| |
|
Herculaneum (modern Italian Ercolano) was an ancient Roman town in what is now Italy. In contrast to Pompeii, it was a smaller town with a wealthier population at the time of its destruction in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius beginning on August 24, A.D. 79. The resort town was buried in ash that has hardened into volcanic tufa. A pyroclastic flow preceded the main eruption, killing many residents, whose bodies were encased in ash that preserved their last moments in casts.
Excavation began at modern Ercolano, a suburb of Naples, in 1738. The elaborate publication of Le Antichità di Ercolano ("The Antiquities of Herculaneum") under the patronage of the King of the Two Sicilies had an effect on incipient European Neoclassicism out of all proportion to its limited circulation; in the later 18th century, motifs from Herculaneum began to appear on stylish furnishings from decorative wall-paintings and tripod tables to perfume burners and teacups.
The first major discovery of 1st century A.D. Roman skeletal materials took place in Herculaneum. Because the Romans generally practised cremation into the 3rd century, very little skeletal material remains for study. Excavation during the 1990s in the port area of Herculaneum turned up the skeletons of more than 200 individuals of varied age, sex, and class.
The most famous of the luxurious villas at Herculaneum is the 'Villa of the Papyri' now identified as the magnificent seafront retreat for Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Julius Caesar's father-in-law. It stretches down towards the sea in four terraces, one of which is expected to house a second part of the library. Piso, a literate man who patronized poets and philosophers, built there one of the finest libraries of its time. Scrolls from the Villa of the Papyri are stored at the National Library, Naples. The scrolls are so badly carbonized, soaked with volcanic mud and flattened by pressure, that only a few have been unrolled. Multi-spectral imaging, using different portions of the light spectrum helps make the ink legible.