Herculaneum & Pompeii

Map of Herculaneum. The yellow are is the archaeological site.
The blue line is the old coastline, and the small red balloon
is where the modern coastline is. 

In 79AD Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried a lot of the surrounding countryside with ash and mud. The city of Pompeii was buried, but it wasn’t the only victim. Other cities such as Herculaneum and Oplontis also suffered from Vesuvius’s wrath, but Pompeii receives the most press coverage. So much ash and mud fell in the area that the coastline actually changed. Herculaneum and Pompeii were coastal cities before the eruption, but since the eruption, they are farther inland. Herculaneum is .31 miles inland and Pompeii is 1.24 miles from the coast.

Intact murals at Herculaneum

A mosaic from Herculaneum

We visited two cities buried under ash and mud from Vesuvius: Herculaneum and Pompeii. These cities are famous because they were cut down in their prime and were completely preserved in that moment in 79AD. Excavation of both sites began in 1700s and has given us the most complete view of average Roman life. Even the sewers below the towns were preserved, enabling studies of their diet. I was watching a documentary where the archeologists reviewed their findings. Some of the citizens were the poorer residents, but they still had a healthy diet. The scientists also found peppercorns in 2 separate places, indicating 2 separate households had access to this exotic spice; at the time, pepper was only imported from India. Archaeologists have also found furniture, jewelry, and currency; everything as it was prior to volcanic smothering.  There are ruts in the roads from cart and wagon wheels. It was pretty awesome. We’ve seen a lot of Roman ruins in a lot of countries, but these were far and away the most intact. At Herculaneum 2nd stories of homes and businesses were preserved, including some of the wooden beams. Herculaneum is much smaller than Pompeii, and it can easily be explored in its entirety. It’s estimated that only 25% of Herculaneum has been excavated while about 66% of Pompeii has been excavated.

A shop filled with amphorae.

When giving his permission to excavate Pompeii, the King of Naples is reported to have said bring me the best of everything. This resulted in many of the significant finds being brought back to Naples and placed in the National Museum, so at times Pompeii can seem a little bare in comparison to Herculaneum. Pompeii is huge; I recommend buying a map to navigate to the principle sites. There are lots of houses and shops in Pompeii, but they are not all noteworthy or even intact. Without a map, you might find yourself on a street with row upon row of unadorned houses. But when compared to other Roman ruins around Europe, even looted, Pompeii is a treasure.

Using the ancient stepping stones. They kept you raised
above whatever nasty stuff was flowing in the street.

Useful Links!
Herculaneum Pictures!
Pompeii Pictures!
Homepage of Pompeii Archaeological Site
Homepage of Herculaneum Archaeological Site
Smithsonian Article about Pompeii
BBC Documentary about Herculaneum