J + 20 : Herculaneum & Pompeii

Herculaneum's Seafront - 300 People were killed in the Shipyards where they took Shelter

It is more than 20 years ago that I visited the two places. Was on the way to a risk conference in Capri and arrived early in Naples. Given that Pompeii was just 25 km away, I squeezed both into an afternoon. It was too much though for the short time available. The experience was overwhelming - I forgot most of what I saw. What I remember are the few visitors in Sept 2002, Pompeii's fast food stalls and street crossings, the indoor paintings in Herculaneum. Not using a guide was a mistake not to be repeated.

Monte Vesuvius with its missing Peak as seen from Naples

This year we thus booked two days: Herculaneum on Friday morning. Pompei on Saturday. We also found with Lomè an excellent guide. She provided the historic context to our tour, told us how people lived and worked, introduced us to the significance of both places in 79 AD when the title of Emperor had just passed on from Vespasian to Titus. Vespasian died in June 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and exploded in August. At that time, the volcano was much taller than today. These days it stands 1'281 meters. In 79 AD, it was between 1'500m- 2'000 meters. The "missing peak" material burried Herculaneum and Pompei deep under ground. Also, the volcano was called Monte Somma.

Victims of the Pyroclastic Flow in the Shipyards of Herculaneum

How much material was ejected can best be seen at the entrance to ancient Herculaneum. On a cliff made by dried mud and lava, visitors stand 24 meters above the ancient sea-front. There, in the workshops for the town's ships, 300 people, mostly women, children & elderly were found dead - still huddled together as at the very momement when a pyroclastic flow killed them with toxic gases 450 centigrades hot. They died instantly. Their skeletons remain where they passed away.

Well preserved Fast-Food Shop which offered Hot Soups and

Flavoured Stews for People who were too busy to cook

.

First hot mud, then lava filled the streets of Herculaneum and eventually fully covered it, sealing it for millenia. Deprived of oxygen, nothing that had survived the heat and fire would rot away. It stayed as it was. Herculaneum remained untouched for 1'630 years. It was only rediscovered in 1709 by farmers who were digging for water. Given the hardened mud and the basalt, Herculaneum was more difficult to excavate than Pompei. The area around it was thus overbuilt in the 19th and 20th century. Only 20 ha of Herculaneum are excavated.

Herculaneum was built with as a regular Grid. Large Basalts

make the pavement and are well preserved

The Town's Main Bath with the Beautiful Marble Bassin was

Also pretty well preserved under Vesuvius' Mud & Lava Flows

Well preserved Mosaic of Neptun and Amphitrite, his wife, in a domestic Villa

Even Romans could not afford Marble Columns in every Street

They built them with special Tiles and plastered the Surface

Our three hours visit gave us a good insight into the daily life of Romans who came to Herculaneum to relax and enjoy life. Nobody knows how many people died here. The 300 found on the seafront may only be the peak of the iceberg. Pyraclastic flows are as lethal on the sea as on land. People trying to escape by boat may have been killed as well. We will never know.