Ancient Greek mythology used to be based on the belief that Mount Etna which is located on the island of Sicily, be the home of the Vulcan, the god of fire. It is one of Sicily’s main attractions. Mount Etna erupting, to the people, meant Vulcan was forging weapons for Mars, the god of war.
It can also be said that it is one of the oldest volcanoes, which is about 350,000 years old. . Mount Etna covers an area of 1,190km² and is over twice the size of the next largest mountain in Italy, Mount Vesuvius. The Sicilians have a special name for Mount Etna; they refer to the mountain as ‘Mungibeddu’ colloquially meaning ‘Beautiful Mountain’. Dating back to 1500 B.C., the volcano has erupted around 200 times.
The soil encircling the mountain is said to be very fertile. The height of a volcano is determined by the accumulation of layers of solidified lava and ashes, Hence the biggest volcano in the world is probably Mauna Loa, in Hawaii.
The biggest volcanic eruption by Mount Etna was on March 8th, 1669, killing almost twenty thousand people approximately. The volcano gushed out huge amounts of molten lava and rock out with such force that ash was reportedly seen over 100 miles away, killing approximately three thousand people living on the slopes and the people of the nearby city of Catania.
Text by: Ankita Dutta, IBTN9
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