Herculaneum.

The city of Hercules (possibly). It is the story put about that this was a grander and more exclusive resort than Pompeii but, as only a bit of it has been dug up, it’s hard to generalise.

At the front, Herculaneum. At the back, the current town of Ercalano. Most of the Roman town is under it.

The arches that are just visible at the front of the picture are the old sea front. The sea is now at least 2km away.

Herculaneum was destroyed by the first pyroclastic flow – of 6 – which gave the citizens less time to get away than those at Pompeii. This was followed by a landslip which buried the place under 20m of topsoil. This created an anaerobic environment which led to the preservation of organic materials. It also meant that, despite a bit of tunnelling, there was no archeological digging until the 1920s when Mussolini said ‘make it so’.

Apparently, no one believed Pliny’s account of the various pyroclastic flows until the 1980s when Mount St Helens in the US exploded in exactly the same way.

Rope!
A ship – found upside down and preserved.
In the museum – tiny amber dog. Remind you of something?
In the arches on the seafront were found the bodies of women and children. The men were found nearer the sea, presumably trying to get boats ready to go. These are casts of the skeletons – the originals have been taken away
Proof that Roman houses had an upstairs.
Most of the city is underground. This is the only bit you can access – the other tunnels are too dangerous. This is a swimming pool with a fountain in the form of the Hydra in the middle.
Because of the anaerobic conditions, some of the houses have wood in situ. These are sliding doors that could be closed to shut off the atrium from the other sections of the house
Bathhouse mosaic.
Shelves to leave your clothes on in the bathhouse.
Another garden fountain – Poseidon and Amphitrite.
Advert outside a wine shop. The amphorae are different types of wine with their prices underneath.
Temporary walls put up after the earthquake in 62CE. The eruption of Vesuvius was in 79CE.
Hercules, Athena and Hera.

After Herculaneum we went to Oplontis and the House of Poppaea. There is very little proof that this belonged to her (second wife of Nero, in case you were asking) but it was definitely a very high status villa – half of it is still underground – in an area where other emperors and their families went for their holidays. Again, it would have been right next to the sea but is now quite a long way back.

Entry on the landward side.
Centaur fighting with (trying to abduct?) a hermaphrodite.
Head of Aphrodite.
Nature in Roman houses is, apparently, always to be viewed, rather than gone into.
More frescos.

And, just to change the theme a bit, I am adding the final love duet from Monteverdi’s ‘L’incoronazione di Poppaea’.

One thought on “Herculaneum.”

  1. I meant to say something about the Pompeii garden fountain surround, but this one is even more elaborate. This could be where the late C18/early C19 passion for shell grottos in grand houses came from.

    The rope is stunning.

    Thanks for letting us share.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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