Herculaneum

Dear Family and Friends,

After climbing Mount Vesuvius, we went to the last historic site of our 2010 Christmas vacation - the archiological site of Herculaneum. Like Pompeii, the sea-side town of Herculaneum was destroyed in the erruption of 79 A.D. There are many other similarities between the two sites, such as the amazing preservation of buildings, mosaics, and painting, the decadent Roman villas, and the fact that both cities were completely covered for almost two thousand years. However, as we discovered during our visit, there are also significant differences.

Roman Fresco

Pompeii is well-known and is usually filled with tourists. Hurculaenum, on the other hand, is not as popular. In fact, wiith the exception of a Penn State Professor to whom we would occassionally listen as he described things to his handful of students, we toured most of the buildings by ourselves. 

Restaurant

Pompeii is very expansive, making it quite easy for one to get lost. In contrast, Herculaneum is relatively small and accessible. In a two to three hour visit, it is possible to see most, if not all, of the main attractions. This is mostly due to the fact that a considerable portion of the city, such as the forum and colosseum, remain burried because of a lack of funding and the need to preserve what has already been uncovered. To this day, archiologists still speculate about the kinds of treasures that remain hidden and push for the right to perform new digs.

Amphora on wooden shelves

Pompeii was covered in ash while Hurculaneum was hit by pyroclastic flows followed by lava and mud. This means that many materials, such as wood, iron, and even scrolls were first turned to carbon and then preserved even though they were buried in the ground. Consequently, we were able to see the remains of doors, chests, couches, and beds even though there seemed to be more water damage to the frescos and wall painting.

Wooden Sliding Partition

Doorway to Baths Plugged with Lava

Wooden Bed Frame

Pompeii buildings are mostly one story while many Hurculaneum buildings still had two or even three stories to them. This gave us a more vivid impression of what it must have been like to walk down a Roman street. In places, it felt more like a 19th century ghost town than a Roman ruin.

Multi-story Villa

Second Story Stairs

Victims of Pompeii were buried in ash. As their bodies decomposed, voids were created in the ground that were filled with plaster. However, the pyroclastic flows of Hurculaneum melted the flesh, leaving only skeletons to be found. This explains why there are plaster casts of the Pompeii victims, but none in Herculaneum.

Remains of a Father, Mother, and Child

Finally, Pompeii was a working town while Hurculaneum was a sea-side resort. As a result, the walls of Hurculaneum were right on the beach while Pompeii must have been further inland. Today, the ocean is no where in sight and the ancient shoreline is now 100 feet or more below ground level.

Boat Found on Seashore

Window overlooking ancient beach

At the conclusion of our tour, we tried to pick our favorite of the two sites but could not because they were both interesting and educational in different ways.

Ciao!

Joe, Julie, Nicolas, Elyse, and Nathaniel