Past Perfect: The Day the Earth Shook

The earth had been shuddering for days, but nothing could prepare 17-year-old Pliny for the catastrophe that was about to unfold. On August 24, 79 A.D., an ominous column of gas and smoke rose high in the sky above Mount Vesuvius, just 18 miles across the Bay of Naples from the youth’s home in Misenum. There he lived with his mother and uncle, Gaius Plinius Secondus (23–79 A.D.), also known as Pliny the Elder. Pliny’s uncle, commander of the Misenum-based Roman fleet, courageously sailed off on a rescue mission to Stabiae, a town located near the base of the […]