Pompeii - The Last Day (Tonight 9pm ET on Discovery Channel)

[Dover]

The Long, Deathly Silence
By Rossella Lorenzi


"You could hear women lamenting, children crying, men shouting. There were some so afraid of death that they prayed for death. Many raised their hands to the gods, and even more believed that there were no gods any longer and that this was one unending night for the world." — Pliny the Younger, circa A.D. 97 to 109

It all lasted 19 hours.

Then, there was only a long, deathly silence. Pompeii lay buried for nearly 1,700 years. It wasn't until 1748 that archaeologists began slowly uncovering the ancient city, preserved under 9 feet of volcanic ash and frozen in time by Pliny the Younger's vivid report.

About three-fifths of the city has been liberated from the solidified volcanic ash and pumice that engulfed it. But many questions remained unanswered for a long time.

What was life like under the volcano? What exactly did happen that summer day in A.D. 79? Here we take a look into the latest findings.

TAKE THE JOURNEY »

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/history/history.html

[deminflorida]

1. I used to live there. Napoli that is, for almost ten years.....

Right in the shadow of Vesuvius. I used to think about the volcano all the time. It never really worried me. That area of Italy is so beautiful. Now that I'm back stateside, I really miss what I had in Europe.

[havocmom]

2. The Weather Channel had a good thing on volcanos last night

Did you see it? Good video of several blasts and lots of info on lahars.
Havocdad was out of the country when Mt. St. Helens blew, so a lot of the video was new to him.

Had the Discovery Channel send me an email reminder. What a cool service that is for aging dunderheads like moi! Now if I had checked my email sooner, I wouldn't have missed the show about Retrievers!

[Dr.Phool]

3. It seemed like about 5 channels had something

On Volcanoes yesterday. I watched the Weather Channel.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. Thanks for the reminder! nt

[Dover]

5. I don't have cable so hope someone will let us know what the program

is like. Learn anything new?