Thursday, July 08, 2010

Vesuvius punishment from God?

WAS THE VESUVIUS ERUPTION PUNISHMENT FROM GOD for the destruction of Jerusalem according to ancient Jews? Hershel Shanks, writing in BAR, thinks so, on the basis of a passage in Sibylline Oracles 4 and a graffito from Pompeii:
The Destruction of Pompeii—God’s Revenge?

By Hershel Shanks

Nine years, almost to the day, after Roman legionaries destroyed God’s house in Jerusalem, God destroyed the luxurious watering holes of the Roman elite.

Was this God’s revenge?

That’s not exactly the question I want to raise, however. Rather, did anyone at the time see it that way? Did anyone connect the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70?

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I have a post on the eruption of Vesuvius here and one on Pompeii here that also involves the Sibylline Oracles, sort of. And here's a recent article on the pyroclastic surge that incinerated the inhabitants.