The Most Powerful Volcanic Eruptions Through History

Few know that as Rome’s Republic collapsed, it may have been shadowed by an Arctic volcano. Okmok’s eruption spewed ash that drifted toward the Mediterranean, altering climate and triggering crop failure. Ancient historians wrote of “strange mists” and “a sun without warmth.” Amid this darkness, Caesar’s world unraveled —

famine fed unrest, and republics turned to empire. Thousands of years later, ice cores confirmed the connection: the Arctic had whispered into Rome’s downfall.