Mount Vesuvius Begins Stirring

Date: August 23, 79 • Location: Sant'Anastasia, Italy

Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

AD 79 (LXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Titus and Vespasianus. The denomination AD 79 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.