Actress Emma Fielding reads Gillian Darley's 'Vesuvius, The Most Famous Volcano in the World'.

Dormant since 1944, but still a potential threat to those who live at its foot, Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the European mainland. In AD 79 thousands perished whilst fleeing the lava's path, hit by what is known as a pyroclastic surge, during which a hurtling jet of gas, carrying along the detritus of the eruption, at immense speed and horrifyingly high temperatures simply incinerated everything in its path. It was, in effect, a horizontal H-bomb and thousands perished.

Amongst the volcano's victims was Pliny the Elder, and on hand to record events was his nephew, Pliny the Younger. He wrote that the devastation was so complete that the inhabitants of Naples 'besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore.'

As the belief in the power of the gods gave way to Christianity, medieval Neapolitans adopted a patron saint, Saint Januarius, to defend them from the terrible ferocity of Vesuvius' power. The success of Januarius, (or San Gennaro to the Neapolitans), depended on the miraculous liquefaction of phials of his (allegedly) dried blood. He came into his own during the violent eruption of 1631, when he apparently intervened to halt the volcano's lava just short of the city.

After that, a whole chapel was given over to the cult of the saint. His head was placed by the altar along with the phials of his blood and a series of priests rocked slowly to and fro for hours, if not days. From them on, the inhabitants of Naples placed their entire faith in Januarius to save them from the volcano's fury.

With additional readings by Simon Tcherniak. Abridged by Olivia Seligman.

Producer: Olivia Seligman
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4. Show less