The end of Pompeii and Herculaneum (August 24-25, 79 AD) Part 3 of 3

When the eruption became more violent, the earthquakes became stronger than what was written by Pliny Junior: “But this night the shaking became much stronger, people thought it was a coup, and not just a thrill. My mother rushed into my room, and I got up. I said that she should calm down, and I would wake her up (if need be). We sat on a small terrace between the house and the sea. I sent for Tom Libya (Titius Livius (59 BC))), I read and even took notes from the place where I stopped, as if it was a moment of free time, I hardly know, call him courage or recklessness (i was then seventeen) my uncle, who recently arrived from Spain. When he sees that my mother and I are sitting, and I even read a book, he scolds her for her calm and for my anxiety. But I continued with my books. " [45]

Nevertheless, despite the terror in Pompeii and Stabiae, Herculaneum remains relatively intact. The city, a "leeward" volcano, was covered only with a light layer of ash - 8 inches compared with 12 feet that covered Pompeii. [46] However, soon everything was different, since the old day was over, and a new day came. At about 11:30 pm the situation began to change: “when lower levels [Vesuvius'] underground gas chamber rich in gas, volatile material that withstood the eruption of a cloud " [47] reached the point of exhaustion, which occurred about an hour and a half later.

By midnight, the volcanic cloud "reached almost 19 miles into the sky, [as the volcano was ejecting 150,000 tons of lapilli and ash per second] [48] and lava flows [began to pour down] Vesuvius [49] [as magma violently tore rocks away from the side of the vent, creating a wide 'caldera'], " [50] "Then there was a smell of sulfur announcing the flame ..." [51] “It was not the return of the day, but a sign that the fire was approaching. The fire really stopped at some distance, but darkness and ashes reappeared, their great weight. We get up and look at the ashes again, again, otherwise we would have been covered with it and crushed by the weight. I can boast that not a single moan escaped me in such dangers, not a vague word, but I believed that I was dying with the world, and the world with me, which was a great consolation for death. ” [52] Back where Pliny the Elder: "... the flames themselves, [while] sending others to fly ... [revived] him. Backed up by two little slaves, he got up and collapsed right there. As I understand it, his breathing was hampered by the dusty air, and his insides, which were never strong and often blocked or upset, simply closed, wrote Pliny the Younger. [53]

Lapilli and ash spilled at about 6 inches per hour. Everywhere the southeast of the volcano was covered with volcanic debris caused by strong north-westerly winds. Roofs collapsed, killing people hiding in the room. Others running through the streets are "stuck in the rocks, [tephra]falling tiles [and slates] or collapsing masonry " [54] while others, standing on the shores of the Gulf of Naples, regretfully tried to defend themselves with their hands, raincoats and other shields, as "a group of winners ... abandoned their ... food of fish and eggs ... some of them were stuck when the portico fell on them, while most of the others were stifling in the building where they bought shelter. ” [55] Some shouted in horror as they tried to escape from the deadly storm of falling tephra, stones and ashes, while the wounded man hurt. When all hope was lost, the mother made a feeble attempt to protect her child with her body. It was useless.

An hour later, at 1:00 am on August 25, the summit of Vesuvius was “blown away”, [56] as a result of a strong explosion. "Volcanic column" quickly collapsed "in an avalanche of boiling gases, pumice and rocks" [57] sending a deadly 900-foot pyrric cloud (nuée ardente) to Herculaneum, the first of six jumps that hit the city, killing all the remaining inhabitants, almost all living until this moment. It killed adults, some of whom were still squeezing money, jewels and other valuables, along with children and babies, as well as gladiators who had been training in the amphitheater for a second. About 80 people gathered in a dozen beach camps and treasures, and about 300 hid under the vaulted arches of the city’s “public bath with a view of the sea”, [58] - children, tightly clutching their parents, and brothers and sisters cling tightly to each other, fearing molten lava and boiling mud, which poured out from Vesuvius.

Elsewhere on the beach near Herculaneum, Luperkus Augusti, a powerful slave, grabbed a bronze seal with his name and status as he stood among many people, including a Roman soldier, wearing armor, a young man whose arm was wrapped around his girlfriend to reassure her, aristocratic women wearing their jewels, people lying on the sand to get a few seconds of sleep, and small groups of people grouped in discussions when they watched “hot mud torrents” [that] erupted from the mountains. Vesuvius. " [59] All were "killed instantly by a heatstroke," without time, to "show ... a self-defense reaction or complaints of agony" [or] any reaction "to their impending death. [60] Some of them were sent to a matted pile of bodies from the strength of the pyrrh cloud. "Even the people who suffered from direct exposure," died. [61] Within a few seconds, a pyroclastic flow of glowing lava, rock and ash was covered in the resort town.

