Originally posted on July 3, 2012 by Canicus
Herculaneum
Herculaneum is actually a Greek colony, although thoroughly Romanized by the first century. It was one of the cities destroyed by the historic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD – on of several disasters to hit during Trajan’s reign.
From Naples it is quickly reached from Naples by the Circumvenusian railroad. I was worried about where to get off. There are numerous stops, all named in Italian. I did manage to decode “Ercolonoco” as Herculaneum, so I got off at the right place. The view from the train is not good. You cannot see the ruins, and I could not see Vesuvius. Early in the morning it is a nice walk from the rail station to the archeological site – all downhill. It was morning and not terribly hot.
There is a further major descent, still pleasant in the morning, to the level of the city. Herculaneum, unlike Pompeii, was covered by a pyroclastic surge which left it buried under about 65 feet of volcanic rock. The cities were rediscovered in the Renaissance by accident and essentially mined for ancient statuary, mosaics and wall paintings. Archeology has improved in the subsequent centuries and there is considerable effort to preserve and restore the site that continue today.
Originally it was thought that the people of Herculaneum escaped the disaster because, unlike Pompeii no human remains were found in early excavations. However, when the boathouses were discovered along what was then the coast of the Bay of Naples, hundreds of skeletal remains of people that had been instantaneously carbonized by the pyroclastic surge. Apparently fairly early in the eruption, they had fled to these boathouses in hopes of escaping, but help never arrived.
We know that Pliny the Elder, who was the commander of the Roman fleet based at Miseneum at the extreme western part of the Bay, had led the fleet in a rescue attempt but could not approach Herculaneum (or Pompeii) because of the winds, current and volcanic ash (which reduced visibility and risked setting ships on fire) and so went to Stabiae.
One interesting exotic field is archeological botany. Most of us know how in Pompeii “hollows” were found in the pumice and ash that were left by people and animals killed in the disaster. These were filled with plaster and images of dead recovered. Well, the archeological botanist looked for holes in the grounds of gardens in Herculaneum filled them with plaster, dug the result out and identified the plants that had grown in the gardens. Reconstructions today are based on those findings.
Leaving Herculaneum is all uphill. So as soon as I got out of the archeological site I took a three euro cab ride to the train station.
Today the pedometer shows 2,748 steps, for 1.30 miles. Somehow I thought it would be more. It says 119 calories were burned. Average pace was 3.1 mph and actual time 24 minutes 27 seconds, which I know is wrong.
Canicus Modus