| A | B |
|---|
| August 23-24 | date of eruption in 79 A.D. |
| A.D. | anno domini or "in the year of our Lord" |
| 79 A.D. | date of eruption which destroyed Pompeii |
| 1944 | last time Vesuvius erupted |
| Plinian eruption | named after Pliny the Younger who described the eruption |
| Pliny the Younger | 17 year old who experienced the eruption and wrote about it |
| Herculaneum | destroyed by volcanic mud |
| vulcanologist | scientist who studies volcanoes |
| Stabiae | destroyed by ash and pumice |
| Pompeii | destroyed by ash and pumice |
| Misenum | town where Pliny watched the eruption |
| Bay of Naples | body of water nearest to Pompeii |
| dormant volcano | sleeping volcano |
| plaster casts | used to get the shapes of Vesuvius victims |
| National Museum of Naples | where the excavated finds from the Vesuvian eruptions are displayed |
| 1594 | Pompeii was rediscovered |
