Today in History: Mount Vesuvius erupts, killing 15,000

You have probably heard of Pompeii and how the city was destroyed at a very rapid pace when a big volcanic eruption occurred - well, Mount Vesuvius was the culprit.

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The year was 79 AD and there must be some really clever scientists out there that can pinpoint the exact day that the eruption actually happened because they seem to be extremely confident it was August 24th. One would assume some sort of laser technology or carbon dating magic was performed, but it was actually the writings of first-hand witnesses that were discovered that gave us this date.

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_{Dude couldn't even write English legibly... i don't know if he can be trusted :P}

There is some controversy about the date that has sprung up in the past year when an inscription was found in the ruins that has a date from nearly 2 months later than the supposed day where everything got turned to ash.

While there have been plenty of devastating volcanic eruptions throughout time, Pompeii is likely the most famous because of the fact that Pompeii was a very modern city (at the time) and also because many of the bodies were so perfectly preserved by the hot ash "casts" that sealed the citizens in their final moments. The entire city was buried under 4 to 6 meters of hot ash at a very rapid pace. Although it was previously believed that the inhabitants suffocated from breathing ash, a new study in 2010 suggests that the people were actually instantly cooked by temps reaching 300 degrees (C) that extended 6 miles from the main volcanic vent.

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_{morbid for sure, but really interesting and rare}

Because of the burial of the city, Pompeii is one of the best preserved ancient cities on the planet and millions of people flock to the site every year to witness it.

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Vesuvius began a period of activity again around the 1600's and probably the 2nd most famous eruption happened during World War 2, where the invading Allied forces had planes destroyed by flying rocks and a nearby Air Force base had to be evacuated.

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A fllm that I have not watched starring Jon Snow was released in 2014 and it had a massive budget. Perhaps it is worth watching. I dunno. If someone out there has seen it maybe give me a heads up so i don't have to waste 90 minutes of my life on it.