Vesuvius

[caldrail]

I read with interest an article in National Geographic (September 2007) which desribed the history of of Vesuvius and its potential for a new disaster to come. Apparently a major eruption, bigger than AD79, took place in 1780BC. There was a minor eruption in 1944, and fears are mounting that the volcano is building up for another display of natural violence.

 

What interests me particularly is the shape of the mountain. Clearly, a large part of the mountain top is simply not there any more. Roman art in Pompeii shows a wooded mountain with a pronounced peak - not any more. In AD79 a huge amount of rock was lifted skyward in the same way that we saw in the eruption of Mt St Helens. It really is awe inspiring when you grasp just how much of that mountain blew up.

 

Regarding Spartacus, he is said to have hidden in the crater following his escape from Capua. Did he? He certainly camped on the mountain but there was more of it back then, and perhaps his campsite no longer exists? It is true the volcano appeared inactive in those times and I read somewhere that the only previous eruption was recorded as seven hundred years before Spartacus's time.

 

It must be said the romans were warned. There was an earthquake ten years before that ruined the city, and even at the time of the eruption work had not finished to rebuild the place.

[Vibius Tiberius Costa]

Are their any good paintings/mosaics etc. of the Roman era Vesuvius. Because that would be great.

 

Here is a painting of the eruption around mid to late 1700s Best Painting Ever IMHO.

 

And here is recent one:

 

I can notice a change even here, can anyone else? even if the painting can't be deemed completely accurate a brief search of versuvius shows that it has majorly changed and that what aldrail is saying is true. I have also heard abot spartacus staying in their, i think it would have been a bit dangerous and unnecesary but history says it happened is suppose.

 

Cool topic starter Caldrail. =)

 

vtc

[Flavia Gemina]

Here's a wonderful fresco from Pompeii of Mt Vesuvius before it erupted. Presumably the artist merely looked out his 'window' tp paint it!

[caldrail]

Excellent. Thats exactly the roman depiction I was thinking of.

[Titus Maccius Plautus]

It must be said the romans were warned. There was an earthquake ten years before that ruined the city, and even at the time of the eruption work had not finished to rebuild the place.

 

Yup! And after that one small earthquakes were part of everyday life before the actual eruption.. Talk about serious warning... Yieks!

[Klingan]

It must be said the romans were warned. There was an earthquake ten years before that ruined the city, and even at the time of the eruption work had not finished to rebuild the place.

 

Actually I don't think any warning in the world would have gone through to them. Actually they didn't even had a word for volcano. To be honest I'm quite surprised of that since they surly must have encountered some like Etna.

[Pertinax]

Excellent. Thats exactly the roman depiction I was thinking of.

Exuberantly fertile (clad in vineyards) and rustic. Regrettably with a solidifed magma plug firmly emplaced.

[Maladict]

I'm not sure the Romans would have made the connection between earthquakes and volcanoes.

Besides, the entire region is very tectonically active, the area west of Naples even more so than Vesuvius in the east. THe inhabitants were probably used to it, and didn't expect anything like the violence of AD79

[caldrail]

Excellent. Thats exactly the roman depiction I was thinking of.

Exuberantly fertile (clad in vineyards) and rustic. Regrettably with a solidifed magma plug firmly emplaced.

 

Mountains grow for two reasons. One is that tectonic movement is compressing two areas together so like putty the rock is squeezed upward. Thats the cause of the himalayas for instance, as India collided with asia in prehistory, and releatively recently too. Thats a slow process. A much quicker one is a by-product of this tectonic movement, as volcanic pressure pushes up the mountain from underneath. Don't laugh, it happens. The same phenomnenon was observed at Mount St Helens shortly before it blew.

 

Yes, the image of Vesuvius painted at Pompeii is romaticised to some degree. Nonetheless, the picture shows a pronounced peak. Now as to whether this is down to the angle of view or not I can't say, but looking at modern photographs of the mountain this sort of peak simply isn't there now. Was Vesuvius something like a third higher than today? It looks that way.

 

I'm not sure the Romans would have made the connection between earthquakes and volcanoes.

Besides, the entire region is very tectonically active, the area west of Naples even more so than Vesuvius in the east. THe inhabitants were probably used to it, and didn't expect anything like the violence of AD79

No, they didn't, not being so erudite about the world around them. This is something we notice about humans, that they soon get used to the dangers of living close to volcanoes. The soil is often fertile and in survival terms, although a risky investment, its usually considered worth it. For superstitious romans, the volcano is merely an act of the gods. In fact, in AD79, the romans were unaware that Vesuvius was an active volcano at all.

Edited September 7, 2007 by caldrail

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve! Caldrail is right, they weren't aware the Vesuvius was a volcano, as the last previous eruption (Avellino) was probably circa 1660 BC.

 

Exactly for that, Maladictum is also right; any kind of tectonic activity wouldn't be enough to warm you if you didn't already know you're dealing with a volcano, even today.

 

Precisely this unexpectedness was the trigger of Pliny Major's eventually fatal curiousness.

 

Two weeks ago, ante diem IX kalendas september, was the MCMXXVIII anniversary of the Plinian eruption.

[Maladict]

Salve! Caldrail is right, they weren't aware the Vesuvius was a volcano, as the last previous eruption (Avellino) was probably circa 1660 BC.

 

I believe there was an eruption, or at least major activity, in the third or second century BC, but I could be wrong.

 

 

 

edit:

Found it.

 

Start Date: 217 BC Stop Date: 216 BC

 

Dating Technique: Historical Records

 

Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI): 3?

 

Area of Activity: (AP6 tephra layer)

 

 

Eruptive Characteristics:

Central vent eruption

Explosive eruption

Mudflow(s) (lahars)

Edited September 7, 2007 by Maladict

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve! Caldrail is right, they weren't aware the Vesuvius was a volcano, as the last previous eruption (Avellino) was probably circa 1660 BC.

 

I believe there was an eruption, or at least major activity, in the third or second century BC, but I could be wrong.

 

 

 

edit:

Found it.

 

Start Date: 217 BC Stop Date: 216 BC

 

Dating Technique: Historical Records

 

Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI): 3?

 

Area of Activity: (AP6 tephra layer)

 

 

Eruptive Characteristics:

Central vent eruption

Explosive eruption

Mudflow(s) (lahars)

Gratiam habeo, M.

[caldrail]

I'm not sure that the eruption being unexpected was the cause of Pliny the Elders death - even if he'd known the eruption was to occur, his scientific instinct was to investigate, and he would have sailed across the bay to have a closer look anyway. In any case, it was gas that killed him, a lingering by-product of the eruption rather than the immediate fallout.

[Flavia Gemina]

That's right. It was the sulphur fumes and ash that killed Pliny, but only because he was asthmatic with a weak chest. We know from Pliny the Younger's letters that most of his companions survived. They were all at Stabia (modern Castellammare di Stabia) about 7 miles away from the volcano, so just on the edge of the pyroclastic flow.

 

Flavia

 

P.S. You can read both Pliny's letters HERE

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve!

 

Here is the Summary of the eruptive history of Mt. Vesuvius by theOsservatorio Vesuviano, Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. If you check it out, you won

Edited September 8, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES