![]() Utter incineration of buildings, animals and plants alike. ![]() “Then the Lord caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven”-or sulfur, as other translations read-“and He overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground” (Genesis 19:24-25). The sheer intensity of destruction at Pompeii and Herculaneum hearkens to the biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah. The blood and organs of these victims would have been vaporized by the heat, their bodies carbonized. For example, the fourth pyroclastic surge released by the mountain blew into Pompeii at over 320 kilometers per hour, with temperatures exceeding 300 degrees Celsius.įamous are the over 1,000 casts of body impressions preserved in the ash. Based on the location and series of pyroclastic surges (“waves” of gas and debris), temperatures would have fluctuated at Pompeii from a “cool” 100 degrees Celsius under the “protection” of collapsed roofs, up to many times that outside. So far, the remains of 1,500 have been identified.Īsh at Pompeii accumulated, in some areas, up to a depth of nearly 10 meters. Herculaneum and Pompeii combined had a population of 20,000. The total energy released from the volcano, which erupted for two days, was equivalent to 100,000 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. 1.5 million tons of debris and molten rock were launched every second. The erupting Mount Vesuvius ejected material over 30 kilometers high, into the stratosphere. While speculatory and inconclusive, the article did help to highlight the wider question-did the ancients believe the disaster was punishment from God (or “the gods”)? And the affirmative is clear. ![]() Hershel Shanks, former editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, published an interesting editorial in 2010 titled “ The Destruction of Pompeii-God’s Revenge?” His premise was to examine if anyone at the time of the catastrophe believed it was retribution for the Roman destruction of the temple in Jerusalem nine years earlier (nearly to the day, as was then believed-however, new research indicates the eruption occurred probably one to two months later). (Scientists initially thought the heat would have killed them instantly-new analysis shows this was not the case.) Additionally, evidence has identified (with near certainty) the skull of Pliny the Elder, the famous Roman philosopher who was killed while attempting to rescue citizens on his ship. Recent research has revealed that the hundreds of citizens who became trapped in Herculaneum’s boathouses while trying to escape would have suffered an excruciating death-literally being slow-roasted alive, while choking on noxious fumes. Eerie discoveries are continually being made at the site (as well as nearby Herculaneum), showing the level of abject destruction.Ī recent discovery revealed that intense heat given off by the eruption caused one victim’s brain to turn to glass. 79 absolutely incinerated the city with intense heat and pyroclastic flow, leaving decimated buildings and carbonized human forms frozen in their last moments of panic before death. The utter destruction of Pompeii has become legendary.
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