79AD: The Death of Pompeii and Herculaneum

A look at the volcano Vesuvius: how dangerous it was and how dangerous it remains. Stage by stage, the talk explores the massive eruption of 79 AD which destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, tying in scientific knowledge with the eye-witness accounts of the Roman writer Pliny the Younger who watched the whole thing from just 30 kilometres away.