70 – 80s

Events in the 70s 2

• 70 Destruction of Jerusalem In 70 AD, Titus — son of Emperor Vespasian — besieges and destroys Jerusalem, ending the First Jewish-Roman War. The Second Temple is burned; the Arch of Titus in Rome commemorates the triumph with a relief of the Menorah being carried away. Perhaps 1.1 million Jews die in the siege and subsequent massacres; 97,000 are enslaved. The Jewish Diaspora — the dispersal of the Jewish people across the Mediterranean — accelerates dramatically. The Colosseum in Rome is built partly with the spoils of Jerusalem.
• 79 Eruption of Vesuvius — Pompeii destroyed On 24 August 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupts, burying the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae under metres of ash and pumice. Pompeii's 20,000 inhabitants have perhaps 18 hours to flee; those who remain are killed by the pyroclastic surge. The cities are preserved almost perfectly under the ash — a time capsule of Roman life. Pliny the Elder, commanding the fleet at Misenum, dies attempting to rescue survivors. His nephew Pliny the Younger watches from shore and writes the first eyewitness account of a volcanic eruption in history.