24th August, 79 AD. 1pm. Everything goes dark as if it was an eclipse. People begin to panic but they are unaware of the fact that Mt. Vesuvius is a volcano. In fact, they don't even know what a volcano is.
The ash, shot into the air at high speed, solidifies and falls onto Pompeii like hail. It takes half an hour for the ash to fall from the darkened sky and hit the streets below. No one knows what these floating stones are. 100 million tons of molten rock in the form of pumice has fallen by late afternoon. Roofs built to support the weight of falling rain collapse, leaving no where to hide. Servants who have families wish to leave their masters, but without their agreement, there is no hope of escape. The pumice absorbs all the moisture in the air, parching the Pompeians' throats and mouths. Many grab their riches and try to run, to flee from the city, hoping to be saved, but many are killed by the dropping rocks. Dead bodies line the main streets and the city entrance is blocked full of people.
Carbon Dioxide and acid, from the volcano, form a poison that burns the people's eyes,tortures and suffocates them, but not every one is killed. Some are saved. Inside Mt. Vesuvius, the magma chamber collapses and the superheated magma streams down the sides of the great volcano and heads straight for Pompeii. The magma flows into Pompeii's streets. Death is instantaneous. The whole city is wiped out.
The first excavations of Pompeii began in the 1600s. During the digging of a canal, Architect Domenico Fontana stumbled upon some unmistakably ancient ruins. Plaster casts of the victims from the volcanic eruption were made and temples, public baths, houses, bakeries, streets, paintings, fullonicas, gladiator helmets, mosaics, stautues, jewllery, ports, theatres and even carbonised loaves of bread were discovered.
