It was late morning on August 24, 79 A.D. The lively city of Pompeii was buzzing with activity. The main street leading to the Forum was busy with carts, carriages and chariots bouncing over the large cobblestones.
On residential streets, pedestrians negotiated their way on narrow sidewalks. The sidewalks were raised because unlike Rome, Pompeii didn’t have a sophisticated sewer system and much of the wastewater found its way onto the streets. Crossing the street with produce from the market or products from the many flourishing shops around the Forum was a balancing act on the large, flat stones provided for the purpose of crossing with dry feet.
As usual, people were gathering around the many drinking wells around the city exchanging the latest news and some, without a doubt, also engaging in rumor mongering.
Nobody worried about the fact that the water to these fountains was flowing through lead pipes.
The bath houses were still busy with late morning bathers, men and women enjoying separate quarters. Their clothing neatly tucked away in the “lockers” around the bath.
Some people were lingering in the colorfully decorated common areas of the bath house.
This Tuesday morning, life was going on its usual merry ways at the many hotels (and brothels), shops and bakeries in the city.
The morning rehearsals at the Grand Theater had just concluded and the spectators were leaving the venue. It was a perfect morning.
The smaller Forum was busy too. Young men were competing in athletics, their families cheering them on. Some were standing in small groups discussing politics.
At the affluent villas of the nobel class and newly rich merchants, the morning was spent leisurely around the house.
Guests were entertained in the larger atrium, where the rainwater had been gathered in a shallow “pool” for some cooling on this warm summer morning.
The servants were busy dusting the frescos and cleaning the mosaic floors in and outside of the house.
Inhabitants and guests of the most opulent villas facing the sea, could enjoy splendid views from their elaborate terraces and gardens.
Those less fortunate could enjoy the public green spaces sprinkled around the city.
But the busiest place this morning was the Forum. It was the economic, religious and political center of the city, where municipal buildings, courts, temples and commercial activities were located around the two-story portico.
The northern end of the Forum was closed by the Capitolium, with Mount Vesuvius rising towards the sky right behind it.
An ordinary late summer day. Until … around noon, a “cloud of unusual size and shape” appeared overtop Vesuvius.
It could be seen across the city. At first, there was curiosity. But an hour later when ash started falling, people begun to panic. Many rushed towards the harbor, others started running north or south along the coast, but some 2000 people were hesitant to leave their homes. They would ride out whatever was coming and chose to take shelter in buildings and underground cellars they deemed safe. But the eruption escalated fast. Around 2 p.m. ash and white pumice was falling over the city at a rate of 10-15 cm (4-6 inches) an hour.
By 5 p.m. the sun was completely blocked and there was no light for the people still seeking shelter or running away from the city. Ash, bits of pumice and charred rocks were falling on the city. Fires were burning everywhere. Roofs started to collapse.
And then, in the morning of August 25, just before 7 a.m., a pyroclastic cloud of hot ash and toxic gas surged down on the city killing everyone who had remained in its vicinity. Not one was spared. Men, women, children and animals all perished.
The eruption buried the city under 4-6 meters (13-20 feet) of volcanic ash and pumice. Life as it had been on that late summer day in 79 A.D. was frozen in time for almost 1700 years.
Pliny the Younger, a Roman writer who managed to escape from the city in time, described the eruption in letters to his friend, which were discovered in the 16th century. The ruins of Pompeii were found only in 1748.
About 80% of the city has now been excavated and as the work progresses, we learn more about that fateful day 1938 years ago.
About 700,000 people currently live around the volcano, which last erupted in 1944.
As I am starting to “unpack” my latest travels, I wish you all a wonderful week ahead.
TINY LESSONS BLOG 
I have not read a more detailed description of the last day in Pompeii, and your photos bring that us much closer to that awful reality.
Walking on the streets there, I could almost “see and hear” the inhabitants going about their business that day. There was no preparedness for an eruption because Vesuvius was thought to be “extinct” as one Roman scientist had called it, i.e. no longer active.
I always thought that Pompeii was a fascinating tragedy. Thanks for sharing your visit. Have a great week!
The “vibe” of that tragic day was still lingering on those streets. Nobody there believed Vesuvius could erupt as it was thought to be a “dead” volcano, which made people reluctant to believe is could get so bad… Have a good week, you too!
Gorgeous photos and compelling description.
Thank you Cindy…the crowds made photographing a bit of a challenge 🙂
I’m glad you’re out exploring Helen. Wonderful photos and backstory.
Thank you, Brad. I needed to go exploring…and “turning outward” for a while is helping somewhat.
Magical description, Helen; I could feel and hear the daily events. You’ve certainly been on some interesting travels (this, and your previous posts).
Lovely to be able to comment, once again! Wishing you a wonderful week. 🙂
xoxoxo
Thank you Carolyn! So nice to see you. I needed to combine work, taking care of my father’s estate and some explorations of history (more in forthcoming posts now that I have a proper internet connection again). The long trip was also helpful in terms of giving me new perspectives, which I really needed. Hugs and best wishes for the new week! xxoo
Wonderful post about the tragic end to Pompeii . . . not the way I would want to “go.”
Glad to hear that your travels helped you shift/ find perspective. Peace.
Thanks Nancy. I could almost still feel the ‘vibe’ of that last day in Pompeii. I saw so much on this trip it felt like had been away for months – which I feel is a good thing.
You described and photographed the city perfectly, thankyou so much.
Thank you Susan, happy you enjoyed the ‘report’.
You are the best! Your way to tell that tragedy and the photos: just great! Thank you with hugs❤❤🐩🐩
Thanks Anja! I hope you like my other upcoming reports from your favorite country ❤ Much love and many hugs!
