Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "ERCOLANO Town CAMPANIA" .
Herculaneum (the form Herculanum appears to be erroneous: in the passage
of Cicero (ad Att. vii. 3. § 1) generally cited in support of it, the true reading
seems to be Aeculanum: see Orell. ad loc. Heraixleion, Strab.; Herkoulaneon, Dion
Cass.: Eth. Herculanensis: Ercolano), a town of Campania, situated on the gulf
called the Crater (the Bay of Naples), and at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius. The circumstances
attending its discovery have rendered its name far more celebrated in modern times
than it ever was in antiquity, when it certainly never rose above the condition
of a second-class town. It was, however, a place of great antiquity: its origin
was ascribed by Greek tradition to Hercules, who was supposed to have founded
a small city on the spot, to which he gave his own name. (Dionys. i. 44.) Hence
it is called by Ovid Herculea urbs (Met. xv. 711). But this was doubtless a mere
inference from the name itself, and we have no account of any Greek colony there
in historical times, though it is probable that it must have received a considerable
mixture at least of a Greek population, from the neighbouring cities of Neapolis
or Cumae: and there is no doubt of the extent to which Greek influences had pervaded
the manners and institutions of its inhabitants, in common with those of all this
part of Campania. Strabo's account of its early history is confused; he tells
us it was at first occupied (as well as its neighbour Pompeii) by Oscans, afterwards
by Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians, and after this by the Samnites. (v. p. 247.) It
is doubtful whether he here means by Tyrrhenians the Etruscans, or rather uses
the two names of Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians as nearly synonymous: but there seems
no reason to doubt the fact that Herculaneum may have been at one time a Pelasgic
settlement, and that its population, previous to its conquest by the Samnites,
was partly of Pelasgic and partly of Oscan extraction. Its name, and the legends
which connected it with Hercules, may in this case have been originally Pelasgic,
and subsequently adopted by the Greeks. It fell into the hands of the Samnites
in common with the rest of Campania (Strab. l. c.): and this is all that we know
of its history previous to its passing under the Roman dominion. Nor have we any
particular account of the time at which this took place; for the; Herculaneum
mentioned by Livy (x. 45) as having been taken by the consul Carvilius from the
Samnites in B.C. 293, must certainly be another town of the name situated in the
interior of Samnium, though we have no further clue to its position. The only
occasion on which it plays any part in history is during the Social War, when
it took up arms against the Romans, but was besieged and taken by F. Didius, supported
by a Hirpinian legion under Minatius Magius. (Vell. Pat. ii. 16.) It has been
supposed that a body of Roman colonists was afterwards established there by Sulla
(Zumpt, de Cot. p. 259), but there is no proof of this. It seems, however, to
have been certainly a place of some importance at this time: it enjoyed the rights
of a municipium and appears to have been well fortified, whence Strabo calls it
a fortress (phrourion): he describes it as enjoying a peculiarly healthy situation,
an advantage which it owed to its slightly elevated position, on a projecting
headland. (Strab. v. p. 246.) The historian Sisenna also, in a fragment preserved
by Nonius (iii. p. 207. s. v. Fluvius), describes it as situated on elevated ground
between two rivers. Its ports also were among the best on this line of coast.
(Dionys. i. 44.) It is probable that, when the shores of the beautiful bay of
Naples became so much frequented by the Romans, many of them would have settled
at Herculaneum, or in its immediate neighbourhood, and its municipal opulence
is sufficiently proved by the results of recent discoveries; but though its name
is mentioned by Mela and Florus, as well as by Pliny, among the cities of the
coast of Campania, it is evident that it never rose to a par with the more flourishing
and splendid cities of that wealthy region. (Mela, ii. 4. § 9; Flor. i. 16. §
6; Plin. iii. 5. s. 9.) It is important to bear this in mind in estimating the
value of the discoveries which have been made upon the site.
