Support the assertion that "much of what we know about everyday Roman life is a direct result of the Vesuvius eruption."

What will be an ideal response?

The ideal answer should include:
- Due to the abrupt eruption, those who survived left their homes in a hurry, and were unable to recover anything they left behind. Buried under the ashes were not only homes and buildings but also food and paintings, furniture and garden statuary, even pornography and graffiti.
- When Pompeii was excavated, beginning in the eighteenth century, many of the homes and artifacts were found to be relatively well preserved. The hardened lava and ash had protected them from the ravages of time. But eighteenth-century excavators also discovered something unexpected. By filling the hollows where the bodies of those caught in the eruption had decomposed, they captured images of horrific death.
- The writings of Pliny the Younger provide details about the response of the eruption as well as the accounts of survivors.