Time capsule

5 Sept.

It was Aug 24 in 79 AD that the mountain Vesuvius exploded and buried four towns in its aftermath, of which Herculaneum and Pompeii are the most famous. It was only because a Latin writer named Pliny the Younger sent a letter to Tacitus describing the death of his uncle that a record existed about the towns. Pompeii and the other towns were buried under a layer of ash of more than 6 meters thick. Instantly all life was extinguished and enclosed in a time capsule until about two hundred years ago when the towns were discovered and excavations exposed them once again to daylight. Many buildings had collapsed under the weight of the ashes; everything had been encapsulate and preserved by the hot ashes. All of the population had been killed by the poisonous gasses. Herculaneum was covered by a layer of boiling ash and mud ranging in thickness between 16 and 25 meters. This all happened in 79 AD. By then the city was already 600 years in existence and was a very busy place judging by the wear mark in the roads.

I will keep this short and put some ore comments with the pictures. One thing I found intriguing, there are lots of drinking fountains in the town. When people want to have a drink they have to lean over the side and place one hand on the edge of the stone sides. All the fountains have wear marks from people hands- so how many people would have used these fountains. Also the Theatre and the Colosseum are the oldest and best preserved- for obvious reasons. Check it out.