Pompeii - Mount Vesuvius
Uploaded by anonluckyseven on Nov 03, 2011
We have arrived in Pompeii and I am surprised to see that the city is filled with people, despite the threat of a volcano that erupted just 2000 years ago. The city has approximately 3.5 million people now, in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius. Now, we’re going to investigate a room that’s just been uncovered from the eruption!
We’re in the room now. As far as I can see, there were four people present in the room on the day of the eruption, and there are also a few remains: someone’s bracelet, an old broken jug, and some money from that time. The pyroclastic surge that smothered the people preserved their bodies, so it is clear how they died. The room is covered in pumice stones, which fell from the sky 2000 years ago. A huge cloud of smoke and ash rose 15km into the sky, and then it cooled and solidified, and fell like rain upon the people. The roofs weren’t very stable, and they were only able to withstand rain, so the weight of pumice on the roof brought them crashing down. Some houses experienced that fate. Others were choked by the pumice, because pumice soaks up moisture in the air, therefore parching the throat. Some people were hit by the pumice and died as well.
In this room, a man is crouched down on the floor, and looks like he was crying into his hands, or maybe he was praying to the gods. At the time many people did the same, but some believed that there were no gods left, or the gods decided to kill them all. This man was probably doing so, until the pumice soaked up all the moisture and left him suffocating to death.
There is also a woman and a child, buried beneath the pumice. It took us a while to brush the pumice off. They are both lying face-down on the floor, with the child curled up near the woman. Some of us thought that the child was the woman’s, but according to facts, at the time slaves were supposed to protect their masters and their belongings, and also their children. We found the bracelet attached to the woman’s arm, and found...