This Day in History: , Mount Vesuvius Erupts.
August 24, 79 A.D. This longtime dormant volcano erupted just after noon, spewing a mushroom cloud of ash and molten pumice ten miles up into the atmosphere.
The wealthy summer vacation cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum sat in the wake of the eruption.
For twelve hours, the sky rained pumice and ash on the residents and opulent structures of Pompeii.
Thousands were killed.
Both cities were covered under a thick layer of mud and volcanic molten ash.
An account of the eruption was captured in two letters written to the Roman historian Tacitus by a witness, Pliny the Younger.
After being rediscovered and excavated in the 1700s, the remarkably preserved city of Pompeii became a popular tourist destination
