Please read the following from Pliny the Younger’s account of the death of his Uncle Pliny the Elder.
Both me were historians and the time Mount Vesuvius exploded.
After reading the document summarize 15 of the main points in a list. Be sure your main points come
from the writing of Pliny the Younger only.
Mount Vesuvius
Today two million people live in the immediate vicinity of Mount Vesuvius. This mountain has erupted
more than 50 times since the eruption in 79 A.D., when it buried Pompeii and its sister city,
Herculaneum. After Pompeii was buried and lost to history, the volcano continued to erupt every 100
years until about 1037 A.D., when it entered a 600-year period of quiescence. In 1631, the volcano killed
an additional 4000 unsuspecting inhabitants. It was during the restoration after this eruption that
workers discovered the ruins of Pompeii, buried and forgotten for nearly 1600 years. It would take
another 300 years for the excavations to reveal the story of Pompeii and Herculaneum. For excellent
coverage of Pompeii, Vesuvius, and the continuing narrative of tragic human involvement with nature,
readers may want to locate a copy of Planet Earth: Volcano by Time-Life Books.
Pliny the Younger The following excerpts are from an account written by Pliny the Younger to the
Roman historian Tactitus shortly after the 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvius eruption. While it is common for us
to think of this date as ancient, students may learn a great deal about volcanoes from this first-person
account. In terms of the age of a volcano, Pliny the Younger's writings are really very recent. He wrote to
record the events surrounding the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder.
On August 24 of 79 A.D., the area around Mount Vesuvius shook with a huge earthquake. The
mountain's top split open and a monstrous cloud raced upward. The inhabitants of Pompeii were
showered with ash, stones, and pumice. A river of mud was beginning to bury the city of Herculaneum.
The uncle of Pliny the Younger, known as Pliny the Elder, was a commander of a fleet of war ships at
Misenum (see map). He decided to use his ships to rescue people close to the volcano. The nephew
describes the huge cloud towering over the area (Radice, 1969):
. . . its general appearance can best be expressed as being like a pine rather
than any other tree, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split
off into branches, I imagine because it was thrust upwards by the first blast and
then left unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its
own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed. Sometimes it looked
white, sometimes blotched and dirty, according to the amount of soil and ashes
it carried with it. (p. 427)
Pliny the Elder's ship approached the shore near Pompeii.
Ashes were already falling, hotter and thicker as the ships drew near, followed by bits of
pumice and blackened stones, charred and cracked by the flames . . . Meanwhile on
Mount Vesuvius broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points, their
bright glare emphasized by the darkness of night. (pp. 429, 431)
But they could not land because the shore was blocked by volcanic debris, so they sailed south and
landed at Stabiae. Hoping to quiet the frightened people, the uncle asked to be carried to the bath
house. Afterward he lay down and ate. Next, hoping to quiet the inhabitants, he went to bed. The
volcano did not do likewise, however.
By this time the courtyard giving access to his room was full of ashes mixed
with pumice-stones, so that its level had risen, and if he had stayed in the room
any longer he would never had got out. . . . They debated whether to stay
indoors or take their chance in the open, for the buildings were now shaking with
violent shocks, and seemed to be swaying to and fro as if they were torn from
their foundations. Outside on the other hand, there was the danger of falling
pumice-stones, even though these were light and porous. . . . As a protection
against falling objects they put pillows on their heads tied down with cloths. (pp.
431, 433)
Finally, the uncle decided to leave. The level of ash and pumice-stone had risen to the point that a hasty
departure seemed the best option.
. . . the flames and smell of sulphur which gave warning of the approaching
fire drove the others to take flight and roused him to stand up . . . then [he]
suddenly collapsed, I imagine because the dense fumes choked his breathing by
blocking his windpipe which was constitutionally weak and narrow and often
inflamed . . . his body was found intact and uninjured, still fully clothed and
looking more like sleep than death. (p. 433)
Later, Pliny the Younger and his mother leave Misenam to escape from the approaching volcanic
conflagration. They travel across country to avoid being trampled by the crowds of people on the road.
We also saw the sea sucked away and apparently forced back by the
earthquake: at any rate it receded from the shore so that quantities of sea
creatures were left stranded on dry sand. On the landward side a fearful black
cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of flame, and parted to reveal
great tongues of fire, like flashes of lightning magnified in size. . . . We had
scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or
cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a closed room. You could
hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men;
some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to
recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their
relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying.
(pp. 443, 445)
In 79 A.D. Pompeii had been preserved by the ash that had fallen. A bakery oven contained loaves of
bread nearly 2000 years old! Victims of Vesuvius were immortalized when their decomposed bodies left
cavities in the hardened ash. The cavities were filled with plaster to recreate victims much as they
looked at the time of their death.
Exploring the Environment, Volcanoes. “Teacher’ Page.” 2004. September 23, 2011.
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/volcanoes/vmtvesuvius.html