In the reign of Nero (A.D. 63) Herculaneum suffered severely from
an earthquake, which laid great part of the city in ruins, and seriously damaged
the buildings that remained standing. (Senec. N. Qu. vi. 1.) This was the same
earthquake which nearly destroyed Pompeii, though it is referred by Tacitus to
the preceding year. (Ann. xv. 22.) Sixteen years later, in the reign of Titus
(A.D. 79), a still more serious calamity befell both cities at once, the memorable
eruption of Vesuvius in that year having buried them both under the vast accumulations
of ashes, cinders, and volcanic sand poured forth by that mountain. (Dion Cass.
lxvi. 24.) Herculaneum, from its position at the very foot of the mountain, would
naturally be the first to suffer; and this is evident from the celebrated letter
of the younger Pliny describing the catastrophe, which does not however mention
either Herculaneum or Pompeii by name. (Plin. Ep. vi. 16, 20.) But Retina, where
the elder Pliny first attempted to land, but was prevented by the violence of
the eruption, was in the immediate neighbourhood of the former city. Its close
proximity to Vesuvius was also the cause that the bed of ejected materials under
which Herculaneum was buried assumed a more compact and solid form than that which
covered Pompeii, though it is a mistake to suppose, as has been stated by many
writers, that the former city was overwhelmed by a stream of lava. The substance
with which it is covered is only a kind of volcanic tuff, formed of accumulated
sand and ashes, but partially consolidated by the agency of water, which is often
poured out in large quantities during volcanic eruptions. (Daubeny on Volcanoes,
p. 222, 2nd edit.) The destruction of the unfortunate city was so complete that
no attempt could be made to restore or rebuild it: but it appears that a small
population gradually settled once more upon the site where it was buried, and
hence we again meet with the name of Herculaneum in the Itineraries of the 4th
century. (Tab. Pent.) This later settlement is supposed to have been again destroyed
by the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 472; and no trace is subsequently found of
the name.
Though the position of Herculaneum was clearly fixed by the ancient
authorities on the coast between Neapolis and Pompeii, and at the foot of Vesuvius,
its exact site remained long unknown; it was placed by Cluverius at Torre del
Greco, nearly two miles too far to the E. (Cluver. Ital. p. 1154.) But in 1738
the remains of the theatre were accidentally discovered in sinking a well, in
the village of Resina; and excavations, being from this time systematically carried
on, have brought to light a considerable portion of the ancient city, including
the Forum, with two adjacent temples and a Basilica. Unfortunately, the circumstance
that the ground above the site of the buried city is almost wholly occupied by
the large and populous villages of Resina and Portici has thrown great difficulties
in the way of these excavations, which have been carried on wholly by subterranean
galleries; and even the portions thus explored have been for the most part filled
up again with earth and rubbish, after they had been examined, and the portable
objects found carried off. The con sequence is that, while the works of art discovered
here far exceed in value and interest those found at Pompeii, and the bronze statues
especially form some of the choicest ornaments of the Museum at Naples, the remains
of the city itself possess comparatively little interest. The only portion that
remains accessible is the theatre, a noble edifice, built of solid stone, in a
very massive style; it has 18 cunei, or rows of seats, and is calculated to have
been capable of containing 8000 persons. Fragments discovered in it prove that
it was adorned with equestrian statues of bronze, as well as with two chariots
or bigae in gilt bronze; and several statues both in bronze and marble have been
extracted from it. For this splendid edifice, as we learn from an inscription
over the entrance, the citizens of Herculaneum were indebted to the munificence
of a private individual, L. Annius Mammianus Rufus: the date of its erection is
unknown; but it could not have been earlier than the period of the Roman empire,
and the building had consequently existed but a short time previous to its destruction.
From the theatre a handsome street, 36 feet in breadth, and bordered on both sides
by porticoes, led to a large open space or forum, on the N. side of which stood
a Basilica of a noble style of architecture. An inscription informs us that this
was erected at his own cost by M. Nonius Balbus, praetor and proconsul, who at
the same time rebuilt the gates and walls of the city. No part of these has as
yet been discovered, and the plan and extent of the ancient city therefore remain
almost unknown. Not far from the Basilica were discovered two temples, one of
which, as we learn from an inscription, was dedicated to the Mother of the Gods
(Mater Deum), and had been restored by Vespasian after the earthquake of A.D.
