On 24 August AD 79 Mt Vesuvius erupted on a massive scale. Herculaneum, Pompeii, and other towns on the Italian coast near Naples, disappeared under a river of molten lava and a deadly hail of volcanic ash and burning pumice stone. (You could say Herculaneum was having a run of very bad luck, for a few years earlier the place had been completely destroyed by an earthquake, and had only just been rebuilt.) When submerged Herculaneum was rediscovered in 1709, archaeologists found that the volcanic mud had kept the town in an amazing state of preservation ...
Small details, such as these earthware storage jars, help bring alive the Roman way of life from nearly 2000 years ago ...
This is a mosaic of the sea-god Neptune and his wife Amphitrite ...
Archaeological investigations and painstaking restoration work are still going on in Herculaneum ...
4 comments:
I think Herculaneum is far more impressive than Pompeii - yet it is of Pompeii that everyone has heard.
I have been to Pompeii a couple of times, but never to Herculaneum. Your photos, however, seem to underscore what Pat has said, specifically, that Herculaneum may be more impressive that Pompeii. My wife are going to be in Italy next year; perhaps we can add this to our itinerary.
We only had time to see one or the other, and chose Herculaneum because my wife had already visited Pompeii a few years ago. She knew there was a lot more left of Herculaneum. Also it's a smaller site and there are fewer visitors(though it's still popular - of course). All in all, I'd recommend it. But not in the summer months!
Me too! I have visited Pompei and now see that I must put Herculaneum on my wish list. Great photos, the mosaics are beautiful.
Post a Comment