Pliny the Elder, who died of asphyxiation after observing the destruction of Pompeii
by the 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The word Volcano is derived from the name of
the ancient Roman island
of Vulcano,
which lies off the southwest coast of Italy. The Romans believed that Vulcan, the
god of fire and the maker of weapons, used the volcano on that island to forge his
weapons.
