The day commenced like any other in the coastal Roman towns that hugged the Bay of Naples. Another hot August morning was underway as townspeople in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other smaller communities began to gather in public places as they ate, bathed, and discussed current events. No one could have ever imagined how violently their lives were about to change as the nearby sleeping giant known as Mt. Vesuvius readied for a cataclysmic end to its slumber. 

Life came to a grinding halt at approximately 1:00 pm that fateful day in 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius awakened with a terrifying eruption. Seismic pressure had reached a critical point; molten rock and magma had nowhere to go. Citizens gasped in unbelieving horror as they witnessed a sinister spiral of ash, pumice, and hot gasses spew skyward at the rate of one and a half tons every two seconds.