The History of Herculaneum and its Archaeological Importance
Located on the Bay of Naples in present-day Italy, Herculaneum was a seaside escape for Rome's wealthy citizens. The relatively small city existed from about 500 BC until its destruction by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like nearby Pompeii, Herculaneum was lost until the 1700s. Modern residents of Ercolano found the preserved city when they began excavating to dig wells. Their discovery sparked a renewed interest in the lives of the ancient Romans and the birth of archeology.
Today, the ruins of Herculaneum - though lesser-known and smaller than Pompeii - provide scholars with a clear snapshot of daily life for ancient Romans. Following its destruction, the city was buried under significant amounts of sediment, making it more difficult for looters to access. In addition, a surprising amount of organic material was well preserved, granting scholars insight into the food, wooden structures, and works of art that adorned Roman homes.
The Origins of Herculaneum
According to Greek legend, Hercules founded Herculaneum while traveling back to Greece from Iberia where he captured the herd of Geryones as part of his Twelve Labors. The Greek philosopher Strabo, whose book Geographica documented the known world during his lifetime, stated that the Oscans founded the initial town. He noted it was later taken over by the Etruscans and later the Greeks.
Herculaneum was a strategic trading hub for the Greeks. The Samnites, from southern Italy, overtook the town in the 4th century BC before ceding control to the Romans in 89 BC after their loss to Titus Didius in the Social War (see the page on Gaius Marius for more information about The Social War).
Mount Vesuvius and Heculaneum's Destruction
Excavations by archeologists, combined with the detailed accounts of Vesuvius' eruption written by Pliny the Younger, enabled historians to reconstruct the timeline of Herculaneum's destruction.
Vesuvius's eruption in 79 AD sent volcanic material and ash thousands of feet into the sky. Initially, the winds carried the output of ash southeast, covering Pompeii. Over the next day, the weight of the accumulation in the sky began to fall back onto the volcano. As the ash and gases mixed, they combined to form pyroclastic material, a dense mixture of ash, gas, and rock that flowed down into Herculaneum. There were six total surges, which collectively buried the city.
Herculaneum's geographic luck relative to Pompeii allowed the city more time to evacuate, but many people still perished. Individuals were found on the shore and some were in their homes, presumably to hide or pray to the gods for mercy.
The current belief is that the extreme heat and gas produced by the volcano were the primary cause of death. The exposure vaporized the victims' blood, causing rapid death. Other researchers speculate that individuals indoors were shielded from the disaster's intense heat. Instead of vaporization, they likely suffocated as the volcanic gases and intense heat depressed their oxygen supply.
Preservation
Vesuvius' eruption froze Herculaneum in time. When the pyroclastic surge flowed down the mountain it fully submerged the city. Everything in the area was exposed to temperatures over 500 degrees Fahrenheit. This intense heat carbonized organic material, preserving victims, food, wood, and other items as they were at the time of the eruption. As a result, Herculaneum provides an excellent glimpse of the typical day-to-day life of Romans during the first century AD.
Once the ash, gas, and mud cooled and solidified, it created particularly hard volcanic rock. This protected the site. It is also why Herculaneum is more challenging to excavate than Pompeii, which was buried under ash that formed softer rock.
Life in Roman Herculaneum
Food and Diet
The preservation of human remains at Herculaneum allowed scientists to use carbon dating and protein analysis to reconstruct the typical diet of Roman people at the time. Their investigation confirmed what historians knew from the written record, that diet was dictated more by gender than by class.
Men ate more fish, shellfish, and grains. Women primarily consumed meat, eggs, dairy, fruit, and vegetables. The male diet featured more luxurious foods because men generally held higher status in Roman society and were less likely to be slaves than women.
Household Worship
Herculaneum provided insight into how the Romans worshipped at home. Each household was devoted to gods for protection, fortune, and thanksgiving. Among the ruins, archeologists discovered miniature wooden reproductions of the temples that would be built to gods as a worship site. In the home, the miniatures served as shrines. Romans would place their mini-temple in a central place and use small idols or figures to offer up praise. Lares, the patron of hearth and household, Mercury, the god of profit, Hercules, and Venus were commonly worshipped by residents of ancient Herculaneum.
Shopping and Commerce
Herculaneum featured multiple shops interspersed throughout the city's residential properties. The city's bustling marketplace served the daily needs of residents. Many shops were mixed-use, providing a shop or workspace on their first floor and residential space upstairs for their owner.
Pottery amphorae and clay casks used to store olive oil, wine, and other goods survive to this day. Preserved wooden shelving provides evidence showing that shopkeepers stored many items in large cisterns. They were held in wooden racks and dispensed to customers in their vessels.
Layout of the City
While comparatively few of the ruins have been excavated, primary resources and the already unearthed structures provide an accurate view of the city. Herculaneum was home to about 5,000 people, and the city features numerous large villas with ornate decor, indicating that the city was more affluent than its neighbor Pompeii.
Scholars believe Herculaneum primarily functioned as a seaside retreat for wealthy and prominent Romans because of its ideal climate and relative seclusion. The city's harbor was relatively small, making it a poor candidate for a trading or shipping hub during Roman rule.
The city is laid out in a traditional grid system with streets running north-south and east-west. The roads are well paved, uniform, and connect the entire city. Large villas sit beside small mixed-use shops indicating the city was not segregated by wealth.
