Today in History
What went down and why you should care.
aug 24 Learn More Vesuvius Erupts
Mount Vesuvius erupted on this day in 79 A.D. The volcano released 100,000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and claimed 16,000 lives. In burying the cities, it also preserved them—right down to the graffiti on the walls, much of which is way too raunchy to reprint here. Okay, here's one of the tame ones, written on the House of Cuspius Pansa (and acting as a precursor to Yelp): "The finances officer of the emperor Nero says the food here is poison." One-star!
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