Pompeii's Last Day
On a hot summer’s day in the bustling mountain town of Pompeii ,holidaymakers and villagers alike were enjoying the pleasures of the city. It was the day of the festival for Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.
Some 20,000 men, women, and children were behaving as they would on any other festive day—working, relaxing around their vacation homes, going to the public baths, strolling through the city's
marketplace, or lunching in one of the many restaurants in town.
With everything going on, no one took much notice that the springs and wells had dried up because this was common in late August. Small tremors had been shaking the place for four days, but that was in
the norm, too.
Suddenly, the mountain came to life. An enormous umbrella-shaped cloud of ash shot out of the volcano and then fell over the mountain and the surrounding villages. When the eruption
ended, everything was covered in several meters of ash. Those who couldn't escape perished.
Most of what is known of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius on August 24, 79 AD comes from the writings of Pliny the Younger. From his uncle's house about 35 km from Mt.
Vesuvius, Pliny witnessed the destruction firsthand. In two letters, Pliny described in detail the earthquakes before the eruption, the giant cloud of ash that shot into the air, a tsunami, and the effect on the people living around Vesuvius.
The entire event lasted some 19 hours. In the end, the city of Pompeii was buried underneath three meters of ash. Its location was forgotten and it was not until over 1,500 years later that it was
rediscovered.
龐貝城的末日
一個炎熱的夏日，在熙攘熱鬧的山中之城﹣龐貝城裡，假日營生者和村民一樣都沉浸在愉悅的氣氛裡，為了Vulcan神的慶典﹣羅馬的火和鍛冶之神。
約２萬名善男信女及孩童如同往常節慶日一樣地工作、在家休假放鬆、去公眾浴池、到市集裡閒逛或是到某間餐館用餐。
一切如常進行著，沒有人發覺泉水及井水皆已乾涸，只因這在八月末是很常見的。已有四天都發生輕微的震動，但也是在正常範圍內。
驟然之間，火山復活了。巨大的傘形灰泥煙塵自火山口噴出，接著落在山上及周圍的村落裡，數公尺厚的灰燼覆蓋了一切。無法逃離的所有生口盡數死亡。
大多數為人所知的西元79年8月24日 知名的維蘇威火山爆發的詳情，乃由小蒲林尼所撰寫。
小蒲林尼直接見證了這場維蘇威火山浩劫。他在兩封信裡詳細描述了爆發前的地震、噴向空中的巨大的灰燼煙幕、海嘯、以及生活在維蘇威火山周圍的民眾的下場。
整個過程持續了19個小時。最終，龐貝城被掩埋在 ３公尺 深的灰燼裡。沒有人知道它的確切位置，直到1,500 年後才被重新發現。
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