History
Vesuvius AD 79: Pliny's Bay of Naples
In AD 79 a mountain above the Bay of Naples blew apart. Pliny the Younger watched from Misenum across the water, lost his uncle, the admiral Pliny the Elder, to the eruption, and years later described it for the historian Tacitus in two letters: the only eyewitness account that survives.
The route follows the eruption in the order of its events, from the mountain's first column to Pompeii, Herculaneum, the beach at Stabiae and back to Misenum. Pliny's letters never mention Pompeii or Herculaneum, so those stops come from archaeology. The traditional date is 24 August, but newer evidence points to the autumn.
Timeline & locations
What do the location labels mean?
- Exact
- The pin marks the actual place where it happened or was filmed.
- Approximate
- The right area — a town, park or district — but not a precise spot.
In the early afternoon Vesuvius erupted. A column of ash and gas rose to 33 km while pumice began to fall, and from across the bay Pliny the Younger saw a cloud like a pine tree: "a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches". The eruption would last two days. The present main cone, the Gran Cono, was built in this very eruption, and its summit, with a network of paths around the crater, is open to visitors today.
Visitor guidance: The summit of Vesuvius is open to visitors, with a network of paths around the volcano.
Sources
- Letters of Pliny, letters to Tacitus on the eruption (6.16 and 6.20)
- Locator:
- Letters LXV and LXVI, to Tacitus
- Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
- Locator:
- Nature of the eruption; The two Plinys; Date of the eruption
- Mount Vesuvius
- Locator:
- Structure; National park
- Letters of Pliny, letters to Tacitus on the eruption (6.16 and 6.20)
Across the bay, 29 km from the volcano, Pliny the Elder commanded the Roman fleet at Misenum, the largest Roman port. About one in the afternoon his sister showed him a cloud "of a very unusual size and shape". Then came a note from Rectina, wife of Bassus, begging for rescue. The admiral had his galleys put to sea and went himself. His nephew stayed behind: "I had rather go on with my work". The ancient town lies below modern Miseno; a half-submerged Roman theatre stands on the shore.
Location precision: A villa near the Roman theatre may have been Pliny the Elder's, but the fleet base spread around the harbour; the pin marks the village of Miseno.
Visitor guidance: Miseno is a village on the coast at Bacoli; the Roman theatre stands on the shore.
Sources
- Letters of Pliny, letters to Tacitus on the eruption (6.16 and 6.20)
- Locator:
- Letters LXV and LXVI, to Tacitus
- Miseno
- Locator:
- History; Monuments
- Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
- Locator:
- Nature of the eruption; The two Plinys; Date of the eruption
- Letters of Pliny, letters to Tacitus on the eruption (6.16 and 6.20)
Pliny never mentions Pompeii, but the ground does. Pumice fell for about 18 hours, burying the city in a layer metres deep. In the Garden of the Fugitives, just inside the Nocera Gate, thirteen people died on top of pumice already 3.5 m deep, caught by the pyroclastic flow as they tried to get out. Their bodies left hollows in the ash. Filled with plaster after their discovery in 1961, those hollows gave the casts now displayed in one long line.
Visitor guidance: Inside the excavated city of Pompeii, near the Large Palaestra and just inside the Nocera Gate.
Sources
- Garden of the Fugitives
- Locator:
- Introduction; Discovery
- Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
- Locator:
- Nature of the eruption; The two Plinys; Date of the eruption
- Pompeii
- Locator:
- Eruption of Vesuvius
- Garden of the Fugitives
As Pliny's galley neared the shore by Herculaneum, cinders and pumice began to fall on it. His pilot urged him to turn back, but the admiral answered that fortune "favours the brave; steer to where Pomponianus is". Herculaneum lay upwind, so most of its people fled early. At 1 am the column collapsed and the first surge raced through the empty town at 160 km/h. Hundreds of skeletons lay in the boat houses by the ancient shoreline, people who had waited there for rescue from the sea. About 20 m of deposits buried the town.
Location precision: The letter doesn't name Herculaneum; the pin marks the excavated town, with its ancient shoreline and boat houses at the seaward edge.
Visitor guidance: Many streets and buildings are visible today, though over 75% of the town remains buried beneath modern Ercolano.
Sources
- Letters of Pliny, letters to Tacitus on the eruption (6.16 and 6.20)
- Locator:
- Letters LXV and LXVI, to Tacitus
- Pliny the Elder
- Locator:
- Death
- Herculaneum
- Locator:
- Eruption of 79 AD; Boathouses and the Shore
- Letters of Pliny, letters to Tacitus on the eruption (6.16 and 6.20)
At Stabiae Pliny found his friend Pomponianus with baggage already aboard a ship, held ashore by a wind blowing dead in-shore. To calm him the admiral bathed and sat down to supper "with great cheerfulness", then slept; his heavy breathing was heard outside. When the court filled with stones and ash they fled to the fields with pillows tied to their heads. On the beach Pliny fell dead. His body looked "more like a man asleep than dead". His nephew blamed noxious vapour; modern writers suspect a stroke or heart attack.
Location precision: Pomponianus's villa has not been identified; the pin marks the ancient seaside resort of Stabiae, near modern Castellammare di Stabia.
Visitor guidance: The villas at Stabiae that can be visited today date from before the eruption of AD 79.
Sources
- Stabiae
- Locator:
- Introduction; Roman period
- Letters of Pliny, letters to Tacitus on the eruption (6.16 and 6.20)
- Locator:
- Letters LXV and LXVI, to Tacitus
- Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
- Locator:
- Nature of the eruption; The two Plinys; Date of the eruption
- Stabiae
Back at Misenum, the tremors that night were violent, but Pliny the Younger took up Livy and made extracts. By morning the sea seemed to roll back from the shore, and the cloud concealed Capri and the promontory of Misenum. His mother told him to flee without her, but he took her by the hand. Darkness fell "of a room when it is shut up, and all the lights put out". When light returned, everything was "covered deep with ashes as if with snow". They went back to Misenum to wait for news of his uncle.
Open area inGoogle MapsApple MapsOrganic MapsOpenStreetMap40.77771, 14.08941Visitability not confirmedLocation precision: Pliny's house is unknown; the pin marks the headland whose view the cloud hid.
Sources
- Cape Miseno
- Locator:
- Introduction
- Letters of Pliny, letters to Tacitus on the eruption (6.16 and 6.20)
- Locator:
- Letters LXV and LXVI, to Tacitus
- Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD
- Locator:
- Nature of the eruption; The two Plinys; Date of the eruption
- Cape Miseno
