<P> Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum , as well as several other settlements . The eruption ejected a cloud of stones , ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 33 km ( 21 mi ) , spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 6 × 10 cubic metres ( 7.8 × 10 cu yd ) per second , ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima - Nagasaki bombings . More than 1,000 people died in the eruption , but exact numbers are unknown . The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus . </P>
<P> Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum , as well as several other settlements . The eruption ejected a cloud of stones , ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 33 km ( 21 mi ) , spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 6 × 10 cubic metres ( 7.8 × 10 cu yd ) per second , ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima - Nagasaki bombings . More than 1,000 people died in the eruption , but exact numbers are unknown . The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus . </P>
when did mount vesuvius erupt for the first time
when did mount vesuvius erupt for the first time
AD 79
AD 79