![]() ![]() Maybe this description was made after Mount Vesuvius erupted. ![]() It is strange that Cassius mentions a large crate instead of a flat summit as other contemporary historians. The higher ground of that mountain is covered by many trees and vines… ![]() the fire consumes the rocks in the middle, however the peaks around retain their ancient height, but the inner part, consumed by fire and time, has become hollow and was refilled by sediments, so that the entire mountain looks like an amphitheater. Mount Vesuvius overlooks the sea … and contains copious sources of fire, the summit is of regular shape, so that the fire is found in the center. Historian Dio Cassius, who gives the most detailed description, wrote: In the background of a (today lost) fresco from the "House of the Citharist", discovered between 18, a couple (identified as either Aeneas and Dido or Mars and Venus) is shown relaxing in the shade of a flat-topped mountain. The top is mostly flat, without vegetation and of grayish color, it shows deep fissures, whose reddish rocks seems have been eroded by time.Īnother, lesser-known drawing from Pompeii seems to support Strabo’s description. Vesuvius Mons overlooks these cities, covered entirely, with the exception of the summit, by cultivated fields. Indeed, Strabo described the slopes of Vesuvius as being covered by vineyards and forests, but he also mentioned a flat top or a volcanic dome (?) without vegetation - a detail not shown in the fresco. That fresco, however, doesn't quite match contemporary accounts. ![]()
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