63. Another small temple, at a short distance from the theatre, apparently dedicated
to Hercules, was remarkable for the number and beauty of the paintings with which
the walls were adorned, and which have been from thence transported to the Museum
at Naples. At some distance from these buildings, towards the W., and on the opposite
side of a small ravine or watercourse, was found a villa or private house of a
most sumptuous description; and it was from hence that many of the most beautiful
statues which now adorn the Neapolitan Museum were extracted. Still more interest
was at first excited by the discovery in one of the rooms of this villa of a small
library or cabinet of MSS. on rolls of papyrus, which, though charred and blackened
so as to be converted into a substance resembling charcoal, were found to be still
legible. But the hopes at first entertained that we should here recover some of
the lost literary treasures of antiquity have been signally disappointed, the
works discovered being principally treatises on the Epicurean philosophy of very
little interest.
A full account of the early excavations and discoveries at Herculaneum
will be found in Venuti (Prime Scoverte di Ercolano, 4to. Roma, 1748), and in
the more recent work of Iorio (Notizie sugli Scavi di Ercolano, 8vo. Naples, 1827).
The works of art and other monuments discovered on the site, are figured and described
in the magnificent work of Le Antichita di Ercolano, in 8 vols. folio, published
at Naples, from 1757 to 1792. The inscriptions are given by Mommsen (Inscr. Regn.
Neap. pp. 122-127); and an account of the papyri will be found prefixed to the
work entitled Herculanensium Voluminum quae supersunt, of which only two volumes
have been published, in 1793 and 1809. A summary account of the general results
will be found in Romanelli (Viaggio ad Ercolano, 8vo. Naples, 1811), and in Murray's
Handbook for Southern Italy. It is much to be regretted that the superior facilities
afforded by Pompeii have for many years caused Herculaneum to be almost wholly
neglected: even the excavations previously carried on were conducted without system,
and no regular plans were ever taken of the edifices and portions of the city
then explored.
The modern village of Resina, which now covers a large part of the
ruins of Herculaneum, has evidently retained the name of Retina, a place mentioned
only in the letter of Pliny describing the great eruption of Vesuvius in A.D.
79. (Plin. Ep. vi. 16.) It appears to have been a naval station, where a body
of troops belonging to the fleet at Misenum (Classiarii) were at that time posted,
who applied in great terror to Pliny to extricate them from their perilous position.
Hence, it is clear that it must have been close to the sea-coast, and probably
served, as the port of Herculaneum. The exact position of this cannot now be traced,
for the whole of this line of coast has undergone considerable alterations from
volcanic action. The point of the promontory on which the ancient city was situated
is said to be 95 feet within the present line of coast; and the difference at
other points is much more considerable. We learn from Columella (R. R. x. 135)
that Herculaneum possessed salt-works, which he calls Salinae Herculeae, on the
coast to the E., immediately adjoining the territory of Pompeii. The Tabula marks
a station, which it calls Oplontis, between Herculaneum and Pompeii, 6 miles from
the former town; but the name, which is otherwise unknown, is probably corrupt.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
IRAKLIO (Ancient city) CAMPANIA
A city of Campania, on the coast, and not far from Neapolis
(Naples). The form Herculanum is modern. Nothing is known respecting the origin
of Herculaneum, except that fabulous accounts ascribed its foundation to Hercules
on his return from Spain. It may be inferred, however, from a passage in Strabo,
that the town was of great antiquity. It may be reasonably conjectured, too, that
Herculaneum was a Greek city, but that its name was altered to suit the Latin
or Oscan pronunciation. At first it was only a fortress, which was successively
occupied by the Osci, Tyrrheni, Pelasgi, Samnites, and lastly by the Romans. Being
situated close to the sea, on elevated ground, it was exposed to the southwest
wind, and from that circumstance was reckoned particularly healthful. We learn
from Velleius Paterculus that Herculaneum suffered considerably during the civil
wars. This place is mentioned also by Mela. Ovid likewise notices it under the
name of Urbs Herculea. Herculaneum, according to the common account, was overwhelmed
by an eruption of Vesuvius in the first year of the reign of Titus, A.D. 79. Pompeii
and Stabiae, which stood near, shared the same fate. It is possible, however,
that the subversion of Herculaneum was not sudden, but progressive, since Seneca
mentions a partial demolition which it sustained from an earthquake. After being
buried for more than sixteen hundred years, these cities were accidentally discovered--Herculaneum
in 1719, by labourers in deepening a well; and Pompeii some years after. It appears
that Herculaneum is in no part less than forty feet, and in some parts one hundred
and twelve feet below the surface of the ground. Little was done to exhume the
city until 1738, when some regular excavations were made. Above the city stand
the two modern villages of Portici and Resina in the suburbs of Naples; and to
the fear of undermining their buildings is due the fact that so much of the ancient
city is still beneath the earth. The chief edifice of Herculaneum that has been
disinterred is a fine theatre, built only a short time before the eruption and
capable of accommodating 8000 persons. Part of the Forum, a colonnade, two small
temples, and a villa have also been recovered, besides ruins of baths. Many other
valuable remains of antiquity, such as busts, manuscripts, etc., have been found
in the ruins of this ancient city, and are deposited in the Museo Nazionale at
Naples.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
The ancient city, buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, lies
a short distance from the sea, not far from Neapolis (Naples) and from Pompeii.
