In the Christian era that succeeded the pagan one, the destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD was always thought of in apocalyptic terms, much like the Biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by "fire and brimstone." It was felt that the sudden devastation of the beautiful Italian coastal cities was an act of God, a punishment for the peoples' worldly and decadent lifestyles.
This view is reflected in Edward Lytton's famous novel from 1834, "The Last Days of Pompeii," and has served as the template for subsequent responses to the stirrings of the Earth, even influencing the recent response to the European air-travel chaos caused by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, which some of the ecologically-minded saw as "Gaia's revenge" for our wasteful high-carbon lifestyles.
In a country in which a sleeping volcano — Mount Fuji — is the national icon, however, a less guilt-ridden view prevails, as seen at the exhibition of statues, frescoes and other artifacts from the excavated Roman cities now on display at the Yokohama Museum of Art.