Travel back in time to Pompeii for an inside look at daily life in the ancient city and experience first-hand its ultimate destruction.

A Model Roman City
By AD 79, Pompeii had become a prosperous commercial center with an industrious, creative and growing population. At the time of its destruction, the city supported between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants. Visit a computer-generated model of Pompeii for an inside view of daily life in the Roman Empire.

The Day of Destruction
Unaware of approaching disaster, the inhabitants of Pompeii were proceeding with life as usual the day Vesuvius erupted. Get an inside view of life in Pompeii during the moments before the eruption.

Eyewitness Account
Learning of an unusual cloud formation—later found to have resulted from an eruption of Mount Vesuvius—noted Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder, went ashore at Stabiae to ascertain the cause and to reassure the terrified citizens. He was said to have been overcome by the fumes resulting from the volcanic activity. Join his nephew, Pliny the Younger, for a vivid eyewitness account of the destruction.

Deaths at Vesuvius
Shortly after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, surges of pyroclastic material and heated gas, known as nuées ardentes, reached the city walls and quickly asphyxiated those residents who had not been killed by falling debris. Gain insight from modern volcanologists as they describe how so many people died at Pompeii.