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Herculaneum (in modern Italian Ercolano) is an ancient Roman town, located in the territory of the current commune of Ercolano. Its ruins can be found at the co-ordinates 40°48′21″N 14°20′51″E / 40.80583, 14.3475, in the Italian region of Campania.
It is most famous for having been lost, along with Pompeii, Stabiae and Oplontis, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius beginning on August 24, 79 AD, which buried them in superheated pyroclastic material that has solidified into volcanic tuff. Since the discovery of bones in 1981, some 150 skeletons have been found. Herculaneum was a smaller town with a wealthier.
Ancient tradition connected Herculaneum with the name of the Greek hero Herakles (Hercules in Latin and consequently Roman Mythology),[1] an indication that the city was of Greek origin. In fact, it seems that some forefathers of the Samnite tribes of the Italian mainland founded the first civilization on the site of Herculaneum at the end of the 6th century BC. Soon after, the town came under Greek control and was used as a trading post because of its proximity to the Gulf of Naples. The Greeks named the city Herculaneum. In the 4th century BC, Herculaneum again came under the domination of the Samnites. The city remained under Samnite control until it became a Roman municipium in 89 BC, when, having participated in the Social War ("war of the allies" against Rome), it was defeated by Titus Didius, a legate of Sulla.
After the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, the town of Herculaneum was buried under approximately 20 meters (50-60 feet) of lava.
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Letter from Pliny the younger
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[...] A black and terrible cloud, rent by snaking bursts of fire, gaped open in huge flashes of flames; it was like lightning, but far more extensive [...]
Soon afterwards, the cloud lowered towards the earth and covered the sea [...]Then my mother began to beg [...] me to try to escape as best I could [...]
Ashes were already falling, but not yet thickly. .. When night fell, not one such as when there is no moon or the sky is cloudy, but a night like being in a closed place with the lights out. One could hear the wailing of women, the crying of children, the shouting of men; they called each other, some their parents, others their children, still others their mates, trying to recognize each other by their voices. Some lamented their own fate, others the fate of their loved ones. There were even those who out of their fear of death prayed for death[...]
It lightened a little; it seemed to us not daylight but a sign of approaching fire. But the fire stopped some distance away; darkness came on again, again ashes, thick and heavy. We got up repeatedly to shake these off; otherwise we would have been buried and crushed by the weight. [...] At last that fog thinned and dissipated in a kind of smoke or mist; soon there was real daylight; the sun even shone, though wanly, as when there is an eclipse. Our still trembling eyes found everything changed, buried by a deep blanket of ashes as if it had snowed [...]. Fear prevailed, since the earthquake tremors went on, and many, out of their senses, were mocking their own woes and others’ by awful predictions. But we, even though we had escaped some perils and expected others, we did not think even of going away until we should have news of my uncle.[...] |
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Carlo di Borbone began excavations in 1748, as a way of increasing the fame and prestige of his nascent Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Digging proceeded sporadically, here and there at random; it was several years before the site was identified as Pompeii, and even then there was no systematic town plan. The first features to be exposed were part of the necropolis outside Porta Ercolano, the temple of Isis and part of the theatres quarter.
During the French occupation of Naples, 1806-1815, there was much more activity on the site, but with the restoration of the Bourbons excavations gradually slowed down again. Work was concentrated on the area of the amphitheatre and the Forum, as well as around Porta Ercolano and the theatres. The discovery of the House of the Faun containing the large mosaic depicting Alexander the Great in battle caught the imagination of people all over Europe ollowing the Unification of Italy in 1861, the appointment of Giuseppe Fiorelli as director marked a turning-point in the excavations. From now on the site was explored systematically, linking up the various features that had been exposed, detailed records were kept, and the wall paintings were left in situ, rather than being detached and taken to the museum in Naples.
Fiorelli pioneered the practice of taking plaster casts, which gave dramatic substance to the victims of the eruption. From the early years of the 20th century the explorations spread eastwards along the ancient town's principal streets, and more attention was paid to the remains of the upper floors of buildings.
In the years 1924 to 1961 the excavations were supervised by Amedeo Maiuri. This period of intense activity saw the discovery of prestigious buildings such as the Villa of the Mysteries, the complete recognition of the ancient town's perimeter, the excavation of most of Regio I and II and the necropolis of Porta Nocera, and the start of a methodical exploration of the strata lying below the level of 79 AD, to throw light on Pompeii's past.
Over recent years excavation work has been scaled down, in order to concentrate the limited resources available (by no means sufficient even for this objective) on restoring and maintaining the buildings which have already been exposed. |
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| Villa Boscoreale is an ancient Roman villa, located in the town of Boscoreale, about two kilometers outside Pompeii in Campania, southern Italy. This area was once a former hunting reserve and also used agriculturally, specializing in wine and olive oil.[1] Evidence in tablets and graffiti shows that the house was probably built in the first century (around 30-40) BC[2] The villa burned in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 |
| Castellammare di Stabia Villa San Marco |
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