The Worst Part Of Pompeii's Destruction Isn't What You Think

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius is one of the most horrifying events in human history, as it wiped out multiple towns, including Pompeii. However, not everyone knows the whole story of the buildup and aftermath of the eruption, and it paints an even more disturbing picture than we already have.

Despite what you may assume, there were warnings about the coming eruption, but they were most likely viewed as signs from a god instead of an actual weather warning. From the horrifying remains of the incident to the ways in which neighboring towns had it worse, let’s take a look at why the worst part of Pompeii’s destruction isn’t what you think.

#Pompeii #Volcano #NaturalDisasters

Unheeded | 0:00
Weird weather | 1:47
Frozen in time | 3:05
Screaming death | 4:33
Beyond Pompeii | 5:49
Defiled | 6:57
Neglect | 8:18
The future | 9:40

[GrungeHQ]

If you had been in Pompeii during the eruption, what do you think you would have done?

[easycheesy]

Many people forget that other towns were affected as well. The town of Herculaneum was destroyed much quicker and much worse then Pompeii, but people forget because they weren’t buried and able to be made into casts. There skeleton literally melted and burned to pieces within seconds, so there isn’t much left.

[RebeccaStout]

Well, that was depressing as hell. I don't mean just the tragedy either, I mean how the remains were destroyed and violated over time. And still are being robbed! I had no idea it was that bad.

[KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking]

5:40 - Pliny the Elder _did_ save lives. Not mentioned here: He was a big deal. Personal friend of the Emperor. Fleet commander of the Navy at Misernum. Pliny took off on his own to rescue his friend's family across the bay - but first, he sent the *fleet* over to rescue victims. Hundreds if not thousands were likely saved by this ancient-world 'Dunkirk." (The first recorded disaster relief rescue effort in History.)
Notably - His personal friends he went to rescue did not die with him. His idea of protecting their heads from rock rain with pillows and mattresses enabled their escape by land. He himself collapsed in the fumes as an asthmatic.
He was considered a living-legend, a rock-star general/admiral/author/early scientist who invented the concept of a wikipedia...but he did not have any egotistical "I'm more important than others" mindset like much of the brat nobility.
In fact, Seutonius implies he told everyone to go on without him; perhaps because he'd slow them down, needing to be carried. He only asked a slave kill him first to spare him from death by the heat. (To the Romans, suicide as sacrifice to save others was noble.)
He was 100% hero. Just like Pliny the Younger says.

[annettereynolds]

I've been to Pompeii. It's one of the eeriest places I've ever visited. Although it was hot, I had goosepimples all the time I was there. The casts of the people killed there are very upsetting and sad. I would love to go back and see it again.

[cosmikirby]

“This volcano tends to sit perfectly quietly for a long time and then suddenly let off a massive, deadly eruption” *why can I mildly relate to Vesuvius*

[tobiashaurum]

But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing's changed at all.

[BishopWestt]

Shout out to Pliny the elder for trying to go to Pompeii to rescue people but ended up dying. Hero !

[PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars]

When Vesuvius erupted in 1944, there was actually a camp for Battle-fatigue sufferers at the base! Imagine the trauma of those soldiers, driven to a breakdown by shelling etc. sitting at the bottom of an active volcano!!

[myeong-hee]

Bless that uncle he risked his life trying to save people. He failed but at least he tried.

[trvkm]

"Even worse, the day before the eruption was Vulcanalia, the festival of the god Vulcan — otherwise known as the god of fire and volcanoes" If that's not irony, I don't know what is!

[fantasticbeck]

8:03 My friend's mother did this. She visited Pompeii and stole a chunk of floor tile. I remember her showing it to my friend and I when we were younger. I remember thinking it was cool to see, but feeling like her taking it was disrespectful. Not only to the victims of the tragedy, but to the researchers who are trying to preserve their history.

[outthere]

The most disturbing scene was when we visited Herculaneum. At the docks were the sea shoreline used to be (now kilometers away to the West) the skeletal remains of mainly women & children huddled together in dock warehouses in the process of attempting to flee the destruction. Trying to protect each other. This is a scene of death I never had experienced before. It shocked me more than I thought it would!

[malanahariss]

So let me get this straight, people still live at the base of some of the most dangerous volcanos in the world and it’s called prime real estate!

[rexlex]

1st Citizen: What's that noise? Where's the smoke coming from?

2nd Citizen: Not to worry. It's just the volcano sputtering. Happens all the time.

[pisachanation]

Even if some people of Pompeii had made it to boats, they still couldn't have escaped the pyroclastic flow, because the flows can travel across water up to 80 km/50 miles away from shore. Nobody can row or paddle fast enough.

[futurehistory]

7:08 Some things never change. I was living in a village in France w/ my girlfriend at the time and it was struck by a massive flood. Most of us evacuated after and in the months since, there's been cases of people coming from outside the village to rob houses because there's so few people around. It's sickening that people would stoop so low.

[francisbalfour]

*town gets wiped out by volcanoe*
People: let's build a civilisation here, maybe 2nd times the charm

[maciejbladzinski]

Been in Pompei few weeks ago. The place is still deteriorating, the ancient fresks are being "protected" by tin roofs, which looked pathetic. I'm not an archeologist, or specialist in that matter, but I left the place with two thoughts: emotion of closeness of those people, their lives and tragedy, and also the sadness that the city survived being hidden in volcanic ash iterally thousands of years, and now by our neglection it seems it would be destroyed by weather conditions and not well planned preservation from touristic activity. I am serious- finely decorated pieces of columns are piled up on the boardwalk, between garbage.

[chickenn.waffles]

"They really outdid themselves with this year's volcano festival!" - Tourist, 79AD