Pompeii Essay

On August 24th in 79 AD at approximately 1300 a cloud appeared over the Roman city of Pompeii. This was all the warning the residents had before the nearby volcano, Mount Vesuvius, erupted. Huge quantities of scalding hot ash, pumice and lava pebbles were thrown into the sky. This then cascaded down across an extensive area. Pompeii was buried under 14 to 17 feet of ash and pumice, and the nearby seacoast was drastically changed. Herculaneum was buried under more than 60 feet of mud and volcanic material. Some residents of Pompeii later returned to dig out their destroyed homes and salvage their valuables, but many treasures were left and then forgotten. The remains of 2,000 men, women, and children were found at Pompeii. After perishing

Pompeii attracted many people before Mount Vesuvius “froze” the city in time for over a thousand years. In the eighth century BC, Pompeii was for wealthy vacationers who came for the sun and scenery. By the first century AD, Pompeii was for Rome’s most dignified and noble citizens. Pompeii had luxurious houses and paved roads. Daily life included relaxing in the thermal bathhouses which were good for the body and were great social atmospheres. In addition, people spent their days going to the amphitheater to watch gladiator shows and going to the market and town squares. Citizens who lived in Pompeii owned and worked in factories, artisan shops, taverns, cafés and more.

In ancient Pompeii, there were many important establishments in the Forum. It was seen as the primal hub of the town, and due to the busy trading nature, a commercial centre for exchanging foreign goods was a necessity. However in Herculaneum, being a quiet fishing village, the structure of the Forum would have been very different to that of Pompeii.

The appreciation of art: taking in what is in front of oneself by analyzing the many facets that are intricately placed in a sculpture, painting or anything that is to be considered art; within this paper will be explained the three subjects, analysis, content, and function of Volaire’s work on The Eruption of Mount Vesuvius that allow one to have a true appreciation for the arts. It is through these three subjects that one can see how valuable art truly is. Without these subjects all is lost and the woman without a grasp of them is ignorant of a great chunk of the world around her for it is indeed true that art is all around us. The artists that paint, and sculpt, see this natural beauty and replicate it through the many mediums available to them, giving us eternal beauty that can be held onto forever. Volaire has done that with his piece dealing with Mount Vesuvius.

May 18, 1980 was a day that dawned sunny and beautiful. Mt. St. Helens stood out beautifully against the blue sky. The mountain had been rumbling quite a bit the past few days, and geologists were watching it carefully and monitoring vibrations. There had been a series of earthquakes from around March 12, up until present day. Over 170 earthquakes hit that were higher that 2.5 on the Richter scale in that short period of time. The earth shook with an earthquake that hit 5.0 on the Richter scale, at around 8:32 in the morning. That did it. Mount St. Helens blew apart with the force of over 500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb. The lateral blast traveled at over 300 miles an hour, and destroyed 230 square miles of forest in just 3 minutes.

The damage of this explosion was deadly. The eruption cased over 57 deaths. Every single tree in the forest and on the mountain fell down and burned. Ash blew everywhere. Cars on the road got stuck in ash and people could not get out. They suffered and died. During the explosion the top blew off, witched caused 1,300 feet difference.

The blast was preceded by two months of intense activity that included over 10,000 earthquakes, hundreds of small phreatic (steam blasts) , explosions and the north side bulge. A magnitude 5.1 earthquake below the volcano at 8:32 am started the eruption. MSH is still a potentially dangerous and active volcano even though it has been quiet since 1995. In the last 515 years there have been four major eruptions and dozens of lesser eruptions. Two of the eruptions were only two years apart. In 1480, the eruption was about five times larger than the one in May 1980. There have been even larger eruptions during MSH' 50,000 year lifetime. After the May 18, 1980 eruption, there have been five smaller explosive eruptions over a five month period. Since then, there have been 16 dome building eruptions through October 1986 when the new dome in the crater was formed. As the mountain was torn open, the pressure in inside was suddenly relieved. The rock shattered inside the mountain was exploded out the top at speeds over 200 miles per hour. The blast was so strong that it leveled whole forest of fir trees. Geologist call this a "stone wind" since the winds carried the rocks form the blast with them. The rocks gave the winds extra force that let them flatten the trees. 150 square miles of land was leveled. The edges of this area also lost their forested areas from the heat of the blast and the fires it caused. The original blast of the

The first cautionary signs start at 6:12pm ​yesterday evening. At time when a tower of black ​smoke was speckled over the volcano. Suddenly, a wave of remains of burning ash, rocks and gasses ​start to fall down over the North

The first sign of Mt. St. Helen exploding was a landslide starting at the rim of the summit crater. In 15 seconds, the north side of Mt. St. Helen was making its way down the side of the volcano. After the entire north side had collapsed superheated gasses and lava were released in a massive lateral explosion. This abrupt release of pressure created a nuees arfentes, “which is (in a volcanic eruption) a swiftly flowing, dense cloud of hot gases, ashes, and lava fragments.”1. The nuees arfentes wiped everything within 8 miles almost instantly. The shockwave rolled over the forest for 19 more miles forcing almost all of the centuries old trees to fall towards the north. After those 27 miles the trees remained upright but were burnt to death.

As the eruption wore on, it later produced a phase with red hot pyroclastic surges and flows, along with other volcanic material. This was referred to as the “Peléan” phase. These type of eruptions are known for the mentioned pyroclastic flows, along with hot mud surges. (Universe today) This phase was speculated to have begun during the latter part of the eruption, and is largely regarded as the main killer of most of the surrounding inhabitants. (Museum timeline)

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD was a pyroclastic event discussed in greater detail over the course of this essay.

Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano which means its eruptions typically involve explosive eruptions as well as a pyroclastic flow. When the volcano erupted it launched tonnes of molten ash and pumice into the atmosphere which then fell on the towns burying them and the people inside them under about five metres of ash. The pyroclastic flow itself only reached the town of Herculaneum and not Pompeii.

This shift was brought around by Amedeo Maiuri, the recently new chief archaeologist of Pompeii, in 1926. The focus shifted to the time well before the disaster. The original archeology of the site focused specifically on the city as it was when the disaster occurred. Maiuri’s approach is still in use today. As an archeologist at Pompeii explained for National Geographic, "Today we are interested in the development of the city," Ellis explains. "What was there first and how did it get to the point it was when it was destroyed?" This relatively new approach will allow for the discovery of more knowledge about Pompeii and the world’s history prior to 79

The city of Pompeii was a village flocking with visitors and inhabitants alike. This city became more famous after eruption of Mount Vesuvius spewing ashes and mud covering nearby settlements and cities with substances of paste and soil. This is enough to cut off oxygen and the outside environment from ever coming in contact with the bodies, causing natural preservation.

The focus of this research paper is on Mount Vesuvius is two of its most deadly eruptions in 79 A.D. and 1631 that destroyed the ancient cities of Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum forcing the citizens to flee to the Bay of Naples to escape the ash falls and its pyroclastic flows. Both eruptions left the populations