Run sail or hide How to survive the destruction of Pompeii Gary Devore
It’s a bustling day in Pompeii.
Fabia visits the Temple of Venus and
offers a sacrificial dove to the goddess,
asking her to bless
her brother’s upcoming wedding.
After a quick visit to the market,
she spots her brothers, Lucius and Marcus,
crossing the Forum.
They’re off to relax at the public baths.
Marcus spent the morning helping a master
craftsman lay a grand mosaic floor
while Lucius worked in the brickyard.
It’s been 17 years since an earthquake hit
Pompeii and its neighbor Herculaneum,
and there’s still construction
and repair work to do.
Fabia and her brothers discuss the recent
tremors everyone’s been feeling.
Lucius jokes that there’ll always be work
for men who rebuild walls in Pompeii.
He tells them how eager he is to bind
hands with his sponsa, or bride-to-be.
The siblings begin discussing
tomorrow’s wedding—
but a deafening boom interrupts them.
They watch Vesuvius spew smoke, ash,
and rock high into the air—
and realize they’ve been living
in the shadow of a volcano.
They embrace and pray to Venus
for protection and Vulcan for mercy.
Each must now choose how to survive.
They have three options:
seek shelter, escape to the south on foot,
or flee to the west by sea.
Lucius rushes home
but can’t find his sponsa.
He decides to wait for her
and lights an oil lamp.
Ash and pumice begin raining over Pompeii.
Fabia shelters with her husband,
Claudius, and their daughters.
But after a few hours, their roof groans
under the weight of volcanic debris,
and they realize they can’t stay.
They decide to travel southeast,
away from the volcano.
The family joins swarms of people wading
through hot ash on the cardo maximus
and begins navigating towards
one of Pompeii’s southern gates.
Marcus finally reaches his home
in Herculaneum
and gathers his wife and children.
They decide to escape by sea.
But as they approach the docks,
they discover waves brimming
with volcanic matter,
making it impossible for boats
to navigate close enough to shore.
Trying to keep calm for their children,
they huddle underneath covered boat docks.
Now, the deadliest phase
of the disaster begins.
At this point, the force throwing
the volcanic material, or tephra,
into the air diminishes,
and it comes crashing down.
Hot ash and noxious gas billow out
in a wave known as a pyroclastic surge.
This first surge engulfs Herculaneum.
One hour later,
another three times as strong
collapses the town’s remaining structures.
These have yet to reach Pompeii,
but buildings are ablaze
in the hot, sulfurous air.
Lucius climbs out of his closet
and tries his front door,
but a deep blanket of ash and stone
won’t let it budge.
His lamp flickers and dies.
After more than 14 hours, at times walking
through ash up to their chests,
Fabia, her family, and the others
who left early enough,
climb the southern Latarri mountains.
They reach a peak and pause to look back.
Another pyroclastic surge rushes across
the valley, crashes into Pompei,
and sheers off the upper levels
of the town’s buildings.
Fighting back tears, Fabia continues
to push her family on towards safety,
praying for her brothers
and fellow townspeople.
According to modern analysis, the eruption
may have lasted days or weeks.
When it was over, almost
300 square kilometers were decimated,
and Pompeii and Herculaneum lay
under up to 65 feet of tephra.
Despite some disorganized
looting and digging,
these towns remained buried until official
excavations began in the mid-1800s.
Archaeologists have since analyzed
skeletal evidence and volcanic deposits
to reconstruct a timeline of Herculaneum
and Pompeii’s final moments.
They’ve revealed a poignant glimpse at the
experiences of the eruption’s victims.
Much of our understanding
of ancient Roman life—
from food and furniture
to architecture and economics—
comes from these ruins.
In their time, they were simply
provincial towns in the Bay of Naples.
But their rediscovery has given us an
unparalleled view into the ancient world
and the lives that were devastated
by disaster.