DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0051
THE CITY OVERWHELMED
21
Toward evening, the ships off Herculaneum ran into the hail of
pumice stone, which, during the night, reached Stabiae and so in-
creased in violence that the admiral Pliny was obliged to leave
his sleeping room from fear that the door would be blocked up
by the falling masses.
Early in the morning of the twenty-fifth there was a severe
shock of earthquake, which was felt as far as Misenum. Then
the ashes began to fall, and a cloud of fearful blackness, pierced
through and through with flashes of lightning, settled down
over land and sea. At Misenum, even, it became dark; “not,”
says Pliny, “ as on a cloudy night when there is no moon, but
as in a room which has been completely closed.”
How long the storm of ashes lasted we can only infer from
this, that when it ceased the sun had not yet set. In Misenum,
which the shower of pumice stone had not reached, everything
was covered with a thick layer of ashes. Although the earth-
quake shocks continued, the inhabitants went back into their
houses. But Pompeii and Stabiae had been covered so deep
that only the roofs of the houses, where these had not fallen in,
projected above the surface; and Herculaneum had wholly
disappeared.
All the plain of the Sarno was buried, as were also the slopes
of the mountains on the south. Stabiae, as we have seen, lay at
the foot of the mountains, on the coast. It had been destroyed
by Sulla in the Social War; its inhabitants, forced to scatter,
settled in the surrounding country. In the years 1749-82
numerous buildings were excavated in the vicinity, in part lux-
urious country seats, in part plain farm buildings; but the exca-
vations were afterward filled up again. The covering of
Stabiae was like that of Pompeii, only not so deep.
Herculaneum was covered with the same materials; they
were not, however, deposited in regular strata, but were mixed
together, and being drenched with water, hardened into a kind
of tufa which in places reaches a depth of sixty-five feet. Ex-
cavating at Herculaneum is in consequence extremely difficult;
and the difficulty is further increased by the fact that a modern
city, Resina, extends over the greater part of the ancient site.
The excavations thus far attempted have in most cases been
21
Toward evening, the ships off Herculaneum ran into the hail of
pumice stone, which, during the night, reached Stabiae and so in-
creased in violence that the admiral Pliny was obliged to leave
his sleeping room from fear that the door would be blocked up
by the falling masses.
Early in the morning of the twenty-fifth there was a severe
shock of earthquake, which was felt as far as Misenum. Then
the ashes began to fall, and a cloud of fearful blackness, pierced
through and through with flashes of lightning, settled down
over land and sea. At Misenum, even, it became dark; “not,”
says Pliny, “ as on a cloudy night when there is no moon, but
as in a room which has been completely closed.”
How long the storm of ashes lasted we can only infer from
this, that when it ceased the sun had not yet set. In Misenum,
which the shower of pumice stone had not reached, everything
was covered with a thick layer of ashes. Although the earth-
quake shocks continued, the inhabitants went back into their
houses. But Pompeii and Stabiae had been covered so deep
that only the roofs of the houses, where these had not fallen in,
projected above the surface; and Herculaneum had wholly
disappeared.
All the plain of the Sarno was buried, as were also the slopes
of the mountains on the south. Stabiae, as we have seen, lay at
the foot of the mountains, on the coast. It had been destroyed
by Sulla in the Social War; its inhabitants, forced to scatter,
settled in the surrounding country. In the years 1749-82
numerous buildings were excavated in the vicinity, in part lux-
urious country seats, in part plain farm buildings; but the exca-
vations were afterward filled up again. The covering of
Stabiae was like that of Pompeii, only not so deep.
Herculaneum was covered with the same materials; they
were not, however, deposited in regular strata, but were mixed
together, and being drenched with water, hardened into a kind
of tufa which in places reaches a depth of sixty-five feet. Ex-
cavating at Herculaneum is in consequence extremely difficult;
and the difficulty is further increased by the fact that a modern
city, Resina, extends over the greater part of the ancient site.
The excavations thus far attempted have in most cases been