The eruption of AD 79 was the first recorded one recorded of all Mt. Vesuvius’s eruptions, and was one of the most devastating eruptions. It is currently the only active volcano on the mainland of Europe. Vesuvius had a great earthquake, which had destroyed many homes and buildings sixteen years before the eruption. Mt. Vesuvius’s deadliest eruption, and most famous eruption, was the eruption that destroyed Pompeii. Its eruption had changed the whole region forever. The eruption of AD 79 impacted the Pompeian society because of what happened prior to the eruption, during the eruption, and after the eruption.
Only sixteen years before Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, a huge earthquake hit Pompeii. The earthquake was a warning that the volcano would soon erupt. Even after the earthquake, people still came to Pompeii, and its population continued to flourish, because most citizens in Pompeii did not know that Mt. Vesuvius was a volcano. Many people had farms on the side of the mountain because the land was so rich and fertile. Before the eruption, about twenty thousand people were once living in Pompeii.…show more content… The eruption on August 24th, 79 AD was one of its deadliest eruptions ever, lasting a little over twenty-four hours. First, the volcano ejected a cloud of smoke and ash in the sky. The column of smoke was estimated to be about twelve miles in height. Then, a fiery hot combination of pumice and ash rolled down the mountain at approximately seventy miles per hour. Rather than lava, damp ashes and cinder rained down on Pompeii and all of its inhabitants. The whole region was covered in around sixteen feet of ash that had fallen from the volcano. The burning ash and debris was around one thousand three hundred degrees Fahrenheit. The eruption was one of the most devastating eruptions that Mt. Vesuvius had ever