1 A warning

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CHAPTER 1 A warning February 5 AD79 It was a cold February morning when the people of Pompeii were woken by a dull rumble. Dogs suddenly leapt to their feet and began barking in the street.

At the baths, the surface of the water trembled- even though there were no bathers there at this hour to disturb it. As people clambered out of their beds, half asleep and confused, several sharp cracks rang out, as if a slave were breaking up stones. But it was too early for anyone to be working. One or two people ran to their doors and saw that the Temple of the Capitoline Triad had been damaged. Stones lay in a pile of rubble on the ground.

One of the statues had lost its head and a few of the central columns had long, angry cracks running down the middle.

And when the local baker. Terentius, returned home, he noticed that his oven had been damaged. The wreckage was everywhere. What had caused it? An earthquake. But Pompeii was used to regular earth tremors. So no one thought much more about it. The birds began singing again and people returned to the warmth of their beds. After all, no one had been hurt. Not yet...