Happy Vesuvius Day.
It seems strange to say “happy” since we’re commemorating a volcanic eruption that killed a lot of people. Most people have heard of the 79 AD eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and seen pictures of the casts of the dead. However, I was curious about a different part of this famous event. How do we know it erupted on August 24?
As I have discussed before, there have been many different calendars, and they don’t match. We say that Mt. Vesuvius erupted at noon on August 24, 79 AD; I believe we have adjusted that day for our modern calendars (at least, I assume so.) But how did they find a date to adjust?
Pliny the Elder was a famous man back around 79 AD. He wrote a ton of books and was a learned man. Unfortunately, he died during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius while trying to rescue some friends. His son, Pliny the Younger, wrote about his father’s death, giving us the date of the eruption.
However, that date has been questioned by some scientists. Seeds have been found that date the eruption later in the fall. In 2018, an inscription was found on a wall in Pompeii that places the eruption around October 17. This is not conclusive evidence (it’s tough to disagree with Pliny the Elder), but this makes sense to me. Dating an event that happened almost 2000 years ago can’t be easy, if for no other reason than calendars change all the time.
Vesuvius Day is still celebrated on today, but perhaps we could change it to Pliny the Elder Day to commemorate his death, although if he did die in the eruption, his death day might be up for debate too.
I like holidays like this one because it makes us ask questions, something I love to do.