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Herculaneum is an ancient Rome town located in the modern-day comune of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under a massive pyroclastic flow in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Like the nearby city of Pompeii, Herculaneum is famous as one of the few ancient cities to be preserved nearly intact, as the solidified material from the volcano that blanketed the town protected it against looting and the elements. Although less known than Pompeii today, it was the first and, for a long time, the only discovered Vesuvian city (in 1709). Pompeii was revealed in 1748 and identified in 1763.Ozgenel, Lalo (15 April 2008). "A Tale of Two Cities: In Search of Ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum". Journal of the Faculty of Archaeology. 2008, Ankara: Middle East Technical University. 25 (1): 1–25. http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/2008/cilt25/sayi_1/1-25.pdf Unlike Pompeii, the mainly Pyroclastic rock that covered Herculaneum carbonization and preserved more wooden objects such as roofs, beds, and doors, as well as other organic-based materials such as Herculaneum loaf and papyrus.
According to the traditional tale, the city was rediscovered by chance in 1709 during the drilling of a well. Remnants of the city, however, were already found during earlier earthworks.Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew (2011). Herculaneum: Past and Future. . p47 In the years following the site's uncovering, treasure seekers excavated tunnels and took artifacts. Regular excavations commenced in 1738 and have continued irregularly since. Today, only a fraction of the ancient site has been excavated. The focus has shifted to preserving the already-excavated portions of the city rather than exposing more.
Smaller than Pompeii with a population of circa 5,000,De Ligt et al. (2012). "The Album of Herculaneum and a model of the town’s demography." Journal of Roman Archaeology, 25, 69–94. doi:10.1017/S1047759400001148 Herculaneum was a wealthier town.Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew (2011). Herculaneum: Past and Future. . p55 It was a seaside retreat for the Roman elite, as reflected by the extraordinary density of luxurious houses featuring lavish use of coloured marble cladding. Buildings of the ancient city include the Villa of the Papyri and the so-called "boat houses", wherein the skeletal remains of at least 300 people were found.
In the 2nd century BC the city walls were built (between 2 and 3 metres thick), constructed primarily of large pebbles, with the exception of the coastal section made of opus reticulatum. It participated in the Social War (91–88 BC) on the side of the "Allies" against Rome and was defeated by Titus Didius, a legate of Sulla. Following the war the walls lost their protective purpose and were integrated into houses and adjacent structures, such as the House of the Inn.
It became a Roman municipium in 89 BC.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 buried Herculaneum under approximately of ash. It lay hidden and largely intact until discoveries from wells and tunnels became gradually more widely known, notably following the Prince d'Elbeuf's explorations in the early 18th century. Excavations continued sporadically up to the present and today many streets and buildings are visible, although over 75% of the town remains buried. Today, the Italian towns of Ercolano and Portici lie above Herculaneum. Ercolano was called Resina until 1969 when the modern name was adopted in honour of the old city.
At around 1 pm on the first day of eruption, Mount Vesuvius began spewing volcanic material thousands of metres into the sky. After the plume had reached a height of , the top of the column flattened, prompting Pliny to describe it to Tacitus as a stone pine tree. The prevailing winds at the time blew toward the southeast, causing the volcanic material to fall primarily on the city of Pompeii and the surrounding area. Since Herculaneum lay west of Vesuvius, it was only mildly affected by the first phase of the eruption. While roofs in Pompeii collapsed under the weight of falling debris, only a few centimetres of ash fell on Herculaneum, causing little damage; nevertheless, the ash prompted most inhabitants to flee.
The volcano continued spewing up a high-altitude column from which ash and pumice began to fall, blanketing the area. At 1 am the next day, the eruptive column collapsed onto Vesuvius and its flanks. The first pyroclastic surge, formed by a mixture of ash and hot gases, flowed down the mountain and through the mostly-evacuated town of Herculaneum at . A succession of six flows and surges buried the city's buildings to approximately depth, causing little damage in some areas and preserving structures, objects and victims almost intact. However, other areas were damaged significantly, knocking down walls, tearing away columns and other large objects; The Herculaneum Society. . p. 3. a marble statue of Marcus Nonius Balbus near the baths was blown away and a carbonised skeleton was found lifted above ground level in the garden of the House of the Relief of Telephus.
