Dorkius wrote his scrolls in the fourth decade BC, and they’re the only existing record of an eruption of Vesuvius in that era. But a much more famous one occurred over a hundred years later in AD79.
Following a series of tremors, the volcano shot millions of tonnes of lava, pumice and ash into the sky on the morning of August 24th. That night, the ash and rocks fell on Pompeii and buried two thousand people.
The town stayed buried until the middle of the eighteenth century, when excavations began and the site became a popular tourist destination.
In the nineteenth century, a man called Giuseppe Fiorelli took over. He created casts of the people who’d died by pouring plaster into the holes left by their bodies. The results were remarkably detailed, showing the straps of sandals and the fabric of tunics. One cast even showed a dog that had died struggling to free itself from its chain.
Millions of people still visit Pompeii every year to see its ruins, mosaics, wall paintings, and statues, and to get a unique glimpse into life almost two thousand years ago.