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Vesuvius

5 stories from this place.

The Cabinet June 27, 2026 · Mount Vesuvius region

The Thracian Gladiator Who Led 70,000 Slaves Through Italy for Two Years and Was Killed Without His Body Being Found in 71 BCE

Spartacus and 70 other gladiators escaped a Capua training school in 73 BCE. The revolt grew to approximately 70,000 escaped slaves and was the most serious internal threat to the Roman Republic between the Hannibalic War and the Civil Wars. Crassus defeated Spartacus's army at the Battle of the Siler River in spring 71 BCE. Spartacus's body was not identified after the battle.

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The Footnote June 26, 2026 · Stabiae, Bay of Naples

The Roman Admiral Who Sailed Toward the Erupting Volcano to Rescue People and Died on the Beach

Pliny the Elder commanded the Roman naval fleet at Misenum on 24 August 79 AD when Vesuvius erupted. He ordered the fleet to evacuate civilians from the affected shore. He died on the beach at Stabiae approximately twenty hours later, probably of a heart attack triggered by inhaled volcanic gas. His nephew Pliny the Younger wrote the eyewitness account.

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The Footnote June 25, 2026 · Pompeii Airfield

The Last Eruption of Vesuvius Destroyed Eighty American B-25 Bombers Parked at the Foot of the Mountain

Vesuvius erupted between 17 and 23 March 1944, while Allied forces were operating from a temporary airbase at Pompeii Airfield approximately 8 km from the volcano. The eruption's ashfall destroyed approximately 80 American B-25 medium bombers parked at the field — the largest single-event loss of American aircraft to a non-combat cause in the European theatre.

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The Cabinet June 24, 2026 · Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum

The Only Classical Library That Survived Antiquity Was Buried Intact at Herculaneum

When [Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD](/articles/vesuvius-pompeii-79), it buried a Roman seaside villa at Herculaneum under 25 metres of pyroclastic debris. Inside the villa was a working library of about 1,800 papyrus scrolls — the only intact classical library that has ever been recovered. The scrolls were carbonised by the heat. Modern X-ray imaging is finally reading them.

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