- Start
- Aug 24, 7950% CONFIDENCEfrom the source
Vesuvius Buries Pompeii and Herculaneum
- Vesuvius ejected tephra and gas to a height of 33 km, releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. [S]
- Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried under pyroclastic surges and ashfall; the combined population of the two towns was over 20,000 and the remains of more than 1,500 people have been found. [S]
- Pliny the Younger, watching from Misenum, left the only detailed firsthand account, in two letters — which is why this style of eruption is called Plinian. [S]
- The date is contested. Medieval manuscripts and a 2022 re-reading of Pliny support 24 August; autumnal fruit remains, heavy clothing on victims, a 2007 wind study and a charcoal inscription reading "the 16th day before the calends of November" point to October or November. [S]
- The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program records Vesuvius as an active stratovolcano with a long Holocene eruption history. [1]
References 270% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]50%en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79_ADen.wikipedia.org· Posted Sep 21, 2026· Starts Aug 24, 79 ✓· 50% of score
The day is genuinely disputed: "The large majority of extant medieval manuscript copies ... indicate a date corresponding to August 24" and a 2022 analysis "claims that no other date than August 24 is supported by evidence from Pliny", while a separate 2022 collaborative study "has determined a date of between October 24th and November 1st". The traditional 24 August is taken here and flagged estimated.
- [2]90%Global Volcanism Program | Vesuviusvolcano.si.edu· Added Sep 21, 2026· 50% of score
The Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program is the standing authority on the volcano's identity and eruption record; it confirms Vesuvius as the erupting edifice.[1]
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