SOURCE4 Pompeii and Herculaneum were totally destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius. At ýrst, the volcano spurted a column of ash and pumice high into the air, which fell back like rain. As the energy in the eruption weakened, the column collapsed into a glowing avalanche. Herculaneum, which had escaped the earlier fallout of ash, was covered by about 20 metres of boiling ‘mud’ — a mixture of hot ash, pumice and rocks.
Vesuvius
Pompeii
Stabiae
Gulf of Naples
Herculaneum
Naples
5.2 SkillBuilder activity QUESTIONING AND RESEARCHING SOURCE5 is an account by someone who witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius and the devastation that followed. 1. Carefully read SOURCE5 to answer the following questions. a. According to Pliny the Younger’s description, what was falling on the people trying to þee in boats? b. How do we know that the eruption of Vesuvius was followed by earth tremors? c. How does Pliny convey the sheer horror of the destruction of Pompeii? d. What evidence supports Pliny’s story?
SOURCE5 From an account by Pliny the Younger, who, as a young man, witnessed the destruction of Pompeii
By now ash, which became hotter and thicker ... was falling on the boats. This was followed by pieces of tufa [porous rock] and stones blackened, burnt and cracked by the ýre ... Meanwhile sheets of þame and tall columns of ýre were belching forth from several parts of Vesuvius, their þashing and intensity heightened by the darkness of the night ... The buildings were being frequently and violently shaken and seemed as they tottered backwards and forwards to being moved from their foundations ...
132 Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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