Pompeii was destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 AD. How many years earlier had the city already been struck by a major earthquake that modern volcanologists now read as a missed warning sign?
The 62 AD earthquake (magnitude ~5.5–6.0) damaged most of Pompeii's major public buildings and was still under repair when Vesuvius erupted. The Senate had voted to rebuild rather than evacuate. Seneca's *Naturales Quaestiones* Book VI, written within three years of the quake, is the principal contemporary source. Modern volcanology reads the 62 AD seismicity as volcano-tectonic — earthquakes generated by magma ascent — but the Romans had no framework for that interpretation; Vesuvius had not erupted in living memory.
Read the full facts →Pompeii was a Roman provincial town of approximately 11,000 to 12,000 people on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy. It was buried under approximately 20 feet of volcanic pumice and ash during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in late October 79 AD. The site has been continuously excavated since 1748 and is the most thoroughly documented archaeological site of Roman urban life.
Related questions
- Vesuvius buried Pompeii under a thick layer of pumice and ash in 79 AD. Roughly how deep was the ash deposit on the town when the eruption ended?
- Vesuvius buried Pompeii and Herculaneum under twenty feet of pumice and ash. The traditional date for the eruption was 24 August, but recent archaeology has revised it. What year, at least?
- In what year did Mount Vesuvius bury Pompeii?
- Mount Vesuvius's most recent eruption (March 1944) destroyed about 80 American B-25 bombers parked at a forward airbase 8 km from the volcano. How did the eruption destroy them?