Dio Cassius writes:
“ . it buried two entire cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii; the latter place while its populace was seated in the theatre. Indeed, the amount of dust, taken all together, was so great that some of it reached Africa and Syria and Egypt, and it also reached Rome, filling the air overhead and darkening the sun. There, too, no little fear was occasioned, that lasted for several days, since the people did not know and could not imagine what had happened, but, like those close at hand, believed that the whole world was being turned upside down, that the sun was disappearing into the earth and that the earth was being lifted to the sky,”
Dio Cassius (AD 150-235)
Marcus Valerius Martialis writes:
“Observe Vesuvius. Not long ago it was covered with the grapevine’s green shade, and a famous grape wet, nay drowned the vats here. Bacchus loved the shoulders of this mountain more than the hills of Nysa [his birthplace], satyrs used to join their dances here. Here was a haunt of Venus, more pleasant than Lacedaemon to her, here was a place where Hercules left his name. It all lies buried by flames and mournful ash. Even the gods regret that their powers extended to this.”
Roman Poet Marcus Valerius Martialis (AD 40-104)
Pliny the Younger was not the only person to have recorded the eruption in 79 AD.
The End of Pompeii and Herculaneum (August 24-25, A.D. 79) Part 3 of 3