Eyewitness Account of the Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

In Misenum, 17 year-old Pliny the Younger witnessed the effects of the eruption, along with his mother and uncle. It was only until years that he recorded his harrowing experience.

1777 painting of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius | Source: North Carolina Museum of Art

It began when his uncle noticed strange clouds rising above a mountain in the distance on 24 August, in 79 A.D. He figured he would sail along the coast to get a better look at it, but before he could he received a message from a friend, imploring him to rescue her from the dangers she fears will soon face. His uncle was in command of a fleet at the time, and once he realized the possible threat emerging, ordered his warships to be ready as he now planned to rescue anyone he could. As he neared his destination, the ash fell thicker along the coast, with bits of charred stone dropping from the sky.

This image shows you where Pliny hails, and the areas most affected by the eruption: Pompeii and Herculaneum | Source: Matthew Ferguson Blogs

Once his uncle arrived, he welcomed his friend and rested that evening. Before bed, he incorrectly assumed the fires on Mt. Vesuvius were merely fires of the abandoned homes. Early in the morning, his uncle was roused. Now the ash was rising high, and they would have been trapped inside if they stayed. They tied pillows on their heads and made their way to the shore, in the hope they could flee. However, the sea was still too choppy and were now forced to stay. His uncle eventually collapsed due to suffocation, and his body was found two days following the event.

Pliny and his mother were back at home, unaware of what was occurring. They went about their day as usual, and since tremors were common in their region, they thought nothing of the shocks resonating from Vesuvius. However, they awoke in the middle of the night by violent shaking, so they decided to sit out on their forecourt. Possibly due to shock, Pliny pulled out a volume to read and went on as normal. It was only until a friend of his uncle's came round that they decided to flee once it felt that the buildings would soon crush them from the earthquakes.

This next part I will leave it up to Pliny, as he is the only one that can best illustrate the sights and sounds.

"We also saw the sea sucked away and apparently forced back by the earthquake: at any rate it receded from the shore so that quantities of sea creatures were left stranded on dry sand. On the landward side a fearful black cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of flame, and parted to reveal great tongues of fire, like flashes of lightening magnified in size."

Lightening jutting out from the clouds above Vesuvius | Source: Wikimedia Commons

At this point, his mother insisted he go on without her and to run as fast as he could, since he was quite young and she was now so old. He refused to leave without his mother however and soon they quickened their pace.

"You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, and the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore."

People fleeing the eruption | Source: Pompeii - The Big Bang

Clouds blocking out the light | Source: National Trust

After what may have seemed like an eternity, the thick clouds of smoke faded away and Pliny was finally greeted with daylight again. They returned home and recovered as best they could, with spurts of anxiety as the earth still shook from time to time.

The last part fascinates me the most, and is perhaps due to some shortsightedness. Pliny believed that this event would never be significant for history, and that we the readers will never consider it important to record.

Carey, John. Eyewitness to History. New York: Avon, 1997. Print.