Mt. Vesuvius In Robert Harris's Pompeii

Over the summer, I read the book Pompeii written by Robert Harris. This book is about the cities around Mt. Vesuvius during the eruption. The book starts out in Pompeii during the eruption, but everyone assumes it’s just the weather heating up as summer ends. However, one man is curious to find out what is happening and after a few days of research, he finds out that the volcano and its ashes will destroy the Bay of Naples, Pompeii, and other cities surrounding Mt. Vesuvius. He and Pliny the Elder try to lead people to safety but the book ends with Pliny dying trying to send people away on war ships and no one finding the other man. However, I was curious about this and decided to write three things that could help me understand this historical
event better. These three things are the impact of Mt. Vesuvius on Pompeii, Pliny the Elder, and other major disasters in ancient societies, like Pompeii. Did you ever wonder how the eruption of Mt.
Vesuvius impacted on Pompeii? In real life, did people really expect Mt. Vesuvius to erupt? How were people planning to escape cities surrounding the volcano? How did the rest of Italy and other countries react to this? These are three questions that come to mind when one thinks about the impact Pompeii took when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. In the book, people escaped on war ships which Pliny the Elder organized but in real life, as Pliny the Younger wrote, many people were unprepared, including Pliny the Elder. In fact, Pliny the Elder was eating lunch and taking a bath when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. However, historians do not blame the people for being unprepared as they did not have the technology, so they would not know when exactly the volcano was going to erupt, hence they couldn’t have escaped in time. However, there were many earthquakes that occurred prior to Vesuvius erupting but many people thought it was just a coincidence and casual. Earthquakes are major signs that a volcano is heating up and about to explode. During the eruption, many people started to panic and started to flee; others tried to brave it out and stay sheltered. After Mt. Vesuvius erupted, Romans went to look to see if anything remained in Pompeii but found only bodies coated with layers of
ash.

Pliny the Elder is one of the most influential people in the history of Pompeii and it’s catastrophic volcanic eruption.
However, what did he really do during the eruption? What did Pliny the Elder do up to the eruption? And did he try to save himself while saving the people or did he stay back until the very end? Information on Pliny the Elder as a child is very limited, except for the fact that he had a sister, named Plinia and he had a nephew named Pliny the Younger. He was a very famous scientist and moved to Rome around 30 AD. When he was 21, he become a military officer and moved out of Italy. He then discovered a liking for being part of the militia and was promoted to captain and was later victorious in his fight. Then, in 50 AD, he decided become an author and planned to write many books, which turned out to be successful. However, he only wrote 2 books and decided that he wanted to become a political leader. Ironically, all his political competition started to decline and Pliny the Elder easily got the job. In August of 79 AD, when Vesuvius became active, Pliny was recruited back into the military and was stationed on the west side of the Naples Bay. After seeing the volcano erupt with his own eyes, he sent the people of Naples away on warships to the far side of the bay. Pliny escaped also, but later died at a friend’s house due to the over-absorption of ash and sulfur. Pliny the Younger, his nephew, survived the eruption and published many of his uncle’s diary
entries. So Pliny the Elder was a war veteran, an author and a political leader who tried to save the people of where he was stationed. When trying to get to a safe place, he died because of apparently of his asthma acting up due to the large amounts of sulfur and ash around Pompeii and the Bay of Naples.

Before Vesuvius erupted, many earthquakes occurred so it’s only obvious that one would wonder if any natural disasters occurred after Vesuvius erupted. Did anything occur around Italy? If any disasters happened, were they similar to the volcanic eruption or were they completely different? Did Vesuvius cause the other disasters, if any happened? After Vesuvius erupted, there were no recorded events where anything happened. The next recorded event happened in the 14th century, which would be too late if Vesuvius had anything to do with it. Although Mt. Vesuvius erupted many times after the 79 AD eruption, we are only looking at what the 79 AD eruption caused, not any others, like the 1944 eruption. Many sources say that Vesuvius itself only caused the earthquakes that occurred prior to the eruption. Since all the earthquakes occurred in Pompeii and just before Vesuvius erupted, it is very possible that Vesuvius caused these earthquakes. After Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, it did not erupt for many centuries so that means Vesuvius was offline for almost 1,000 years. However, Vesuvius could cause natural disasters that occur in Italy, however it’s very unlikely.

Pompeii, a book written by Robert Harris, is about the Mt. Vesuvius eruption that occurred in the Bay of Naples and Pompeii. Since it’s a historical fiction book, not everything in the book is accurate. However, I created three topics about this book and thought of three questions that was related to the topic. My topics were about the reaction of Mount Vesuvius erupting, Pliny the Elder, and if Vesuvius caused any other natural disasters in ancient Italy, ancient Europe, or the rest of the ancient world. After many days of research, I conclude that Vesuvius was one of the worst disasters in the history of the world and the reaction was panic as it happened without anybody expecting it. Pliny the Elder, a very important character in this catastrophic event, was trying to save the people of where he was stationed and he stayed back until he was sure he had tried to save everyone. However, when he was trying to escape, his asthma became a problem and he died for over-exposition to sulfur and ash from the explosion. Before the Vesuvius eruption, there were many earthquakes that were caused by Vesuvius, but after the eruption, no other natural disasters were recorded until the 14th century, much after the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius. As you can see, Robert Harris had much of the correct information, but it took a little bit more digging to find out the truth of Pompeii and the Mt. Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD.