How many people died in Pompeii?

Mount Vesuvius, an Italian volcano near the Bay of Naples, has erupted 50 times. The volcano’s most famous eruption occurred in 79 A.D. when it buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash.

Pompeii was buried under millions of tonnes of volcanic ash by the time the Vesuvius eruption sputtered to an end the next day. Around 2,000 Pompeians perished, but the eruption claimed the lives of up to 16,000 people.

Some people returned to town in search of long-lost relatives or personal belongings, but there was little to be found. For centuries, Pompeii, along with the nearby town of Herculaneum and several villas in the area, was abandoned.

Pompeii continued to remain untouched until 1748 when a group of explorers in search of antiquities arrived in Campania and began digging. They discovered that the ashes had worked wonders as a preservative: Pompeii was almost exactly as it had been nearly 2,000 years before beneath all that dust.

Its structures were undamaged. Skeletons were frozen in place, exactly where they had fallen. The streets were littered with everyday objects and household goods. Archaeologists later discovered jars of preserved fruit and bread loaves.