Pompeii eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

8 min’s long, but if you like
History and great Animation, then it is well worth it
Pompeii -
August 24, 79 BC


Animation
made for the Melbourne
Museum , which recreates how was the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and
the destruction of the city.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/dY_3ggKg0Bc

 

Quick story: When I was 10 my family and I went to Europe along with other family and friends. One of the places we went to was Pompeii. We had a tour guide who seemed kind of like a grouch but he ended being a plasant guy. At one point he looked at me and said "You wanna see the bodies?" At first I was confused and worried. Then he explained that they were casts of the bodies. So he showed me those casts and some of them still had their teeth, one had a pair of footwear worn during that time. It was so cool seeing those. But the seeing the ruins was also absolutely fascinating. But this is a neat animated recreation thank you for sharing Ken.

 

Great link that. My old man saw the 1944 eruption.

 

I had 2 port calls in Naples...very scenic....could've gone to Pompeii and Rome for almost free, and I didn't !!!!!!

 

Vesuvius ? Yes. but not in the days of Pompei.

I saw it erupt in 1944 and described it on the BBC site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/61/a2274761.shtml

Ron

 

Smiley, the body cast are most interesting. I took students there for a number of years and once we got an archaeologist to accompany us. He said they drove steel probes into the ground ( before ground penetrating radar) and when they sensed no resistance they withdrew the probe, carefully enlarged the hole a bit and slowly pumped plaster of Paris into the cavity.....then excavated. The plaster filled the void and left the shape of a person or any animal. They had died of asphyxiation , fell to the ground then covered with fallen ash. As the ash compacted it made an enclosure around the body. Time took away the organic material and many bones but things like enamel teeth often remained. He said many were destroyed by time and processes but a good number survived. Herculaneum and Ostia suffered similar fates but are not as famous. I agree, facinating stuff.

Ron, you have seen more in your lifetime than a dozen of us. Thank you for sharing your life, insights and observations here.


Gaines

 

I was reading an article about Pompeii (perhaps National Geographic) anyhow what I found fascinating was what they they could tell about the people from the skeletons. A longshore would have wear and tear on his shoulder from carrying things on and off the ships. A stonemason's hands were worn in a certain way. Basically your body left clues that the scientists could use to discover more about the people. Maybe in the future they will check out our fingertips and say "this guy spent way too long on the internet"

KTK

 

Gaines

With regard to your kind comment about my having had an interesting life.

To be completely honest, this may have been so. but I feel of more importance was the fact that I took the trouble to write things down.

There is a poem by "Master Wace", as shown below, that has always impressed me with it's inherent truth and grasp of the matter.
I have lost the original link to this item so I can't acknowledge the site but I ask you to read it so that you can see where I am coming from.

All Things To Nothingness Descend - Author & Title Unknown

Master Wace - from his Chronicles of the Norman Dukes Found on the Chart of Harold F Umstott (1907-1922) c 1170

All things to nothingness descend,
Grow old and die and meet their end;
Man dies, iron rusts, wood goes decayed,
Towers fall, wall crumble, roses fade...
Nor long shall any name resound
Beyond the grave, unless't be found
In some clerk's book; it is the pen
That gives immortality to men

Apparently written by a monk known as Wace many centuries ago,his own words,having survived proving his point.

Best regards

Ron