skunkbear:Mount Etna has the longest written record of eruptions of any volcano. The first eruptio
skunkbear: Mount Etna has the longest written record of eruptions of any volcano. The first eruption on record (mentioned by Greek historian named Diodorus of Sicily the first century BC) happened some 3400 years ago. Diodorus’ contemporary, the Roman poet Virgil, wrote these words in the Aeneid:There’s a harbour, itself large and untroubled by the passing winds,but Etna rumbles nearby with fearsome avalanches,now it spews black clouds into the sky, smoking,with pitch-black turbulence, and glowing ashes,and throws up balls of flame, licking the stars:now it hurls high the rocks it vomits, and the mountain’storn entrails, and gathers molten lava together in the airwith a roar, boiling from its lowest depths.and an even earlier ode by Greek poet Pindar (written cerca 475 BC)…snow-covered Aetna, year-round nurse of bitter frost, from whose inmost caves belch forth the purest streams of unapproachable fire. In the daytime her rivers roll out a fiery flood of smoke, while in the darkness of night the crimson flame hurls rocks down to the deep plain of the sea with a crashing roar. That monster shoots up the most terrible jets of fire; it is a marvelous wonder to see, and a marvel even to hear about when men are present.Mount Etna violently erupted again on December 3rd, 2015 for less than an hour. See remarkable footage of the ensuing lightning storm here. -- source link