Herculaneum

For the Italian commune, see Ercolano

Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Torre Annunziata

UNESCO World Heritage Site
The excavations of Ercolano
Criteria	Cultural: iii, iv, v
Reference	829
Inscription	1997 (21st Session)

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, in the Italian region of Campania.

It is most famous for having been lost, along with Pompeii, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius beginning on August 24, AD 79, which buried Herculaneum in volcanic mud. Since the discovery of bones in 1981, some 150 skeletons have been found.

Myth

Hercules had come back from killing the monster Geryon and had stopped in Rome. He went to the goddess Fauna to ask for a drink but she refused, as it was sacred water which was only for women. In anger Hercules made a temple honoring himself and ordered that women should not participate in its ceremonies and festivities.

During that time a son of Vulcan named Cacus stole some of Hercules' cattle. Hercules looked everywhere for them but he couldn't find them. He gave up and continued on his journey to Greece. As he travelled he thought that he heard his cows. He followed the sounds and was led to Cacus who had taken the cows. He flushed the thief out of his cave and then killed him by throwing boulders at him. Hercules then built Herculaneum at the location where he killed Cacus.

History

File:Plan Of Ancient Herculaneum.jpg

Plan of the excavations of Herculaneum

Ancient tradition connected Herculaneum with the name of the Greek hero Herakles (Hercules in Latin and consequently Roman Mythology), an indication that the city was of Greek origin. In actuality, it seems that some primitive 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. It is the Greeks who 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, mud and ash. It lay hidden and nearly intact for more than 1600 years until it was accidentally discovered by some workers digging a well in 1709. From there, the excavation process began but is still incomplete. Today, the Italian towns of Ercolano and Portici lie on the approximate site of Herculaneum. Until 1969 the town of Ercolano was called Resina, and it changed its name to Ercolano, the Italian modernization of the ancient name in honor of the old city.

The inhabitants worshiped above all Hercules, who was believed to be the founder of both the town and Mount Vesuvius. Other important deities worshiped include Venus, who was believed to be Hercules' lover, and Apollo, generally in the Ancient Roman Empire.

Herculaneum and other cities affected by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The black cloud represents the general distribution of ash and cinder. Modern coast lines are shown.

The Eruption

The catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius occurred on the afternoon of August 24, 79 AD. Because Vesuvius had been dormant for approximately 800 years, it was no longer even recognized as a volcano.

Based on the archaeological excavations on the one hand and two letters of Pliny the Younger to the Roman historian Tacitus on the other hand, the course of the eruption can be reconstructed.

At around 1 PM on August 24, 79 AD, Vesuvius began spewing ash and volcanic stone thousands of meters into the sky. When it reached the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere, the top of the cloud flattened leading Pliny to describe it to Tacitus as a stone pine tree. The prevailing winds at the time blew towards the southeast which caused the volcanic material to fall primarily on the city of Pompeii and the area surrounding it. Since Herculaneum lay to the west of Vesuvius, it was only mildly affected by the first phase of the eruption. Whereas the roofs in Pompeii collapsed under the weight of the falling debris, only a few centimeters of ash fell on Herculaneum causing little damage. This was, however, enough to cause many of the inhabitants to flee.

It was long thought that nearly all of the inhabitants managed to escape because initial excavations revealed only a few skeletons. It wasn't until 1982 when the excavations reached boat houses on the beach area that this view changed. In 12 boat houses archaeologists discovered 250 skeletons huddled close together.

File:800px-Herculaneum Boathouses.jpg

Boat houses where skeletons were found

During the night, the column of volcanic debris which had risen into the stratosphere began falling back down onto Vesuvius. A pyroclastic flow formed that sent a mixture of 400°C (750°F) gas, ash, and rock racing down toward Herculaneum at 100 mph. At about 1 AM it reached the boat houses where its intense heat killed the inhabitants within seconds. This flow and several following did little damage to the structures, instead slowly filling the structures from the bottom up.

The amazingly good state of preservation of the structures and their contents is due to three factors:

1. By the time the wind changed and ash began to fall on Herculaneum, the structures were already filled up. Thus the roofs did not collapse.
2. The intense heat of the first pyroclastic flow carbonized the surface of organic materials and extracted the water from them.
3. The deep (up to 25 meters), dense tuff formed an airtight seal over Herculaneum for 1700 years

Excavation

The skeleton called the "Ring Lady" unearthed in Herculaneum.

Excavation began at modern Ercolano in 1738. The elaborate publication of Le Antichità di Ercolano ("The Antiquities of Herculaneum") under the patronage of the King of the Two Sicilies had an effect on incipient European Neoclassicism out of all proportion to its limited circulation; in the later 18th century, motifs from Herculaneum began to appear on stylish furnishings from decorative wall-paintings and tripod tables to perfume burners and teacups. However, excavation ceased once the nearby town of Pompeii was discovered, which was significantly easier to excavate due to the reduced amount of debris covering the site (four meters as opposed to Herculaneum's twenty meters). In the twentieth century, excavation once again resumed in the town. However, many public and private buildings, including the forum complex, are yet to be excavated.

Skeletal remains

The pyroclastic flow instantly killed all residents who had not escaped before it struck. In contrast to Pompeii, the remains of those killed at Herculaneum were not preserved in plaster casts. Herculaneum was a smaller town with a wealthier population than Pompeii at the time of its destruction.

