouths. A dog died on its lead, gladiators in their irons, a doctor with
his medicine bag, and an athlete with his bottle of oil. Hundreds perished in
the useless shelter of their kitchens, where they were entombed with eggs they
had stored and cakes they had just baked. Two small boys holding hands died
together as they tried in vain to protect themselves beneath a tile.
The Dies Irae was over for the Pompeiians at 07.30, but not for Vesuvius. A fifth and even larger nuee ardente swept again over Pompeii five minutes later and carried on to the outskirts of Stabiae. Earth-tremors reached a frightening pitch throughout the region. About 08.00 on 25 August the sixth and largest nuee ardente swept down as far as Stabiae, where it killed Pliny the Elder as his friends fled southwards with cushions tied over their heads. Another branch of the same nuee ardente surged westwards across the waters of the Bay of Naples and halted within sight of Pliny the Younger and his mother in the panic-stricken crowd on the hills above Misenum. Ash rained down upon them, the ground shook and it seemed as if the last eternal night had fallen upon the world. Some were so afraid of dying that they prayed for death - and they were 32km from Vesuvius!