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servations. He had just published his 37- heads with pillows and retreated to the
volume work, “Natural History,” which is beach, where they spent the night.
considered the first ever comprehensive When they woke the next morning it
encyclopedia on nature. In it Pliny listed was as if night had not lifted, so dark was
every phenomenon he could imagine, and the sky. The sea was churning. The air was
described earthquakes as “opposing winds” leaden. The first pyroclastic surges were
interacting and clashing beneath the pouring down Vesuvius’ slopes — waves of
earth's surface, which weirdly intuited the boiling rock and gas that traveled at the
concept of tectonic plates that make up speed of a bullet train and incinerated ev‐
the foundations of seismology today. erything in their
Pliny’s rescue path. These death
mission to Pompeii waves had already
did not go well, as buried the towns of
ash and rock rained Herculaneum and
down on his boats Pompeii. Stabiae
and oarsmen. This was not safe and
volcanic fallout be‐ people were fleeing
gan filling the bay, by any means pos‐
impeding naviga‐ sible.
tion. The helmsman Pliny was 55,
advised turning overweight, and
back but Pliny was asthmatic. The ash
known for his and gas choked his
courage. “Fortune airwaves and his
favors the brave,” breathing became
he said, and directed the boats to put in at labored. Leaning on two slaves, he walked
Stabiae, three miles south of Pompeii. By to the beach to see if there was any
now it was evening. Continuous tremors chance of escape. He had hoped to use the
were shaking buildings, caving in roofs and boats, but the winds were against them.
making homes uninhabitable. The air was Pliny asked for a glass of water, then col‐
thick with ash. lapsed to the ground, never to rise again.
Pliny located a friend in Stabiae, the Three days later, when his body was dis‐
Roman Senator Pomponianus, and ate din‐ covered, he appeared serene, as if he had
ner with the senator and his family while fallen asleep, not convulsed as were other
watching the flaming mountaintop. Pliny bodies that suffocated in the gaseous air
minimized the danger, but as rocks bom‐ or were buried in the lava flows. No one
barded the house the party covered their knows how many people died in the erup‐
tion, but a decent estimate is two thou‐
sand. Many more escaped. Estimates of
Above: An ancient bakery where Pompei‐ Pompeii’s population in 79 A.D. range from
ians waited for their bread to come off the six thousand to thirty thousand.
stone ovens. Pliny’s story is known to us nearly two
Opposite: A view of Vesuvius, which is still thousand years later because his nephew,
a live volcano, from the city of Naples. Pliny the Younger, wrote it all down in let‐
ters to his friend Tacitus, a historian.
When visiting Pompeii today, one gets
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