Pompeii was a prosperous and busy city. They were considered to be the largest city, and was even more cosmopolitan than Rome. Everyone was acting normally and bustling around. The architectures and paintings that were preserved till today showed that they built great structures and painted exquisite pictures.
The earthquake tremors began somewhere around noon on August 23, 79. Up till the same time, the next day, the ground shook more frequently and people still didn't realize there was something very wrong. It was when the volcano started spraying out ash and blocking the sunlight, turning the day into a living nightmare, did the people start fleeing and evacuating. Gladiators roamed the streets, snickering and saying " We are gladiators, nothing can harm us!" and cold, dense rocks started falling from the sky and everyone who was outdoors died, because the rocks hit their heads and they either died from losing too much blood or from pure shock.
When the rocks fell from the gray, clouded sky and people had to place pillows/soft objects on their heads to prevent them from getting hit on the head. Few people stayed in their homes for various reasons: mostly their houses, or family. Others fled as fast as they could. They just died from thermal shock.
The clouds of gas that floated above Pompeii were as hot as boiling water. Death was instantaneous. People didn't burn, they turned into dust.
After watching CSI:Pompeii, I learnt that some of the richest residents in Pompeii refused to leave because of their pride, reputation and money.
Supposedly, slaves worked for their masters for the rest of their lives, but a majority of them panicked and fled to the South. A kinder master, who chose to stay inside his villa, because his relative was pregnant, set his slaves free so that they could live. However, the slaves were loyal and chose to stay with their master and hope and pray for this strange disaster to end. Sadly, most of the houses cannot withstand anything stronger than rain, and the house was crushed flat in no time.
1st picture: A man who was praying for safety. He is preserved until today!
2nd picture: An edited picture of what was supposed to look like when the gas-cloud covered Pompeii.
THE END.
