It was lunch time in the ancient Italian city of
Pompeii. Vesuvius, the
nearby volcano, was about to begin 19 hours of
spectacular eruptions.
All the people in the 600-year-old town of 20,000 could have escaped. There had been time to flee. But in 79 A.D., no one recognized the inherent danger of the mountain’s warnings.
By the time Vesuvius stopped belching poisonous gas, the bustling city of Pompeii was silent, completely
buried by volcanic ash and debris. It remained silent for 1700 years.