Vesuvio!

I found this video to accompany my story. It might be a good thing, even for the soundtrack rather than the visual, to have on whilst reading to create an atmosphere:

The ground had been rumbling but the people of Pompeii had lived with these movements before and they had come to nothing. Some talked of the gods expressing their displeasure over something but in the bright skies of the Bay of Naples, life was good and no-one thought that their lives were in any mortal danger.

Cornelia had been walking with her daughter, Cassia, taking some fresh bread to her sister, Bellona, a few streets away.

The day was fine, full of promise. They would share a lunch together and talk before Cornelia and Cassia returned home and Cornelia was looking forward to discussing her husband's latest harebrained scheme with someone who shared her views.

Cassia was skipping beside her, dodging through other pedestrians, carts rumbling past, happily going about their business.

When the sky shattered with an explosion that spewed and caked, the noise was terrifying. Shrieks rose everywhere and eyes immediately moved to the great conical peak that dominated the horizon.

"Vesuvio!"

Cries went up and whilst some people stopped to look wondrously, others moved into action, propelling themselves to places of shelter or making their way home to their loved ones to form a plan of action.

Cassia rushed to her mother and said, "What is it, Mama?"

Cornelia didn't want to alarm her daughter but as the pumice started to rain down small silver marbles, intent on encasement and absorption, she merely picked her up and ran. The ground as she knew it was starting to disappear and it was so hot, scaldingly so.

It was torturous. Precious minutes passed and Cornelia made no headway in the panicked crowds. She thought of Bellona and getting to her but soon realised that this was not going to happen as ash drifted its white hot feathers to lightly burn her skin.

Fear and heat drove her into an open doorway. At least here, they would be sheltered. She held Cassia to her as she did when she was tiny, jiggling her and pressing her mouth to her ear to soothe.

She watched as the ash and pumice slowly rose in the doorway like a sealing shield and feared for her life.

***

366 words

They are still excavating Pompeii and continue to find the bodies of its residents after that fateful day. I watched a programme about it the other night and it is a story that continues to fascinate me.

I can recommend Robert Harris' book Pompeii as a great way to visualise the eruption and the effects it had on the people as it happened:

I have been to Pompeii and Herculaneum and it is eerie, the intactness of these places. I have also climbed Vesuvius which was bubbling and sulphurous on the day of my ascent. Amongst some of the saddest sarcophagi I have ever seen are the casts made of the bodies .

They say that Vesuvius is overdue another eruption.

Roman history is on my mind at the moment due to the amount of material on TV currently. If you liked this, you may like this story about Hadrian and his lover, Antinous:

Thanks for stopping by! If you do read this, please do leave a comment as I love to interact with my readers.

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