This day continued the Vulcanalia, though unamed as such, and the fires of the previous night were allowed to burn out, or put out if they had been buildings in the city. The rite of mundus was performed this day, in which an effigy representing the sky was placed upside down in a pit and and covered with a large stone called the lapis manalis. Three times a year, including today, the stone was removed to allow the spirits of the underworld access to the upper regions of the earth.
      This is one of the days sacred to Ops, a goddess representing the fertility of the earth, also known as Consivia, whose festival begins tomorrow.
      On this day in 79 AD (DCCCXXXII A.V.C.), at 13:00, Mount Vesuvius erupted. The fact that this occurred during the Festival of Vulcan was no coincidence to the Romans. Pliny the Elder died during the eruption at Pompeii. He was on a boat that had made two trips to rescue citizens, but it did not make it back from a third attempt. He was an accomplished writer of Roman history and culture, and his son, Pliny the Younger followed in his footsteps.
      Rome was sacked for the second time on this day in 410 (MCLXIII A.V.C.). Alaric and the Visigoths took the city but Alaric died in the attack