79 AD-When

Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. The long, catastrophic eruption lasted 2 days. Pompeii was buried under 60 ft of ash and pumice. Herculaneum, its sister city, was also destroyed and completely buried. Pompeii was lost for almost 1,700 years, until is was accidentally discovered in 1748. Pompeii is now a ruined and partially buried town-city near Naples, in Campania, in the comune of Pompei (sic). It now provides insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire.

Picture: http://www.dogsofpompeii.com/images/pompeii_temple_of_jupiter.jpg