Furthermore, the volcano began to send out smoke and small eruptions several days before the deadly eruption actually took place. The inhabitants had some early warnings of the imminent disaster: the city had actually been partially destroyed by an earthquake a few years before the volcano erupted. A once thriving Roman resort town, Pompeii was completely buried in ash after the eruption of nearby Mt. For centuries, however, Pompeii was actually a forgotten city. Via: The story of Pompeii is well-known today and has been retold and mythologized in numerous stories and movies in recent times. 6 Pompeii, Italy – Volcanic eruption in 79 BCE In 1988, the site of the ancient city finally began to be excavated and excavations continue to be carried out in the area. In the 19 th and 20 th centuries, scientists and archeologists were keen to explore the ruins with the assistance of new technology. For thousands of years, the site where the city was lost attracted curious spectators who could still see some remnants of the city under water, including walls and massive statues. It is said that all of its inhabitants perished, the merciless sea even swallowing ships that had been anchored in the harbor. As soon as the earthquake hit, the city sank underground and was absorbed by the sea. However, in the winter of 373 BCE, strange things began to take place in the city: immense columns of flame appeared and animals and vermin suddenly and mysteriously ran away. This Bronze Age city, which was also an important cultural and religious center, was even affluent enough to form its own colonies in what is modern-day Italy. Via: Helike was an ancient Greek city that was lost to the sea after a massive earthquake and tsunami took place in 373 BCE. The earthquake might have liquefied the ground, essentially turning the ground into quicksand and resulting in the cities tumbling into the Dead Sea.Ĩ Thonis (Heracleion), Egypt - sank into the ocean in the 6th or 7th century BCE Other theories suggest an earthquake could have occurred. A cloud of smoke could have been visible for hundreds of miles and certainly would have been a compelling enough story to survive the ages. Once the asteroid entered the atmosphere, it would have exploded, turning into a fireball and causing a number of fires on the ground. This theory has been fueled by a clay tablet that was discovered and appears to have a record of an asteroid falling from the sky. One of the most well-known narratives in the Old Testament tells of the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed by “fire and brimstone.” Although archeologists still disagree about whether the cities even existed (and by extension whether its famous demise by fire really took place), some scientists believe that an asteroid could have caused the destruction of the two cities. 9 Sodom and Gomorrah, near the Dead Sea – Fire in ancient times Although there is still some debate as to whether this was, in fact, the mythical Iram of the Pillars/Ubar, it is an interesting place nonetheless. After thousands of years of use, many believe that the underwater basins dried out enough to cause the ground on the surface to collapse into a sinkhole, wiping out the entire city (and any concrete memory of the city) with it. It appears that the city, which was for thousands of years located amongst several wealthy frankincense trade routes, had been drawing from the underground reserves of water in order to sustain the city and its inhabitants and visitors. Excavations of the area revealed an octagonal fort with towers. This place was a well-known watering hole in the vast desert. In 1992, NASA satellites noticed a network of roads leading to a place in the Arabian Peninsula in present-day Oman. According to legend, God drove the city, which was famous for its massive towers, into the sands and was never seen again. There is some ambiguity surrounding its existence: scholars have been uncertain whether Ubar or Iram was an area, the name of a tribe, or a reference to a city. Once thought to be a mythical city and often referred to as Iram or Ubar, this location has been featured in works ranging from the Qu’ran, The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, and in the writings of Ptolemy.
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