HERCULANEUM

ENGLISH * HERCULANEUM
WE MOVE ON WITHOUT A PAUSE FROM PORTICI TO HERCULANEUM, THE CITY AT THE FOOT OF VESUVIUS WHICH, TOGETHER WITH POMPEI, WAS BURIED BY THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION OF A.D. 79. HERCULANEUM, HOWEVER, WAS SUBMERGED UNDER A BURNING RIVER OF LAVA AND MUD, WHILST POMPEI WAS BURIED UNDER ASH AND LAPILLI. THIS DIFFERENCE MEANS THAT, WHEREAS AT POMPEI THE LAYER WHICH COVERED THE TOWN WAS FIVE TO SIX METRES DEEP, AT HERCULANEUM THE TORRENT OF MUD WHICH SWEPT OVER EVERYTHING IN ONE TERRIFYING FLOOD FIRST THE VILLAS ON THE SLOPE AND THEN THE ENTIRE CITY SOLIDIFIED WITH A THICKNESS OF TWELVE TO TWENTY FIVE METRES. THUS THERE WERE MORE DIFFICULTIES HERE IN EXCAVATING THAN THERE WERE AT POMPEI.
AND YET, THIS FLUID SUBSTANCE, WHICH INFITRATED EVERYWHERE AND AFTER IT HAD COOLED DOWN BECAME ALMOST AS SOLID AS TUFA, ACTED AS A KIND OF HERMETIC SEAL AND KEPT THE CITY FROM BEING DAMAGED OR ROBBED. THE WOODWORK AND MASONRY, EVEN ORGANIC MATERIALS AND FOOD WERE PRESERVED INTACT.
AS WE LOOK DOWN ON THE NEAT GRID OF ITS STREETPALN AND ITS UNBELIEVABLY MODERN LOOKING AND WELL PRESERVED HOSES, WE WOULD NEVER REALIZE THET THE TOWN HAD CEASED TO EXIST TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO IF IT WERE NOT FOR OUR KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. LIKE NEAPILS, THE ANCIENT TOWN OF HERAKLEION ( ACCORDING TO LEGEND, IT WAS FOUNDED BY HERCULES ) POSSESSED A SYSTEMATIC STREETPLAN: THREE "DECUMANI" AND FIVE "CARDINES" DIVIDING THE CITY UP INTO "INSULAE" ( OR BLOCKS). IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C. IT. WAS THEREFORE A GREEK CITY. IT WAS LATER OCCUPIED BY THE SAMNITES AND TOOK PART ALONG WITH THE OTHER ITALIC CITIES IN THE SOCIAL WAR AGAINST ROME.
DEFEATED BY SULLA, IT WAS REDUCED TO THE STATUS OF MUNICIPALITY AND DURING THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS BECAME THOROUGHLY ROMANIZED. IN A.D. 63 IT WAS SHAKEN AND HALF-DESTROYED BY A TERRIFYING EARTHQUAKE. THE RECONSTRUCTION WHICH FOLLOWED HAD ALMOST BEEN COMPLETED WHEN THE LAVA BURIED IT.
HERCULANEUM PRESENTS A DIGNIFIED AND TRANQUIL APPEARANCE. WE CAN SEE HOUSES WITH MANY WINDOWS AND BALCONIES ADORNED WITH ELEGANT COLUMNS, BUT FEW SHOPS. GREAT ARCHITECTURAL SKILL AND TASTE HAVE GONE INTO THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE THEATRE. THIS DISPLAYED AN ARTISTIC AND DECORATIVE RICHNESS WHICH WAS HIGLHY UNUSUAL FOR SUCH A SMALL TOWN. IT HAD A RAKED FLIGHT OF TIERS SUPPORTED ON TWO VERTICAL ROWS OF COLUMNS. STUCCOWORK AND PAINTINGS DECORATED THE GANGWAYS; THE STAGE AREA WAS RICHLY ORNAMENTED WITH STATUES PLACED IN NICHES AND BETWEEN THE ARCHES. IN THE BASILICA ( THE MAIN MEETING PLACE FOR THE CITIZENS ) MURAL PAINTINGS WERE DISCOVERED WHICH ARE CONSIDERED TO BE FINEST EXAMPLES OF THEIR KIND. THERE ARE ALSO THE VERY BEAUTIFUL MOSAICS FOUND IN THE BATHS, DEPICTING SIRENS, SHELLFISH AND DOLPHINS. THE OUTSTANDING DISCOVERY, HOWEVER, WAS THE VILLA OF THE PAPYRI, ERRONEOUSLY CALLED "DEI PISONI", THE MOST MAGNIFICIENT CLASSICAL VILLA WHICH HAS COME DOWN TO US INTACT. IT BELONGED TO A ROMAN ARISTOCRAT, A HIGHLY CULTIVATED MAN OF REFINED TASTES, AT LEAST TO JUDGE FROM THE WORKS OF ART WHICH HE LOVED TO COLLECT ( AND WHICH ARE ALL PERFECTLY PRESERVED ) AND THE NO FEWER THAN 1814 PAPYRI WHICH FORMED HIS LIBRARY.
RECENT EXCAVATIONS HAVE SHOWN THAT, WHEN IT WAS BURIED, HERCULANEUM MUST HAVE BEEN FOUND BESIDE A BOAT. THEY MUST HAVE BEEN FLEEING TOWARDS THE SEA WHEN THE CATASTROPHE STRUCK, ONLY TO BE WASHED BACK BY AN ENORMOUS WAVE. IT IS ALSO VERY INTERESTING TO OBSERVE THE HOUSES OF SAMNITE CONSTRUCTION, AS CONFORTABLE AND ELEGANT AS THEIR ROMAN COUNTERPARTS, WHICH GOES TO SHOW THE HIGH DEGREE OF CIVILISATION AND CULTURE ATTAINED BY THE ITALIC PEOPLES.