The date of the eruption has been shown to be on or after 17 October. Support for an October/November eruption has long been known in several respects: buried people in the ash were wearing heavier clothing than the light summer clothes typical of August; fresh fruit and vegetables in the shops are typical of October – and conversely the summer fruit typical of August was already being sold in dried, or conserved form. Wine fermenting jars had been sealed, which would have happened around the end of October; coins found in the purse of a woman buried in the ash include one with a 15th imperatorial acclamation among the emperor's titles and could not have been minted before the second week of September.Stefani, Grete (October 2006). La vera data dell'eruzione. Archeo
Multidisciplinary research on the lethal effects of the pyroclastic surges in the Vesuvius area has shown that, in the vicinity of Pompeii and Herculaneum, intense heat was the main cause of the death of people who had previously been thought to have died by ash suffocation. Exposure to ≥250 °C (480 °F) had likely killed residents within 10 km, including those sheltering in buildings.
Major excavations resumed in 1738 under the patronage of Charles III of Spain, who had recently begun building his nearby palace in Portici. He appointed the Italian military engineer Giovanni Antonio Medrano and Roque Joaquin de Alcubierre to supervise the extensive new project. The publication of "Le Antichità di Ercolano" ("The Antiquities of Herculaneum") had a striking influence on nascent European Neoclassicism; by the end of the 18th century, motifs from Herculaneum began to appear on fashionable furnishings, including decorative wall-paintings, tripod tables, perfume burners, and teacups. Nonetheless, excavation ceased once again in 1762 as a result of Winckelmann's harsh criticism of the treasure-hunting techniques. The discovery of neighbouring Pompeii, substantially simpler to excavate due to a smaller layer of material covering the site (4m as compared to 20m at Herculaneum), diverted attention and effort.
King Francis I ordered land acquisitions and promoted renewed excavations between 1828 and 1837. Acquisitions continued under the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, extending excavations eastwards till 1875.Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew (2011). Herculaneum: Past and Future. . p62
From 1927 until 1942, Amedeo Maiuri conducted a new campaign, sponsored by Mussolini's regime, which unearthed approximately four hectares which today are part of the archaeological park.
Hundreds of skeletons were found in the so-called "boat houses", by the ancient shoreline, between 1980 and 1981.
The Villa of the Papyri, the northwest baths, the House of the Dionysian Reliefs and a large collapsed monument were brought to light between 1996 and 1999. However, the area was left in a chaotic state until major conservation interventions from 2000 through 2007.
Many public and private buildings, including the forum complex, are yet to be excavated.
The Forum, temples, theatre, numerous houses and necropoles are still buried.
Due to bradyseism, which affects the entire Vesuvius region, portions of the historic city of Herculaneum today lie as much as 4 metres below sea level.Cinque, A. and Irollo, G. (2008) "Lapaleogeografia dell’antica Herculaneum e lefluttuazioni, di origine bradisismica, dellasua linea di costa". In P. G. Guzzo andM. P. Guidobaldi, eds., Nuove ricerche archeologiche nell’area Vesuviana (scavi 2003–2006): 425–38
A single main drain collected water from the Forum and from house , and kitchens along Cardo III. Other drains emptied directly into the street, except latrines equipped with a cesspit. For water supply, the city was directly connected to the Serino aqueduct, built in the Augustus age, which brought water to buildings through a series of lead pipes under the roads, regulated by valves; wells had been used previously.
The atrium is covered and lacks the usual impluvium. It retains its original flooring of Opus tessellatum and opus sectile. A highly adorned biclinium (a dining-couch for two persons ) with frescoes in the Pompeian Styles and a spacious triclinium originally marble-floored are found off the atrium. Several further rooms, including the alcove after which the house is named, are accessible via a corridor receiving daylight from a small courtyard.
