A short list of things you should know about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, 79 AD
-The city was not perfectly preserved in time, as many roofs collapsed, and buildings suffered immeasurable damage, and what was able to be looted after the eruption was looted
-There was no lava, but in Pompeii and Herculaneum it rained pumice and ash from the huge cloud of molten rock that had erupted into the sky
-- This is called a Plinian eruption, in honor of Pliny the Younger, who first described it
-Pliny the Elder launched a rescue mission, only to die in Stabiae of complications due to asthma
-- Pliny the Elder was very fat, and not in peak physical condition
-- His nephew (and adoptive son) Pliny the Younger, didn't go with his uncle because he was busy doing his Latin homework
-In one of the pyroclastic flows, which headed towards Herculaneum, mostly, avoiding Pompeii, the heat was so intense that people's flesh was instantly turned to charcoal, and their brains boiled in their skulls
-- We know this because the skulls have scorch marks along the sutures where the brains boiled out
-Another pyroclastic flow (which resulted when the cloud of hot ash and molten rock collapsed on itself) brought a wave of toxic gas through Pompeii
-- Soon afterward, another flow brought hot ash and toxic gas which killed everyone who remained in the city (we have molds of dogs who were chained up writhing in pain from inhaling the toxic gases)
-The final flow actually reached across the bay to Misenum, where Pliny the Younger and his mother were, and where Pliny the Elder had sailed from. They had remained, waiting for Pliny the Elder, but fled when they saw the eruption heading their way.
-There was no lava, but in Pompeii and Herculaneum it rained pumice and ash from the huge cloud of molten rock that had erupted into the sky
-- This is called a Plinian eruption, in honor of Pliny the Younger, who first described it
-Pliny the Elder launched a rescue mission, only to die in Stabiae of complications due to asthma
-- Pliny the Elder was very fat, and not in peak physical condition
-- His nephew (and adoptive son) Pliny the Younger, didn't go with his uncle because he was busy doing his Latin homework
-In one of the pyroclastic flows, which headed towards Herculaneum, mostly, avoiding Pompeii, the heat was so intense that people's flesh was instantly turned to charcoal, and their brains boiled in their skulls
-- We know this because the skulls have scorch marks along the sutures where the brains boiled out
-Another pyroclastic flow (which resulted when the cloud of hot ash and molten rock collapsed on itself) brought a wave of toxic gas through Pompeii
-- Soon afterward, another flow brought hot ash and toxic gas which killed everyone who remained in the city (we have molds of dogs who were chained up writhing in pain from inhaling the toxic gases)
-The final flow actually reached across the bay to Misenum, where Pliny the Younger and his mother were, and where Pliny the Elder had sailed from. They had remained, waiting for Pliny the Elder, but fled when they saw the eruption heading their way.