Pompeii

Attilius, decent, practical, and incorruptible promises Pliny, the famous scholar who commands the Navy based in the Bay of Naples, that he can repair the aqueduct before the water supply for a quarter of a million people, runs dry. When Attilius arrives to the water source, somewhere north of Pompeii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, he discovers there are powerful forces at work, both natural and man-made, threatening to destroy him. The story takes place in the Italy of 67 AD