Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/312

 HERCULANEUM. l>een ccrUinly a place of Boute importance at thia time: it enjoyed the righta of a monicipinm and ap- pears to have been well fortifiedi whence Strabo calls it a fortress (jppouplop): he describes it as enjoyini; « pecnliarly healthy situation, an advantage which it owed to its slightly elevated position, on a pro- jecting headland. (Stcab. v. p. 246.) The historian Sisenna also, in a fragment preserred by Nonius (iii. p. 207. a. v. Flavius), describes it as situated on elevated ground between two rivers. Its ports Also were among the best on this line of coast. (Dionys. i. 44.) It is probable that, when the shores of the beautiful bay of Naples became so much frequented by the Bomans, many of them would have Mttied at Hercnhmeum, or in its immediate neigh* bourfaood, and its municipal opulence is sufficiently proved by the results of recent discoveries; but though its name is mentioned by Mela and Florus, ju well aa by Pliny, among the cities of the coast of Campania, it is evident ttuit it never roee to a par with the more flourishing and splendid cities of that wealthy region. (Meki, ii. 4. § 9; Flor. i. 16. § 6; Plin. ill. 5. s. 9.) It is important to bear this in mind in estimating the value of the discoveries which have been made upon the site. In the reign of Nero (a.i>. 63) Herculaneum «aflfered severely from an earthqualce, which laid great part of the city in ruins, and seriously damaged the buildings that remained standing. (Senec iV. <2m» vi. 1.) This was the same earthquake which nearly destroyed Pompeii, though it is referred by Tadtua to the preceding year. {Ann, xv. 22.) Sixteen years later, in the reign of Titus (a. d. 79), « still more serious calamity befell both cities at once, the memorable eruption of Vesuvius in that year having buried them both under the vast accu- mulations of ashes, cinders, and volcanic sand poured forth by that mountain. (Dion Cass. Ixvi. 24.) Herculsmeum, from its position at the very foot cf the mountain, would naturally be the first to sufier; And this is evident from the celebrated letter of the younger Pliny describing the catastrophe, which does not however mention either Herculaneum or Pompeii by name. (Plin. Ep. vL 16, 20.) But Betina, where the elder Pliny first attempted to land, but was pre- vented by the violence of the eruption, was in the immediate neighbourhood of the former city. Its close proximity to Vesuvius was also the cause that the bed of ejected materials under which Hercu- laneum was buried assumed a more compact and solid form than that which covered Pompeii, though it is a mistake to suppose, as has been stated by many writers, that the former city was overwhelmed by a stream of lava. The substance with which it is covered is only a kind of volcanic tuff, formed of jwcumulated sand and ashes, but partially conso- lidated by the agency of water, which is often poured out in large quantities during vulcanic eruptions. (Danbeny an Volcanoes, p. 222, 2nd edit.) The oestmction of the unfortunate city was so complete that no attempt could be made to restore or rebuild it: but it appears that a small population gradually settled once more upon the site where it was buried, and hence we again meet with the name of Hercu- laneum in the Itineraries of the 4th century. {Tab. J'enl,) >This later settlement is supposed to hat^ been again destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in A. J>. 472 ; and no trace is subsequently found of the name. Though the position of Herculaneum was clearly fixed by the ancient authorities on the coast between HERCULANEUM. 1053 Kespolitf and Pompeii, and at the foot of Vesuvius, its exact site remained long unknown; it was placed by Cluverius at Torre del Greco^ nearly two miles too &r to the £. (Cluver. JtaL p. 1154.) But in 1738 the remains of the theatre were accidentally discovered in sinking a well, in the village of Retina; and excavations, being from tliis time systematically carried on, have brought to light a considerable por« tion of the ancient city, including the Forum, with two adjacent temples and a £isilica. Unfortu- nately, the circumstance that the ground above the site of the buried city is almost wholly occupied by the large and populous vilbiges of i2s«maandPorCiei lias thrown great difficulties in the way of these ex- cavations, which have been carried on wholly by subterranean galleries; and even the portions thus explored have been for the most part filled up again with earth and rubbish, after they had been examined, and the portable objects found carried off. The con sequence is, that while the works of art discovered here far exceed in value and interest those found at Pompeii, and the bronze statues especially form some of the choicest ornaments of the Museum at Naples, the remains of the city itself possess com- paratively little interest The only portion that re^ mains accessible is the theatre, a noble edifice, built of solid stone, in a very massive style ; it has 1 8 cimet, or rows of seats, and is calculated to have been ca- pable of oontaming 8000 persons. Fragments dis- covered in it prove that it was adorned with eques- trian statues of bronze, as well as with two chariots or bigae in gilt bronze; and several statues both in bronze and marble have been extracted from it. For this splendid edifice, as we,leam firam an inscription over the entrance, the citizens of HercuUneum were indebted to the munificence of a private individual, L. Annius Mammianus Bufus : the date of its erection is unknown; but it could not have been earlier tlian the period of the Boman empire, and the building had ccHisequently existed but a short time previous to its destruction. From the theatre a handsome street, 36 feet in breadth, and bordered on both sides by porticoes, led to a large open space or forum, on the N. side of which stood a Basilica of a noble style of architecture. An inscription informs us that this was erected at his own cost by M. Nonius Balbus, praetor and proconsul, who at the same time re- built the gates and walls of the city. No part of these has as yet been discovered, and the plan and extent of the ancient city therefore remain almost unknown. Not far from the Ba.silica were discovered two temples, one of which, as we learn from an in- scription, was dedicated to the Mother of the Gods (Mater Deum), aiul had been restored by Vespasian after the earthquake of A. d. 63. Another small temple, at a sh(»t distance fran the theatre, appa- rently dedicated to Hercules, was remarkable for the number and beauty of the paintings with which the walls were adorned, and which have been from thence transported to the Muscmn at Naples. At some distance from these buildings, towards the W., and on the opposite side of a small ravine or water- course, was found a villa or private house of a most sumptuous description ; and it was from hence that many of the most beautiful statues which now adorn the Neapohtan Museum were extracted. Still more interest was at first excited by the discovery in one of the rooms of this vilU of a small library or cabi- net of MSS. on rolls of papyrus, which, though charred and blackened so as to be converted into a substance resembling charcoal, were found to bo