Herculaneum

 
Tour options:  Herculaneum-Vesuvius; Herculaneum-Pompeii;
Family tour: Herculaneum and Virtual archeaological musem
Half day excursion: Herculaneum

As far as we know , Herculaneum  was an italic city founded around the IVth century B.C. coping, in the geometric regularity of his structures, the lay-out of Naples, to see how the "decumani" (the main streets, with an east-west orientation) and the "cardines" (narrower streets) identify with those of the Partenopean city. There is  undeniably a "feeling" about Herculaneum which is quite different from what one "feel" in other ancient world centres brought to light so far, including Pompeii.
To a large extent this is due to the special circumstances of its interment by Vesuvius during the eruption of 79 A.D.  The city was not struck by ashes and lapilli, but by a torrent of mud flooding down from the slopes of the volcano. Having solidified and becoming tufalike, it constituted for centuries the best possible defence  against atmospheric agents and against illegal excavators.
Towards the end of the first century B.C. the town become a resort center for the Roman aristocracy. Unlike Pompeii, Herculaneum seems a more peaceful town, especially devoted to navy and fishing with a lot of greenery and vineyards. It is said, in fact, that Herculaneum was Epicure's favorite place for his philosophical studies. Herculaneum had four to five thousands inhabitants and its square measure was a fifth smaller that of Pompeii. It was destroyed by the 79 A.D. eruption. Herculaneum seems more elegant and refined than Pompeii because of the original character of architecture and decoration (ornaments) and because of the natural position above the scenary of the gulf. Excavations began in 1709, while from 1738 to 1765 systematic explorations were conducted by order of Charles III of Bourbons. From 1927 the excavations in the open of the whole area were begun by Amedeo Maiuri.


Villa dei papiri

It was opened in 1973 and is still located on the first floor of the museum. Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, one of the largest and most lavish Roman residences ever to be explored, excavated at the wishes of Charles of Bourbon, using a complex system of vertical air shafts and underground tunnels, between 1750 and 1764. The excavations were carried out under the guidance of a Spanish surveyor Don Rocco Gioacchino Alcubierre and later by a Swiss engineer Karl Weber, who was responsible for the plan dated July 20 1754, giving indications of where the sculptures were found, which is displayed at the entrance to the collection. The excavations were subsequently continued by Francesco La Vega, Camillo Paderni, custodian of the museum of Portici, and by the French sculptor and restorer Canart; excavations at the villa have recently begun again. The villa was built by a system of terracing on a small hill north west of Herculaneum parallel to the coastline, and extended for over 250 m. on a longitudinal axis running North West/South East. Four main parts of the villa have been identified, belonging to the original plan of the second century BC, later extended in the first half of the first century AD: a central building organised according to the canons of the Italic domus, with an atrium, tablinium, and square peristyle, a series of rooms in the eastern sector, a large rectangular peristyle and several buildings situated to the west of the rectangular peristyle in the direction of a terrace which terminated in a circular belvedere. The residential complex produced nearly ninety sculptures and over 1,800 rolls of papyrus, mostly Greek texts of Epicurean philosphy written by Philodemus of Gadara, a philosopher of the first century BC, as well as some texts in Latin, including an anonymous work De bello Actiaco about the war fought by Mark Anthony and Cleopatra against Octavian. Undoubtedly a member of the Roman nobilitas (aristocracy), devoted to Epicurean philosophy and a sophisticated admirer of Hellenistic culture, the owner of the villa has been identified as Lucius Calpurnius Piso Cesoninus, father-in-law of Julius Caesar, consul in 58 BC and a friend of Philodemus of Gadara, or Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 38 a.C., brother-in-law of Lucullus, and famous for his interest in Hellenistic culture. ItineraryIn room CXIV there some interesting small bronze busts of philosophers and men of letters, such as Epicurus, Hermarcus, Zeno and Demosthenes, probably used as a sort of bookmark in the famous library.

The adjoining room CXV is devoted to the display of two carbonised unrolled papyri, as well as the enlarged reproductions of some of the papyri found in the villa, now kept in the National Library of Naples. Vistors to Room CXVI are immediately struck by the five splendid bronze statues of the “dancers”, which come from the peristyle and depict five peplophoroi, water-carriers who can probably be identified with the Danaides, the daughters of king Danaos who, according to myth, were condemned to draw water for eternity for having killed their husbands. The same room, which is full of masterpieces, also contains the two famous bronze statues of the runners, copies of originals dating to the fourth century BC, a bronze statue of Hermes at rest inspired by the work of Lysippus, a bronze statue of a drunken Satyr lying on a rock covered by a lion skin, two elegant bronze statues of fawns, as well as a series of busts of sovereigns, condottieri and Greek philosophers and men of letters, which also continue into the following room CXVII. At the centre of this room is the particularly interesting head of the so-called 'Pseudo Seneca', in reality a bronze portrait that may depict Ennius or Aristophanes or, more probably, Hesiod or Aesop. Lastly, there are three other interesting statues, a marble statue of Athena Promachos, an Augustan reworking of a statue of the second century BC, and two herms, one of Dorphorus by Polycletus and an Amazon, a copy of an original by Phydias.


Cameo factory

  cammeo factory The Cameo is a raised relief carved by expert engravers, a miniature masterpiece requiring artistic sensibility and great technical ability. Shells particularly suited to this kind of engraving: orange and ochre-colored Cornelian, and brown and white Sardonica. The engraver, selecting the shell for consistency and color, proceeds to cut out the “cup”, the portion most ideal for engravin, because composed of 3 layers of color. Next, the future Cameo is attached to a wooden spindle using a previously prepared mixure of wax and Greek pectin, which supports the shell, making it easier to carve and handle. After designing the subject to be reproduced on the surface of the piece, the master angraver, and then with a finer-point graver, carves out the detailed engraving. When the work is finished, the cameo is detached from the spindle with an artful blow of the hammer and is then left to soak in oil to give it luster.


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