On this day, October the 17th, in the year of 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, leading to the destruction of multiple Roman cities, Pompeii being the most notable among them.

The famed eruption of Mount Vesuvius is most known for the effects it had on nearby city Pompeii, with harrowing accounts of death and survival being passed down and told through multiple generations.

While an exact number will never be known, estimates say around 30,000 died due to the eruption (Live Science).

For most of history, the eruption was thought to have happened on August 24th, however, recent discoveries have dated the event to October 17th, though other dates around the same time are also possibilities (BBC).

Today, the ruins of Pompeii are a heavily visited tourist attraction, with researchers still finding new buildings and bodies frozen in time (due to being buried in hundreds of years of ash, rubble, ect.) to today.