Modern days of Pompeii

ONE OF my favourite history stories from primary school days is that of Pompeii.

It was the story of a city in ancient times that was wiped out so suddenly and so completely by a volcano that many of its citizens were frozen in their final agonising moments and then re-discovered centuries later; the story of horror on a biblical scale and of the ghosts that haunt it. Much has been learned about Roman civilisation from findings at Pompeii, yet the discovery of the city raised so many other questions too.

How come they couldn’t get away in time? Will the volcano erupt again?