Herculaneum

Let's begin with the smaller (and better) two sites. 

Herculaneum, like Pompeii, was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt Vesuvius in Ad 79. The fact that the eruption was so quick and the way the two cities were buried so deeply meant that they were preserved for hundreds of years, before being rediscovered. Here's just a few pictures to show you what Herculaneum was like, 

The last image, for me is the saddest. Unlike Ostia Antica, where the site was slowly abandoned over the centuries, Pompeii and Herculaneum were still working cities, and thier world ended in a very abrupt and brutal fashion. We will never know how many people died on that day, but whatever the number, we know that it was a horrible death. Buried alive by the falling ash, suffocated by gasses, killed as your house collapsed under the weight of the volcanic debrits on the roof, or worst of, your lings being incinerated as you breathed air that was over 200°c. It would be have been horrific. 

The lesson for us all to learn, is where we live really worth it? It's a question that perplexes some of us. Let us just hope that next time we can evaluate these places better.