Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/313

 1054 HfiRCULEUM FRETUM. still legible. Bat the hopes at first entertained that Mre should here recover some of the lost literaty treasures of antiquity have been signally disap- pointed, the works discovered being principally treatises on the fipicorean philosophy of very little interest A full account of the early excavations and dis- coveries at Herculaneum will be found in Venuti (^Ptime Sooverte di ErcolanOj 4to. Roma, 1748), and in the more recent work of lorio (^Notvde tugli Scaoi di Ercolano, 8vo. Naples, 1827). The works of art and other monuments discovered on the site, are figured and described in the magnificent work of Le Antichitd di Ercolano^ in 8 vols, folio, published at Naples, from 1757 to 1792. The inscriptions are given by Mommsen {Inter, JRegn, Neap. pp. 122 -—127); and an account of the papyri will be found prefixed to the work entitled Heradanensiwn Vola- mawum quae tupermnty of which only two volumes have been published, in 1793 and 1809. A sum- mary account of the general results will be found in Roraanelli ( Viaggio ad Ercolano, 8vo. Naples, 1811), and in Murray's Handbook for Southern Italy. It is much to be regretted that the superior facilities afforded by Pompeii have for many years caused Herculaneum to be almost wholly neglected : even the excavations previously carried on were conducted without system, and no regular plans were ever taken of the edifices and portions of the city then explored. The modem village of /2estna, which now covers a large part of the ruins of Herculaneum, has evidently retained the name of Rbtina, a place mentioned only in the letter of Pliny describing the great eruption of Vesuvius in a. d. 79. (Plin. Ep. vi. 16.) It appears to have been a naval station, where a body of troops belonging to the fleet at Misenum (Classiarii) were at that time posted, who applied in great terror to Pliny to extricate them from their perilous position. Hence, it is clear that it must have been close to the sea- coast, and probably aerved as the port of Herculaneum. The exact position of this cannot now be traced, for the whole of this line of coast has undergone considerable alterations from volcanic action. The point of the promontory on which the ancient city was situated is said to be 95 feet within the present line of coast; and the difference at other points is much more considerable. We learn from Columella {R. R, x. 135) that Her- culaneum possessed salt-^works, wiiich he calls *' Sa- linae Herculcae,"* on the coast to the £., immediately adjoining the territory of Pompeii. The Tabula marks a station, which it calls ** Opiontis," between Herculaneum and Pompeii, 6 miles from the former town ; but the name, which is otnerwise unknown, is probably corrupt. [E. H. B.] HERCULEUM FRETUM. [Gaditanum Frb- TOM.] HE'RCULIS ARENAS (a/ row 'HpaxKiovi Ocvcs), a range of sand-hilU in the NW. of Cyre- naica, behind Hesperides, containing the source of the river Lathon. (PtoL iv. 4. §§ 8, 10.) They ibrm the N. part of the Jehd JBarkahj its S. part being the Velpi M. of Ptolemy. [P. S.] HE'RCTTLIS COLUMNAE (oi 'HpuwAwwy crr^- Aat, ai *HpdKuot ar^Kai, Strab. &c. ; *HpaKos vrdKai, *HpaKos Kio^tSy Find. : Herculeae Go- lumnae, Mel, Plin., &c. : Herculis Speculae, Flor. iv. 2 : also simply ^r^Kat and Golnmnae : the Pillars of ffercules)y is a name commonly understood now, as it was generally among the ancients, in one par- ticular sense, namely, as denoting the twin rocks . H^RCULtS COLUHNAE. which gnard the entrance of ib% Medherraaeaa (Mare Internum, &c) at the E. extremity of the Straits of Gibridtar [GADiTAiruii Prbtum] ; of which the one (Hi the N. or European side was ca&d Calpe, that on the S. or Afirican side Abyxji. Bfll this simple statement is far from containing a ficient account of the meaning attached to the by the Greeks and Romans. Its origin goes back into the lej^endarT and we are here again involved in the oft- ie t miii^ difllcnlty as to whether the I^end was fiKinded on a certain amount of knowledge, or whether, the kfread being purely imaginary at first, a poaitive sense was given to it as geographical discovery advanced. It should be borne in mind that cahunnt^ as wA as aJUarSy were erected to mark the fardiest porats reached by conquerors and discovam« [Axjsxasdbi Arae] ; and hence, in connection with Uie mythical expedition of Hercules to the extreme west, sach memorials would be sought. In accordance with this view, we find Pillara of Hercules mentioned in other distant regions of the earth to which Hem»les was supposed to have penetrated, namely, in the N. of Germany, and the W. extremity of GanL (Tac: Germ. 3,34; Scymn. Ch. 188; Serv.otf Virg.Aem. xi. 262, where we have a parallel case in ** the Pil- lars of Proteus " for the borders of Egypt.) Other examples are mentioned in the interesting dismsan on this use of columns by Strabo (iiL pp. 170, 171). But there was also another reason to look for oolumB in those regions; for Aeschylus tells as of the **■ F9- hirof Heaven and Earth," that is, the pillar which, resting on earth, supported the vault of heaTen. and which was upborne by Atks {Prom. 349, 428)l That the Pillare of Hercules were identified by sonw with thoee of Atlas is proved by Uie fact that the former are also called the Pillart qfKrontm and of BriareuBf deities, like Atlas, of the Titan nee. (Aristot. ap. Aelian, V. H.y.S; Hesych. a. v. Bp»- p4w o7if Aai ; Eustath. ad Dion. Per. 561 ; SchcL Apoll Rhod. i. 165: the Scholiast to Pindar, Nem. iii. 37, calls them the Pillars of Aegaeon, which is another name of Briareus; and elsewhere Briareos himself is called Hercules, Zenob. iVor. Cent. ▼. 48.) But when the ancient writers began to investigats the matter more closely, they were greatly diTidcd in opinion as to where the Pillars were to be aooght, what they were, and tc^ they were called bj the name of Hercules. 1. The name is not found in Homer, althone^h the manner in which he speaks of Ulyssess paasa^ out of the sea into the ocean and back again, ^sens to imply that he had some knowledge of the Stiaits. The earliest distinct mention of the Pillars of Hercules in Greek poetry is by Pindar, who more than once names thjm as the pmnt to which the fame of his heroes reached, but beyond which no mortal could advance, whether he were wia« or foolish ; and in one parage he speaks of Gades m the same terms, thus evidently regarding the two positions a^i closely connected. (PindL OL iii. 79, Nem. iii. 35, iv. 112, Jethm. iv. 20.) Herodotus, whose knowledge was derived from the records of Phoenician navigation, speaks of the Pillars with perfect familiarity, as of a well-known position, ud tKe tenour of his remarks on those regimis leaves little, if any doubt, that he placed them at the StiaitsL (Herod, iv. 42, 181, 185.) Scylax assigns to them the same position, at the mouth of the Mediterranean, and near Gades. He places them at the distance of a day^s journey from one another, and distinguishea