Additional jumps continued from 1:00 to 6:00, and the second pyrrh cloud struck Herculaneum at 2 am and the third at 5:30 am, after deviating from the walls built to protect Pompeii from military attack. An hour later, the little Pyrrhic cloud reached Pompeii, "choking many who" breathed [its] hot gas and incandescent lamp. " [62] gnash up when the stones are filled [the area] Before succumbing ... - & # 39; gasping when he reached the end of his leash " [63] and another dog that must have curled up and fell into eternal sleep with a slight sign of suffering. To the north of Pompeii, a slave who was obstructed by a chain pressed to his leg, and another person who allegedly tried to help, also died, to overcome the "ashes and toxic gases of the volcano" as they advanced along the dirt Road. [64] This was followed by several large earthquakes. By this time "o [8 feet] hot ash lie in [town's] streets [65] This was the beginning of the deadliest phase of the volcano, since "heavier magma from the depth reached the surface." [66]

When Vesuvius entered his most deadly phase, a group of 13 Pompeii, who were immersed in a small portico that had been turned into a wine cellar for the last 12 hours, decided to try to escape when they noticed that it was difficult to breathe. Initially, among them was a pregnant woman and a young boy, decided to drive out an eruption in this Asylum nicknamed “The House of the Fugitives”. [67] While a rich man bought a carefully packed wicker basket of silverware, others bought items for survival - amphoras (two-handed jugs) of water, ceramic lamps and walnuts.

As they climbed the stairs, walking in the same file, the group ran into an endless wall of ash. Upon learning that their shelter was completely buried, they were faced with two options: to return to the wine cellar and slowly suffocate or get a chance to get fresh air. The task was impossible. When they held their breath and struggled to climb the stairs, they collapsed "one by one", [68] and choked in an opaque endless wall of volcanic ash. Of the group, only one person approached the roof - but he also collapsed and died before reaching the fresh air.

Around this time, people from Misenum decided to flee. When the earth became more brutal, everyone decided to leave, as recorded by the teenage witness: “Now the day begins with an indecisive and almost lazy dawn. All around us shocked buildings. We are open, but this is only a small area, and we, of course, are afraid that we will crash. We finally decided to leave the city, we were confronted by a dazed crowd, preferring our plan to our own (this is what falls into wisdom in a panic). Their numbers are so large that they slow down our departure and then sweep us. We stopped as soon as we left the buildings behind us. ” [69]

Then, at 7:30 am, a huge intense pyroclastic surge ranged from 750 ° F-1475 ° F, blown through the walls of Pompeii "like a red-hot sandstorm ... [that swept away] nine foot thickness of pumice, which previously fell. " [70] He jumped up in Pompeii, immediately extinguishing the rest of his life, among whom was a man who came to terms with his fate and “seemed to be sleeping, his head was peacefully resting on his forearm [with] his eyes are closed [others with 'agonized facial expressions'], [71] [the high-class prostitute]beggar [who] lay beside the bag in which he collected alms; on his feet were a pair of genuinely elegant sandals, no doubt a gift from some wealthy benefactor, a servant ... since he [tried to lead] mother and her two sons to safety; in his hand was a bag in which he was saved from the wreckage of a house, [an] individual [who] considered himself guilty, climbing a tree ... with cut branches, to which he clung, still firmly squeezed between his legs, and a "determined man" [who] tried to break free; he used an ax to make his way through [a] so for his fate, when he approached the impenetrable barrier of lava ", [72] and a family of 12 people who sat in the darkness of their house, hearing "the groans of the dying and the screams of terrible noises from the mountain, [and] the sound of collapsed roofs "after their initial attempt to escape through the falling lapilli failed. [73] It was quickly followed by a “pyroclastic flow of gas, ash and stone,” which took about 6 minutes to reach the city from the bay of Vesuvius. crater when he “rolled around hugging the earth”. "The walls were thrown down, the columns overthrown, [tops of houses were sheared off], tiles removed ... [through] streets [and] ... wooden lumber, doors and shutters [were carbonized], " [74] This surge was accompanied by residual splashes every other day, which also left “Stabiae and Oplontis buried in ash and pumice”. [75] By 8:00 am, Herculaneum and Pompey lay in deadly silence. Herculaneum was buried under 65 feet of pyroclastic deposits, Stabiae under 9-20 feet of ash and pumice, and Pompeii under 9 feet of pumice, another 6-10 feet of pyroclastic deposits and about 21 feet of ash.