The earliest ancient writer to mention the city is Theophrastos (6th c. B.C.).
The Roman historian Sisenna in the 1st c. B.C. described Herculaneum
as an inhabited center located in an elevated position near the sea between two
watercourses. Archaeological excavation substantially confirms the description,
even though the site underwent several transformations during the eruption of
A.D. 79.
Legend says that the city was founded by Herakles, and it is probable
that the origins of Herculaneum go back to the remote past. According to Strabo
the city was inhabited by Oscans, Tyrrhenians, and Pelasgians. We may presume
that in the archaic and Classical ages the city, like nearby Pompeii, greatly
increased in population owing to an influx both from the Greek colonies in the
area, especially from Cumae, and from Etruscan Capua. Toward the end of the 5th
c. B.C. when Campania was occupied by the Samnites, Herculaneum also became Samnite
and afterwards was probably involved in the wars between the Samnites and the
Romans. Later the city participated in the social war. It was conquered by T.
Didius, legate of Sulla, and in 89 B.C. became a Roman municipium. Herculaneum
suffered serious damage in the earthquake of A.D. 62; and soon thereafter, like
Pompeii, Stabiae, and Oplontis, was a victim of the Vesuvian eruption of A.D.
79. It is still not known whether Christianity spread to Herculaneum: a mark on
the wall plaster in the Casa del Bicentenaio has sometimes been interpreted as
the outline of a Christian cross.
The eruption of Vesuvius inundated the city with a torrent of mud,
which covered it completely and solidified into a compact layer with a consistency
similar to that of tufa. The average ground level was raised by ca. 15 m. While
the buildings were badly damaged, organic material, especially wood, was preserved
so that the excavations at Herculaneum are unique in this respect.
Casual discoveries that served to fix the site of the ancient city
were made at the beginning of the 18th c., after which more or less systematic
excavation began. In the first phase of research ancient Herculaneum was explored
by means of digging wells and underground tunnels and carrying to the surface
paintings, mosaics, sculpture, and various other objects that were collected in
a Herculanean Museum prepared in the royal palace in nearby Portici. At the same
time, the excavators succeeded in delineating the plan of the city and of its
principal buildings. The discoveries aroused intense interest for their exceptional
historic, antiquarian, and artistic value.
In the following century the research was resumed, adopting more up-to-date
and scientific criteria. With an open excavation and with the attentive recovery
of all the buried elements, the excavations are continuing at present, employing
methods always more modern and precise.
The approximate plan of Herculaneum is known from what has been brought
to light, which is about a quarter of the urban area, and from the outlines traced
by the excavators in the Bourbon age. The city, which must have been enclosed
by walls for at least a part of its circumference, developed over an area of ca.
370 by 320 m and was regular in plan. Streets meet at right angles (decumani in
an E-W direction and cardines leading N-S) forming insulae that contain one or
more buildings. Usually the houses are entered from the cardines. In the last
period of the city's life it developed further. On the S section of the enclosing
wall, which by then was no longer functional or necessary after the peace established
by Augustus, were built luxurious and panoramic houses. Outside the walls a sacred
area was constructed, as well as a large bath. In addition, the countryside around
the city must have become populated by suburban and rural villas. In one of these,
the famous Villa of the Pisoni, was found a library and a collection of sculpture.
The center of the city's life is constituted by the decumanus maximus,
a wide street closed to vehicular traffic, from which there is access to many
public buildings. Thus it appears that the decumanus had the function that in
other cities is usually served by a forum. On the N side of the decumanus rose
a large public building, probably the basilica, which is known only through the
accounts and drawings made at the time of the Bourbon excavations. Several remains
of its pictorial decoration are in the National Museum in Naples.