Amazing pictures. I felt as if I was there and you were the tour guide. Wonderful
Happy you enjoyed the tour, David. It is quite an amazing place, could have stayed there for weeks.
I have enjoyed reading your recent travel stories but this one I love. So well told, and compelling. I wonder if you ‘felt’ the history and aura of this place more because of your own Vesuvius-like experiences this year. Hugs to you.
Thank you! You might be right, my friend. I know I felt it strongly…and this year has been like a big eruption of all I knew…the landscape changed drastically and will never look the same again.
Precisely so. As we say here, there will be a new normal eventually, and to help you get there we say “kia kaha” (stay strong). Aroha nui (much love)
Thank you dear friend!
Compelling descriptions and photo series,I so effectively re-visited Pompeii again,through your lens.Happy week ahead,dear friend 🙂 xxx
Thank you dear Doda. This visit had been on my bucket list for quite some time and I am glad I could go this time. Happy you liked your revisit.
Many my visits there,we travel all over Italy quite often,it’s our beloved nearby destination.I’m so glad you made it,dear Tiny 🙂 xxx
Me too! This visit had been on my bucket list for a while 🙂 XXX
❤ 🙂 xxx
Tiny, it is great to hear from you again and see you rise up out of your suffering as you launch into a new season of life. Your gift of story telling only continues to get better. Your description of Pompeii’s last hours is truly compelling reading, the sense of expectation is behind each line. Keeping you in prayer dear friend as you find yourself in your new normal.
Thank you, Ashley. I am feeling a little better now, accepting the new realities. Although it will be “up and down” for a long time, I’m sure. This long trip was a combination of dealing with my father’s estate, working, and just exploring…helped my mood somewhat. Thank you also for your continued prayers.
Wow! Tiny! Thank you for this brilliant article…I wish you had written every history book when I was in school…I would have learned, and remembered so much more! 😉
Blessings, friend❤
You are very kind, my friend 🙂 I just felt connected to their life on that last day when walking the streets and visiting the homes and other buildings. I could have stayed there much longer… Blessings to you as well, Lorrie ❤
Hauntingly beautiful.
Thank you kindly, Kathy,
Amazing history wrapped so beautifully. Read about the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, you know But this ;ost made it come alive in a stark manner. Thanks a million, Tiny. 🙂
Happy you liked my “report”, Celestine. I felt a connection of sorts to the tragic city…I could “see and hear” the life on those streets 🙂
Beautiful and amazing pictures sweet Tiny. Hugs
Thank you, dear Mags. Hugs to you too. Dylan sends his best too.
Brilliant set of images, Tiny. Lovely to find you again. Love and blessings.
Thank you Isabella. Much love and many hugs to you too.
A wonderful portrayal and commentary of the last hours in Pompei, Helen! You really brought it to life. 😎
May your travels bring more stories to share and new insights and perspectives 💕
Thank you, dear Val ❤ I am now back home with my new insights and perspectives…which I will continue to "unpack" both here and in my life going forward. This long trip was helpful in many ways as I adapt to the changed circumstances.
A wonderful tour. That people still live in the shadow of the volcano always surprises me but it is a fertile spot.
Thank you Tom. Happy you enjoyed the tour.
Your post is so haunting, especially those photos of the well-preserved everyday household objects. It must have been eerie to come across the plaster casts.
Droves of household items certainly brought the tragedy to “life”. The plaster casts, particularly of children who died with their parents, were difficult to see.
Really enjoyed the post.
Thank you kindly, Carl.
A powerful post, Helen – a poignant history and beautiful photos that bring one inside “ordinary life” on a fateful day that none, or perhaps only a few, had predicted. There are so many lessons we can learn from this past event.
I send my best wishes to you. 🙂
A wonderful expression of this tragedy and perhaps some parallels in your own life too. Your photos are great. I’m glad you are having some time to explore and travel and some space for you 💕
Have always wanted to visit Pompeii, and have read many articles about it but honestly yours is the best I’ve seen in terms of the lives of the people and how little time those who decided to stay must have had. What a horrific way to die. The figures frozen in time are amazing. Thanks so much for this Helen – beautifully done.
I remember reading about it in my highschool latin class…thank you for sharing it with such vivid description, such a tragedy…
Well written narratives and they work well with your images. Haunting moments!
What an interesting tone you’ve used in this post. I remember being quite awestruck on my visit to Pompeii, can’t imagine the horror of the residents when the eruption started…
I also found visiting Pompeii to be a very emotionally moving experience and have some of the same photos. Great narrative, Helen.
Great reportage and for me good memories of my visit de Pompei
Happy it brought you good memories.
Wow! All I can say is wow, Helen! I had no idea you were traveling and I am happy for you that you are taking this well needed break out of your life to do it. I really wish I could believe me! Your photographs are outstanding and your story is just as amazing! Incredible incredible post… One that I truly truly enjoyed. Thank you so much, Helen, for sharing Pompeii with all of us. 💕🌹💕
And come to think of it I don’t know how you handled seeing the cast of those people who did not survive. I know how fragile I am and I don’t think I could have handled it. Just an incredible post one that I will come back to many times to reread. Again thank you, Helen.
Sorry. I am just so moved with this post I’m thinking in chunks. I can feel your heart through your words, dear friend. I have tears in my eyes.
Very interesting and moving post, Helen. I am just getting back myself to the internet and catching up with you. I am so thrilled to see you’ve been taking time away for yourself.
Thank you Donna! Pompeii has been on my wish list for a long time and it was a trip worth waiting. Walking on those ancient streets, I felt the energy of that time long gone…and taking time for myself was truly healing.