Between 1752 and 1754, a number of blackened, unreadable papyrus scrolls were recovered from the Villa of the Papyri by workmen. These scrolls became known as the Herculaneum papyri or scrolls, the majority of which are today stored at the National Library, Naples. Although badly carbonized, a number of scrolls have been unrolled with varying degrees of success. Computer-enhanced multi-spectral infrared imaging helped make the ink legible. There is now a real prospect that it will be possible to read the unopened rolls using . The same techniques could be applied to the rolls waiting to be discovered in the as-yet unexcavated part of the villa, eliminating the risk of potential damage from unrolling. Later CT scan revealed the scrolls' fibres structure, sand, and other debris trapped in the scrolls. These findings help a safer unrolling. However, the text remains illegible.
Two of the rolls stored at the French National Academy in Paris have been extensively examined by X-ray in summer 2009. However, the text imaging failed because Roman writers likely used carbon-based inks, essentially invisible to the X-ray scans. Similar later attempts all failed.
In 2015, a team of scientists managed to increase the contrast between the carbon ink and the carbon-based papyrus using X-ray Phase Contrast Tomography, and read Greek words along the outer papyrus, marking "a revolution for ". While researchers can identify certain words on the scrolls, the stories on the scrolls cannot yet be unlocked.
In 2024 the winners of a contest called the Vesuvius Challenge, with the help of AI, managed to reveal hundreds of words across 15 columns of text, corresponding to around 5% of a scroll.
After a period of finds being mismanaged and deterioration of skeletons,Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew (2011). Herculaneum: Past and Future. p. 126 further excavations in the 1990s uncovered 296 skeletons on the beach or huddled in 9 of the 12 stone vaults facing the sea. While the town was almost completely evacuated, these people found themselves trapped. The "Ring Lady", named for the rings on her fingers, was discovered there in 1982.
Eventually, 340 bodies were identified in this area.Martyn, R. et al. (2020). A re-evaluation of manner of death at Roman Herculaneum following the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. Antiquity, 94(373), 76-91. doi:10.15184/aqy.2019.215 Analyses of the skeletons suggest it was mainly men who died on the beach, while women and children sheltered and died in the boat houses.
A scientific study, published in 2021, showed that chemical analysis of the remains was able to provide further insights into the health and nutrition of Herculaneum's population. Stable isotope analysis of bone samples from 17 individuals (11 men and 6 women) revealed the men ate 1.6 times more fish than the women, who consumed more meat, eggs, and dairy; this fits into the wider dietary trend from Herculaneum and Roman Italy.
Casts of skeletons were also produced to replace the original bones after Taphonomy study, scientific documentation and excavation. In contrast to Pompeii, where casts resembling the body features of the victims were produced by filling hollowed spaces of the body imprints in the ash deposit with plaster, the shape of corpses at Herculaneum could not be preserved due to the rapid vaporisation and replacement of the flesh of the victims by the hot ash (ca. 500 °C). A cast of the skeletons unearthed in chamber 10 is on display at the Museum of Anthropology in Naples.
Of exceptional interest is the analysis, published in 2021, of one of the skeletons (n. 26) discovered in 1982 on the beach next to a boat (on display in the boat pavilion). The remains belong to a military officer (with an elaborate dagger and belt), who was perhaps involved in a rescue mission.
Intensive tourism, vandalism, substandard management, and political ineptitude contributed to the deterioration of numerous sites and buildings. Numerous building foundations have been weakened by water damage caused by modern Ercolano. Reconstruction initiatives have often proved counterproductive. However, recent conservation efforts have had greater success. Excavations have been temporarily discontinued to direct all funding to conservation programs.
A large number of artifacts from Herculaneum are preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.
One of the pilot projects started by the Conservation Project was on the tablinum that had been conserved by Amedeo Maiuri's team in 1938. Over time water had seeped into the wall causing the paint to attach to the previously applied wax and curl away from the wall, stripping it of its colour. However, after working in tandem with the Getty Museum, conservators have created a technique where solvents are used to remove some of the wax and lessen the buildup on the walls so that the paint no longer chips off.
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