By E. Russell, Science 10 Student

1. Stories from the Past:
The Story of Pompeii
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2. Something bad was about to
happen in the Roman city of
Pompeii. Worse still, hardly
anyone saw it coming.
It was 24th August 79 A.D.
Pompeii was a large and
important Roman city located
at the bottom of Mount Did You
Vesuvius.
Know?
Thousands of people lived in
Pompeii was
Pompeii. Pliny was a poet and a located near
citizen of Pompeii. Being a poet, Naples in
of course he loved writing. On Southern Italy.
the morning of 24th August he Here you can
see the remains
noticed something strange. He
of the city with
would soon have plenty to write the volcano in
about. the background.

3. Pliny had an uncle. Did You
His name was Know?
Pliny the elder. Mount Vesuvius is
Pliny the elder the only volcano on
was a scientist the European
and part of the mainland to have
Roman army. He erupted within the
last hundred
lived a good life.
years.
On this particular day he had just
eaten, and decided to relax and have a
bath. While he was sitting in the bath,
he noticed the ground started to shake.
He got out of the bath and looked out.
To his amazement, he saw huge columns
of smoke coming out of Mount Vesuvius.

4. As he was a scientist, Pliny
the elder wasn’t scared.
Instead he was curious. He
didn’t know that earth tremors
and smoke meant that Mount
Vesuvius was a volcano about to
erupt, the first time for nearly
2,000 years.
“Mmmm,” he said to himself.
“What could this mean? Earth
tremors, smoke from the
mountain… I’ve never seen
anything like it before. I must
find out more…”
Not wanting to miss chance to learn something new, he got
dressed and left his villa. Not realising the danger, Pliny the
elder walked briskly towards the mountain.

5. Meanwhile the young Pliny stayed calm. He
Did You started to write down what he saw.
Know? Pliny’s mum, who was cooking at the time,
started to panic and cry. “What’s going on?”
Volcanoes often she cried. “Why is the ground shaking?” She
spit out ash, gases peered out of the window, and was shocked to
and pumice before
see the black smoke in the sky. She grabbed
the lava erupts.
This is a warning Pliny’s hand. “We must get out of here.
sign of an eruption. Something bad is about to happen.”
By the time they started to flee northwards,
a dense black
cloud of ash had
blotted out the
light, and the
crowds of
screaming
people fled
around Pompeii
in terror.

6. “This way,” screamed Pliny’s mum. “We must escape Pompeii.”
The two of them ran and ran, away from the smoke and chaos.
Wisely, they chose to leave all their possessions behind.
Behind them, people were collapsing, unable to breathe through the
volcanic smoke, or being scolded by the hot ash and pumice that
was falling like rain.
By now, Pliny the elder had
realised the danger. He took
shelter in one of the buildings
of Pompeii.
Hours passed. By now many
had fled. Many had choked to
death. Like Pliny the elder,
some were still sheltering in
Pompeii. They had so far
survived the 3 meters of ash
and pumice that had fallen.

7. By midnight, their luck ran out. The first
river of lava charged down off the
mountain and swept through Pompeii.
The intense heat of the lava burnt
everything in its path. Tragically, everyone
who stayed in Pompeii, including Pliny the
elder, were roasted to death. The waves
of lava crushed the houses, and left the Did You
dead bodies encased in blankets of ash. Know?
By morning, Pompeii and the surrounding
areas were Lava is molten
devastated and rock that is so
completely hot it has
destroyed. Tens melted. It flows
of thousands, like a river.
When it cools, it
maybe more, had
starts to
perished. harden.

8. As they fled as early as
possible, Pliny the younger
and his mother managed to
escape the deadly gas and
heat. Pliny started to write
about the event.
After the eruption, word
soon spread amongst the
Roman empire. Within days
the remains of Pompeii was
crawling with Romans.
Some were trying to help
and clear the destruction,
others were digging tunnels and looting the houses, taking anything
of any value.
Many interesting things were found. Food on the table. The
remains of people at work. It was like life in Pompeii had ended all
of a sudden.

9. To this day, the destruction of Pompeii
remains one of the world’s most
infamous and tragic events. The remains
can be seen today, drawing tourists from
all over the world.
Amazingly, the writings of Pliny the
Did You younger were discovered and are now
Know? preserved.
Pompeii was Thanks to Pliny
‘rediscovered’ in and his writings, we
1748. Since then, have a better
its excavation has understanding of
provided a detailed
what happened on
insight into the life
of a city at the that fateful day.
height of the
Roman Empire.