Circus Maximus and the Colosseum

Circus Maximus means the biggest circle. Circus Maximus was a race track for charriot races, like NAASCAR today. All of the people in St. Paul, Minnesota could fit in Circus Maximus. It was 7 football fields long. People went there because they wanted to see the races. They had their own teams they wanted to win, like we do today. Chariot racing was not safe at all because the people who were driving the chariots had to tie reigns on their chest. If the driver fell out of the chariot he would have to cut the reigns very quickly or he would get trampled and dragged and maybe die.
All of the people in Mankato, Minnesota could fit in the Colosseum. The Colosseum was for entertaining people. People liked to see Gladiators kill and fight each other. I do not think that that would be a good entertainment at all. Gladiators were slaves and prisoners. They fought because people forced them to.

Mount Vesuvius Errupts

This picture is copied from here.

Around the time of Nero, there was a little city called Pomeii. Close by Pompeii there was a mountain called Mount Vesuvis. Mount Vesivius was a volcano. The volcano was about to errupt. The people in Pompeii were having a nice time and a good morning, the same morning as every morning. People would go, taking their carts into the streets, they would sell vegetables, cooks would cook their bread and visitors in Pompeii would look at fine jewlrey. In other places people would pray and eat. No one knew that Mount Vesuvius was going to errupt. Then Mount Vesuvius errupted and the people were trapped under hot ashes and they died. Other people escaped. Pliny, a little boy, saw this hapenning from a safe place. Pliny did not forget that day. When he got older he wrote stories about Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. No one knew were Pompeii was because it was covered completely. Then some people were digging a well and they hit something hard. They thought it was a rock, but no, it was not a rock, it was a statue. They also found a stone that said POMPEII and they were extrememly excited that they found Pompeii.

For more information, you can read Pompei...Buried Alive by Edith Kunhardt.