Recent excavations have revealed that in front of this building extended
a portico faced with marble and with stucco. At the extremities of the portico
arose two foursided arches with decorations in stucco and honorific bronze statues,
of which there remain the bases, and traces of the statues themselves. In the
part excavated to the N of the decumanus there extends another portico with shops
and with at least two upper stories. To the E of the street is a palaestra, with
rooms on several levels and with a large peristyle, at the center of which is
a large pool. The pool was fed by a bronze fountain that represents the Lernaian
Hydra twisted around the trunk of a tree, evidently an allusion to Herakles, and
thus to the name of the city. To the S of the decumanus is a chapel dedicated
to Herakles, which perhaps also fulfilled the functions of the seat of civic administration;
and another monumental building of unknown use, only partly excavated.
The theater is in the NW sector of the inhabited area. Beside it were
other public buildings. Along the decumanus inferior are the baths, of the usual
type, with separate sections for men and women. Outside the S wall of the city
is a sacred area and another large bath that is notable for the development of
its plan and for its decorations in stucco and marble. Here the division into
two sections does not exist; the building seems to date to the last years of the
city.
The private dwellings of Herculaneum vary widely in plan. There is
a rare example of a house containing small rental apartments, each independent
and with a small central courtyard. The Casa del bel cortile has a central courtyard
from which a flight of steps leads to the upper stories.
There are notable examples of houses built around an atrium, Italic
in type, several of which go back to relatively ancient times. They include the
Casa sannitica with beautiful decoration in the first style, the Casa del tramezzo
di legno and the Casa di Neptuno and the Casa di Anfitrite. Other houses recall
the Italic scheme but are amplified in plan. The villas built along the S edge
of the city are distinctive in plan. In these houses the traditional plan is modified.
An axial arrangement is abandoned, and while the typical rooms such as the atrium
are oriented by the fact of their facing the cardines; the peristyles, the gardens,
the salons and the other annexes are oriented toward the S, in such a way as to
exploit the panoramic position of the site with its view toward the sea. To the
houses are annexed the shops, which reveal the various aspects of everyday life
of Herculaneum and of its socio-economic environment. Worthy of mention is a shop
on the cardo IV, where is preserved the wooden counter with the amphorae of the
wine merchant in position on it, and the large containers of cereal grains. Also
preserved are some shops on the decumanus maximus, one of which has a painted
sign, and another of which must have belonged to a metal worker. In another shop
on the decumanus maximus has been found a group of glass objects still enclosed
in their wrappings. Very often the front of the insulae was preceded by a portico,
and the houses reveal in many cases the presence of one or even two upper stories.
It is not easy to calculate the population of Herculaneum, but possibly it had
ca. 5000 inhabitants.
A short distance from the city is the grandiose and celebrated Villa
dei Papiri (or dei Pisoni). Constructed in the middle of the 1st c. B.C., it was
undergoing renovation at the time of the catastrophe in A.D. 79. The villa belonged,
according to many scholars, to L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the father-in-law
of Julius Caesar and a politician and patron of the arts. In the villa was found
a remarkable library, largely of Epicurean philosophy that appears to be the work
of the philosopher Philodemos; and a notable collection of sculpture that constitutes
the only surviving example of a private collection in antiquity. It contains works
in marble and in bronze in the Hellenistic and neoclassical manner, and a series
of portraits of philosophers, Hellenistic princes, and orators.
In public buildings and houses numerous sculpted works have also been
found, for the most part portraits of emperors and of citizens of Herculaneum,
and even an Egyptian statue. Painting in Herculaneum is in the Pompeian style
but often more finely executed and more tastefully composed. Excellent taste is
also shown in domestic furnishings such as vessels of bronze or terracotta, votive
statuettes, lamps, etc.
The works of art and the furnishings found at Herculaneum were collected
in the Herculanean Museum at Portici and then transported to Naples at the end
of the 18th c. when the great National Museum was created. A few pieces found
their way abroad during the Bourbon period. A large proportion of the wall paintings
and some examples of domestic furnishings are preserved in situ.
A. De Franciscis, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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