“... he buried two cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii, the last place, while its population was in the theater. Indeed, the amount of dust taken together was so great that some of them reached Africa, Syria, and Egypt, and he also reached Rome, filling the air above his head and darkening the sun. There, too, there was no fear that lasted for several days, because people did not know and could not imagine what had happened, but, like those at hand, believed that the whole world was turned upside down, that the sun disappears on the earth and that the earth rises to the sky, "wrote Dio Cassius, [76] while the Roman poet Marcus Valerius Martialis (circa 40 AD, 104) wrote in the epigram 4:44 in 91 AD. “Watch Vesuvius. Recently, it was covered with a green tinge of grapevine, and the famous grape wet, did not drown the vats here. Bacchus loved the shoulders of this mountain more than the hills of Nysa [his birthplace], satires usually joined their dances. Here was the charm of Venus, more pleasant than Lacedaemon, here was the place where Hercules left his name. All this is buried by the flame and sorrow of the ashes. Even the gods regret that their powers extend to this. " [77]

In addition, "when the discharge of magma cracked and destroyed rocks, [the volcano's] empty chambers ... shocks ran through the bay. The sea was pulled back and thrown onto beaches in seismic [tsunamis], " [78] "Strange things" began to occur, writes Pliny the Younger. “We had a lot of strange things, and we were very scared. The carts we ordered moved in opposite directions, although the land was completely flat and they did not stay in place even when their wheels were blocked by stones. Moreover, it seemed as if the sea was being sucked back, as if it was being repelled by the earth’s shock. Of course, the coastline came out, and many sea creatures stayed on dry sand. Behind us was a terrible dark clouds, rents from lightning, twisted and abandoned, opening to reveal the huge figures of the flame. They looked like lightning, but more. At this point, a Spanish friend urged us: “If your brother and uncle is alive, he wants you to be safe. If he died, he wanted you to survive him. So why don't you want to run? "We replied that we would not look at our own security until we talked about it. longer, he took off the danger of the pace of advertising. Not long after that, the cloud stretched to the ground and covered the sea. He girded Capri and made him disappear, he hid Cape Misen. Then my mother began to beg and urge me to run, although I can say that the young man can do it, that she, burdened with years and body, will die happy if she escapes being the cause of my death. I replied that I would not be saved without her, and then I took her hand and made her go a little faster. She obeyed with difficulty and blamed herself for detaining me.

Now the dust, though thin. I look back: a dense cloud looms behind us, following us like a flood scattered throughout the earth. Let's turn aside until we can still see that we are not knocked out of the street and crushed by the crowd of our companions. We barely sat down when darkness fell, which did not look like a moonless or overcast night, but more like black from closed and unlit rooms. You could hear women crying, children crying, men screaming. Some called for parents, others for children or spouses; they could only recognize them with their voices. Some mourned their own fate, others - their loved ones. Some were afraid of death, they prayed for death. Many raised their hands to the gods and even more believed that there were no more gods and that this was the last endless night for the world. And we were not without people who increased the real danger with fictitious horrors. Some have declared that one or the other part of the Myzen has collapsed or burned; but they found believers. " [79]

Subsequently, when the eruption was over, and the dark volcanic cloud began to disperse at about 1:00 pm, Pliny the Younger wrote: “Finally, the cloud thinned and fell no more than smoke or fog. Soon there was real daylight. the sun was even shining, although with the radiant glow it had after the eclipse. The gaze that met our still frightened eyes was a changed world buried in ashes like snow. We returned to Mizenam and took care of our bodily needs, but spent the night fearing between hope and fear. The fear was stronger because the earth was still trembling, and many people who went mad were mocking the evil that had happened to them, and others with horrific predictions. We still refused to go until we heard the news of my uncle, although we sensed danger and expected more. ” [80] Two days later they had the answer: “When the day came [with ash and pumice covering 186 sq. miles of land around the volcano, having transformed the entire Sarnus Valley] ... his body was found intact, unharmed, in the clothes he was wearing. He looked more sleep than dead. " [81] like all of Pompeii and Herculaneum, when they were discovered almost 1,700 years later.

“I sing these words to you ... on the Kumaya shore, where Vesuvius sends out a broken anger, raising fire, magnificent Etna. In the next generation, when will the crop reappear, when this wasteland will turn green, will people assume that cities lie lower? ", Said Publius State in Book IV, chapter IV of Silva. [82] According to the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-AD 180), Pompey and Herculaneum were “absolutely dead” [83] abandoned and forgotten. However, artifacts, such as paintings, frescoes and cavities where the victims were occupied and stopped in the ashes, remained intact, proving that these cities were once full of breath and life.

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[45] Film letter 6.20. April 30, 2006 http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/02.html

[46] Joan Yanig. The eruption of Vesuvius. January 2004. April 30, 2006 http://www.dl.ket.org/latin3/historia/places/vesuvius/eruptions.htm

[47] Bonnie S. Lawrence, Project Editor. Restless Earth. (Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 1997), p. 192.

