I’ve often wondered how much warning time the citizens had regarding a potential eruption; days prior to the event, there must have been some tremors, excessive steam, etc,.
Remember when Mount Saint Helens blew its top in 1980… There was warning for a few weeks that something was imminent.
They had alittle time as some were leaving by boat, but I think (from a documentary) They ran out of time.
The relationship between quakes and tsunamis was understood (not the science, just the relationship), as seen by Poseidon Earthshaker — Greek god of the seas and quakes. In Greece, the Aegean, etc, the sea is often nearby.
Volcanoes were known and attributed to Roman Vulcan (Greek Hephaestus) but not all mountains are/were volcanoes, and the last major eruption of Vesuvius was already more than 1000 years in the past when it blew in 79 AD. The fertility of the soil was recognized, but the fact that it was a volcano was not. Whoops.
quake in 62 AD:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4258065/posts?page=10#10
Nola etc:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/584970/posts
https://freerepublic.com/tag/afragola/index
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4235768/posts?page=3#3