In 1981, Italian public works employees, under the direction of Dr. Giuseppe Maggi, found bones at the Herculanium site while digging a drainage trench. Italian officials, at Dr. Maggi urging, called in Sara C. Bisel, a physical anthropologist from the United States, to oversee the excavation and study the bones. This research was funded with a grant from the National Geographic Society.

Until this discovery, there were few Roman skeletal remains available for academic study. Excavations in the port area of Herculaneum, which initially turned up more than 55 skeletons: 30 adult males, 13 adult females and 12 children. The skeletons were found on the seafront, where it is believed they had fled in an attempt to escape the volcanic eruption. This group includes the 'Ring Lady' (image at right, by National Geographic photographer Lou Mazzatenta), named for the rings on her fingers.

Through the chemical anaylisis of those remains, Dr. Bisel was able to gain greater insight into the health and nutrition of the Heculaneum population. For example, quantities of lead were found in some of the skeletons, which led to speculation of lead poisoning. The physical examination of the bones yielded additional information. The presence of scarring on the pelvis, for instance, gave some indication of the number of children a woman had borne.

References:

National Geographic, Vol 162, No 6. "Buried Roman Town Give Up Its Dead," (December, 1982)

National Geographic, Vol 165, No 5. "The Dead Do Tell Tales," (May, 1984)

Discover, magazine, Vol 5, No 10. "The Bone Lady" (October, 1984)

The Mayo Alumnus, Vol 19, No2. "An Archaeologist's Preliminary Report: Time Warp at Herculaneum, (April, 1983)

Carnegie Mellon Magazine, Vol 4, No 2. "Bone Lady Reconstructs People at Herculaneum," Winter, 1985

Carnegie Mellon Notable Alumni [1]

"In the Shadow of Vesuvius" National Geo Special, (February 11, 1987)

"30 years of National Geographic Special," (January 25, 1995)

Specific buildings

File:Ercolano1 Copyright2003KaihsuTai.jpg

Fresco from the college, depicting the myth of Hercules.

To expand this section, translate it:Ercolano#Scavi archeologici di Ercolano.

College of the Augustales

Temple of the augustales or priests of the imperial cult

Villa of the Papyri

Main article: Villa of the Papyri

The most famous of the luxurious villas at Herculaneum is the "Villa of the Papyri" now identified as the magnificent seafront retreat for Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Julius Caesar's father-in-law. It stretches down towards the sea in four terraces. Piso, a literate man who patronized poets and philosophers, built there a fine library, the only one to survive intact from antiquity. Scrolls from the villa are stored at the National Library, Naples. The scrolls are badly carbonized, but a large number have been unrolled, with varying degrees of success. Computer-enhanced multi-spectral imaging, in the infra-red range, helps make the ink legible. There is now a real prospect that it will be possible to read the unopened scrolls using X-rays.[1] The same techniques could be applied to the scrolls waiting to be discovered in the as-yet unexcavated part of the villa, removing the need for potentially damaging the unrolled scrolls.

Issues of conservation

Main article: Conservation issues of Pompeii and Herculaneum

The volcanic water, ash and debris covering Herculaneum, along with the extreme heat, left it in a remarkable state of preservation for over 1500 years. However, once excavations began, exposure to the elements began the slow process of deterioration. This was not helped by the methods of archaeology used earlier in the town's excavation, which generally centered around recovering valuable artifacts rather than ensuring the survival of all artifacts. In the early 1980's and under the direction of Dr. Sara Bisel, preservation of the skeletal remains became a high priority. The carbonised remains of organic materials, when exposed to the air, deteriorated over a matter of days, and destroyed many of the remains until a way of preserving them was formed.

Today, tourism and vandalism has damaged many of the areas open to the public, and water damage coming from the modern Ercolano has undermined many of the foundations of the buildings. Reconstruction efforts have often proved counterproductive, however in modern times conservation efforts have been more successful. Today excavations have been temporarily discontinued, in order to direct all funding to help save the city.

Photos

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  The house is noted for this outstanding summer triclinium with a nymphaeum decorated with coloured mosaics
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  Herculaneum, Neptune und Amphitrite, Wall Mosaic in House Number 22
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  Street Paving Stones in Herculaneum
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  Residential water pipe made of lead in Herculaneum
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  Wall paintings in the first style
• 
  Inlaid Marble Floor

Documentaries

• A 1987 National Geographic special In the Shadow of Vesuvius explored the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum, interviewed archaeologists, and examined the events leading up to the eruption of Vesuvius.
• An hour-long drama produced for the BBC entitled Pompeii: The Last Day portrays several characters (with historically attested names, but fictional life-stories) living in Pompeii, Herculaneum and around the Bay of Naples, and their last hours, including a fuller and his wife, two gladiators, and Pliny the Elder. It also portrays the facts of the eruption.
• Pompeii Live, Channel 5, 28th June 2006, 8pm, live archaeological dig at Pompeii and Herculaneum
• Secrets of the Dead:Herculaneum Uncovered a PBS show covering the archaeological discoveries at Herculaneum.

External links

• Template:It icon Area Vesuvio
• The Friends of Herculaneum Society
• Herculaneum: Destruction and Re-discovery
• The local archaeological authorities
• The Philodemus Project will publish Philodemus' works on poetry and on rhetoric.
• Brigham Young University: Herculaneum Scrolls
• Images of Herculaneum

40°48′N 14°21′E