[48] 79 - Vesuvius explodes. May 5, 2006. Http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa/issues/cwa4/pompeii/eruption.htm

[49] Rosella lorenzi. Long, deadly silence. May 2, 2006 http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/history/history.html [50] 79 - Vesuvius explodes. May 5, 2006. Http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa/issues/cwa4/pompeii/eruption.htm

[51] Film writing 6.16. April 30, 2006 http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/01.html

[52] Film letter 6.20. April 30, 2006 http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/02.html

[53] Film writing 6.16. April 30, 2006 http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/01.html

[54] 79 - Vesuvius explodes. May 5, 2006. Http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa/issues/cwa4/pompeii/eruption.htm

[55] Tony Allan. Secrets of the ancient dead. (London: Duncan Baird Publishers, 2004), p. 92

[56] Mount Vesuvius. Encarta.com. 2006. May 2, 2006 http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564987/Vesuvius.html

[57] Joan Yanig. The eruption of Vesuvius. January 2004. April 30, 2006 http://www.dl.ket.org/latin3/historia/places/vesuvius/eruptions.htm

[58] Nigel Cothorn. 100 catastrophic disasters. (New York: Barnes & Noble Publishing, Inc., 2003). 152.

[59] Rosella lorenzi. Long, deadly silence. May 2, 2006 http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/history/history.html

[60] Rosella lorenzi. Long, deadly silence. May 2, 2006 http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/history/history.html

[61] Helen Briggs. Vesuvius died instantly. BBC.com. April 11, 2001. May 2, 2006. Http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1272171.stm

[62] 79 - Vesuvius explodes. May 5, 2006. Http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa/issues/cwa4/pompeii/eruption.htm

[63] Vesuvius, Italy. 5 мая 2006 года. [http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_vesuvius.html]

[64] Джейсон Урбанус. Больше жертв Везувия. Newsbriefs March / April 2003. 5 мая 2006 г. http://www.archaeology.org/0303/newsbriefs/pompeii.html

[65] http://www.volcanolive.com/vesuvius2.html

[66] 79 - Везувий взрывается. 5 мая 2006 года. Http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa/issues/cwa4/pompeii/eruption.htm

[67] Г-н Седивы. Историческая справка: Древний город Помпеи. Highlands Ranch High School (Highlands Ranch, Colorado) 8 мая 2006 г. http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/pompeii.html

[68] Regio I Сад Беглецов. 8 мая 2006 года. Http://www.pompeisepolta.com/english/fuggiaschi.htm

[69] Пленочное письмо 6.20. 30 апреля 2006 г. http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/02.html

[70] Бонни С. Лоуренс, редактор проекта. Беспокойная Земля. (Вашингтон, округ Колумбия: Национальное географическое общество, 1997), с. 192.

[71] Бонни С. Лоуренс, редактор проекта. Беспокойная Земля. (Вашингтон, округ Колумбия: Национальное географическое общество, 1997), с. 192.

[72] Тони Аллан. Секреты древних мертвецов. (Лондон: Duncan Baird Publishers, 2004), p. 92.

[73] Розелла Лоренци. Длинная, смертельная тишина. 2 мая 2006 г. http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/history/history.html

[74] 79 - Везувий взрывается. 5 мая 2006 года. Http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa/issues/cwa4/pompeii/eruption.htm

[75] Джоан Яниге. Извержение Везувия. Январь 2004. 30 апреля 2006 г. http://www.dl.ket.org/latin3/historia/places/vesuvius/eruptions.htm

[76] Дио Кассий. Извержение Везувия, погребенное Помпеем, «Римский исторический эпизод книги LXVI» (AD 203) 2 мая 2006 года. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/66]*. HTML

[77] Маркус Валерий Мартиалис. Эпиграмма 4: 44. AD 91. 4 мая 2006 г. http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/04.html

[78] 79 - Везувий взрывается. 5 мая 2006 года. Http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa/issues/cwa4/pompeii/eruption.htm

[79] Пленочное письмо 6.20. 30 апреля 2006 г. http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/02.html

[80] Пленочное письмо 6.20. 30 апреля 2006 г. http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/02.html

[81] Пленочное письмо 6.16. 30 апреля 2006 г. http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/01.html

[82] Публий Папиний Статий. Сильваэ, Книга IV Глава IV «Эпистула и Витория Маркеллум». 1 мая 2006 года. Http://www.amherst.edu/~classics/DamonFiles/classics36/ancsrc/10.html

[83] Маркус Аврелий. Медитации. AD 167. 4 мая 2006 г. http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/aurelius.html