Life is unpredictable and nature always has a heavy hand. Among the events of history's most destructive natural disasters that crushed civilizations and reduced cities to rubble, the one that engulfed Pompeii is perhaps the most haunting. 1700 years ago, residents of a prosperous Italian city called Pompeii were caught unawares when a heavy rain of molten ash and pumice as hot as 1300 degree Fahrenheit started pouring. A deadly volcano Mount Vesuvius had erupted striking the city with disaster. Those who couldn't escape choked to death and got buried inside a thick layer of ash. When the survivors came back looking for their belongings, they found that their city had been wiped off the face of the earth, as if it never existed. The entire city was submerged, as it was, under a 20 foot thick blanket of volcanic material. It was later in 1748 that scientists, during an excavation, found the city sleeping intact in the lap of time.

The volcanic cloud that burst was twice the height of Mount Everest!

The cloud of volcanic debris released by Vesuvius was more than twice the height of Mount Everest. It engulfed the entire city and nearby areas within the periphery of 500 kilometres, covering it with a thick layer of ash and pumice.

Writer 'Pliny the Younger' saw the destruction from a distance. His handwritten letters are the most reliable and vivid accounts of the disaster. He wrote:


"We had scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a closed room."


And


"I believed I was perishing with the world, and the world with me.”

Source history.com

Pompeii: A window to the life of ancient Roman civilization

The ancient city had restaurants, cafes, gymnasium and an amphitheater with a capacity to accommodate 20,000. Excavations also reveal walls with slogans painted from the politicians contesting elections. The city located near the Gulf of Naples served as a vacation spot for the wealthy Romans. Visitors resided in magnificent villas constructed on both sides of the streets.

Tons of ash that submerged the city cut off the supply of air and moisture, thus preserving it exactly the way it is.

Source flickr.com