There were more modest homes dispersed through the community, indicating a lower class of residents who were likely merchants and tradespeople. The city features numerous temples, theaters, and multiple necropolises.
The entire city was surrounded by a 6-10 foot thick wall dating to the second century BC. On the seaside, the wall was opus reticulatum, an ancient Roman brickwork technique that used diamond-shaped bricks made of tuff, a volcanic rock commonly found in Italy. The bricks were laid around an opus caementicium, or concrete, core.
While initially a defensive structure, by the time Rome controlled the city it was repurposed and used for housing and business space.
Herculaneum had an effective drainage system, common in Roman construction at the time. There was a central drain in the city where rainwater and refuse from kitchens would flow. The homes featured latrines and individual cesspits to segregate runoff from sewage.
The city was connected to the Serino aqueduct, which was constructed during the Augustan age.
Lost Structures
Archeologists have yet to locate the site of Hercules' temple. The city undoubtedly had a worship site dedicated to its namesake, but it remains buried. In addition, the exact site of the Forum remains lost. Historians believe the city probably only had a few smaller theaters because nearby Pompeii was an entertainment center and cultural hub for the region.
Noteworthy Structures
Villa of the Papyri
Named after the extensive library of 1,800 papyri or scrolls found within, the Villa of the Papyri was excavated in 1750. Scholars widely believe the villa was one of the most opulent ever constructed during the ancient Roman period. The structure includes ornate and complicated architecture. Numerous frescoes and pieces of bronze artwork survived the eruption. It also contained 90 Greek and Roman sculptures; the largest collection ever unearthed in a single location.
The villa existed in ancient times at the base of Vesuvius, occupying over 800 feet of coastline. The long-held consensus was that the villa was home to Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the father-in-law of Julius Caesar.
The structure was an enhanced version of the traditional Campanian villa surbana found throughout Rome. Visitors entered through a fauces into a large atrium that centered around a swimming pool, the library, and living quarters. The villa boasted multiple tiers as it approached the shore.
Boathouse
Right on the shore, the Boathouse offers a glimpse into marina life. Rather than commerce, the vessels docked here were recreational, alluding further to the affluence of Herculaneum's population.
Excavation of the boathouse revealed the remains of over 300 men, women, and children. Historians speculate they may have been at the shore waiting on ships to take them to safety. Due to the unique preservation resulting from the mudflow, researchers discovered a military officer on the beach based on his armor and weaponry, further supporting the notion the beach was an attempted egress point.
College of the Priests of Augustus
A temple for the Roman imperial cult of Augustus, the college was a hub for freedmen who worshipped the former emperor Augustus, who they saw as divine. Religion at the time dictated continued respect for the gods alongside worship for the former emperors.
The site is well preserved today, with multiple frescos and inscriptions noting the conviction of the freedmen who worshipped there.
House of Argus
Named for a fresco of Argus, a multi-eyed giant of Greek myth, the House of Argus was one of the first villas discovered with a preserved second story. Archeologists discovered balconies, wooden shelving, and furniture that was well preserved.
The House of the Alcove
This structure was likely a middle-class abode, as it contained several simple rooms around one more ornate one. The structure retains its original marble flooring. The site also features opus tesselatum or mosaics embedded in flooring and opus sectile, which were composed of cut marble inlaid in a wall to create a pattern or picture.
Central Thermae
Bathhouses were popular in Pompeii and Herculaneum through the first century AD. They were single sites with separate areas for men and women. The bathhouses were culturally significant because their popularity drew a steady stream of people, making them a hive of activity and conversation.
Their centrality to Roman life meant they were finely appointed with marble and artworks. The central bath in Herculaneum features a large black and white mosaic of Triton surrounded by dolphins, octopi, and squid.
Two thousand years ago, the bathhouse at Herculaneum was also directly on the seafront, making it unique throughout Rome.
Living in Pompeii's Shadow
Historically, Pompeii was a center of commerce and trade, making it a highly trafficked city and a nexus point for Roman people of all kinds. Conversely, Herculaneum was smaller and as time passed, more exclusive, catering to a higher class of Roman.
Despite the sites being mere miles from one another, Pompeii is inextricably linked with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and has a much higher profile, despite the fact that Herculaneum was discovered more than 40 years earlier.
Part of this is a matter of accessibility to archeologists. As mentioned earlier, Pompeii was buried under only a few feet of ash and sediment, meaning that excavations there are much easier to conduct. In addition, Pompeii is geographically larger, which means researchers can conduct studies and investigations of many areas without risking the integrity of the entire site.
Also, Herculaneum is relatively dense. Extensive excavations must dig deeper and risk harming existing structures.
Ongoing Study and Preservation
Herculaneum, along with Pompeii, was designated a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. UNESCO recognized the extraordinary level of preservation of multiple ruins which provided an accurate view of Roman life.
While Herculaneum has been excavated off-and-on for over 200 years, new digs have largely stopped. The unique amount of organic material that has already been unearthed has begun to degrade. As a result, efforts at Herculaneum have shifted from discovery to preservation. The site's proximity to present-day Ercolano also makes excavation difficult. Many of the ruins may be buried under modern construction, while development restrictions limit the ability for expansion.
