62 Pompeii earthquake

The 62 Pompeii earthquake occurred on 5 February 62 AD. It had an estimated magnitude of between 5 and 6 and a maximum intensity of IX or X on the Mercalli intensity scale. The towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were severely damaged. The earthquake may have been a precursor to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 that destroyed the same two towns. The contemporary philosopher and dramatist Seneca the Younger wrote an account of the earthquake in the sixth book of his Naturales quaestiones entitled De Terrae Motu (Concerning Earthquakes).