Herculaneum: Ancient Roman City Frozen in Time

Hello everyone, welcome to Herculaneum. Let's go check it out. Herculaneum was an ancient city of 4,000 to 5,000 inhabitants in Campania, Italy. It's located 8 km southeast of Naples at the western base of Mount Suvius and was destroyed together with Pompeii, Torre Annunziata and Stabiae by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Herculaneum is renowned for the excellent preservation of its ruins, including organic material like wood and even some human remains, due to the way it was buried by volcanic material. The town of Ercolano, population 51,600, now lies over part of the site. The excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii in the mid-18th century precipitated the modern science of archaeology. Collectively, the ruins of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Herculaneum is open daily except January 1 and December 25. From March 16 to October 14, hours are from 8.30am to 7.30pm. From October 15 to March 15, it's open from 8.30am to 5pm. An adult ticket costs €16. Youth from the age of 18 to 25 pay €2. Under 18s enter free. On certain dates, such as the first Sunday of each month, Herculaneum is more compact than Pompeii, spanning roughly 7 hectares or 17 acres, ideal for exploring at leisure. The main attractions at Herculaneum include the House of the Deer, with its superb frescoes. The House of the Wooden Patrician still has original wooden doors. Don't miss the Thermopylaeum, an ancient snack bar with counters and jars. The baths, men's and women's, show Roman bathing culture. Marvel at the House of Neptune and Amphitrite with its stunning mosaic featuring sea deities. Finally, visit the boathouses along the ancient shoreline, ripped with poignant skeletal remains of those lost in the eruption. Ancient tradition connected Herculaneum with the name of the Greek hero Heracles, an indication that the city was of Greek origin. However, there is historical evidence that towards the end of the 6th century BC, a nucleus of Oscan-speaking inhabitants came under Greek hegemony there and that in the 4th century BC Herculaneum came under the domination of the Samnites. The city became a Roman municipium in 89 BC when having participated in the Social War, war of the Allies against Rome. It was defeated by Titius Didius, a legate of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Herculaneum was severely shaken by an earthquake in 62 AD and the serious damage suffered by its public and private buildings had not yet been repaired when it was buried by the Vesuvius eruption of August 79 AD. Because few human remains were found during early excavations, it was assumed that most of the inhabitants, unlike the people of Pompeii, had succeeded in escaping toward Naples, in the direction opposite of the fall of La Pili and Ashes. In the 1980s, however, excavations at the ancient shoreline of the Bay of Naples, an area that is now inland, uncovered more than 120 human skeletons, suggesting that numerous additional inhabitants had perished while attempting to escape. Louise Ardentes, a type of chiroclastic flow, was the most likely cause of death. The particular circumstances of the burial of Herculaneum, unlike those of Pompeii, led to the formation over the city of a compact mass of turfaceous material about 50 to 60 feet or 15 to 18 meters deep. Although this layer made excavation very difficult, it preserved Herculaneum and prevented tampering and looting. The special conditions of ground humidity made possible the conservation of wooden frameworks of houses, wooden furniture, the hull of a sizable boat, pieces of cloth and food in the form of carbonized loaves of bread left within ovens. Thus, Herculaneum offers a detailed impression of private life that is only worth difficulty achieved in other centers of the ancient world. Excavations began in the 18th century when all memory of the existence of Herculaneum had been lost for centuries and the only available reports of it were those that had come down through the authors of antiquity, without any information as to the exact position of the ancient city. Quite by accident, in the first decades of the 18th century, during the digging of a well, a wall was discovered that was later found to be a part of the stage of the Herculaneum theatre. Tunnels were soon dug at the site by treasure hunters and many of the theatre area's artifacts were removed. Regular excavations were started in 1738 under the patronage of the King of Naples and from 1750 to 1764 the military engineer Carl Weber served as director of excavations. Under Weber, diagrams and plans of the ruins were produced and numerous artifacts were uncovered and documented. Magnificent paintings and a group of portrait statues were excavated from a building thought to be the ancient basilica of Herculaneum and a large number of bronze and marble works of art were recovered from a suburban villa called the Villa of Papyri because it held a whole library of ancient papyri, in Greek, on philosophical subjects of Epicurean inspiration which are preserved in the National Library of Naples. The excavations resumed in 1823 with the intention of discontinuing the previous tunneling and instead working from above ground, a method used with success at Pompeii. Up to 1835 the work proved to be of value, bringing to light the first houses of Herculaneum among which was the peristyle of the house of Argus. Abandoned and again resumed in 1869 after the reunification of Italy, the excavations continued until 1875 when, because of the poor results obtained and the presence of the inhabited dwellings of Resina, now Ercolano, they were once more abandoned. After the efforts of the English archaeologist Charles Waldstein to internationalize the excavations at Herculaneum in 1904 by collecting contributions for this purpose from various nations in Europe and America, the work resumed in May 1927 with Italian state funds and with the object of conducting the excavations with the same continuity as those of Pompeii. The results of this work, interrupted only by World War II, made it possible to have a clear picture of the ancient city. The larger Decumanus main road forms one side of the Quarter of the Ancient Forum with its public buildings. The insulae, or blocks, to the south of the Decumanus are laid out in a strictly geometric pattern facing the cardines, or crossroads. Many of the nobler houses afforded their patrons with the view of the bay. Inside the residential quarter, houses of rich republican and patrician construction alternate with houses of the middle class, such as the trellis house, also finely decorated, or with commercial houses and workshops. With only a modest harbour, Herculaneum's real appeal lay in its enviable climate and prime seaside location, attracting wealthy Romans who built lavish retreats along its shoreline. The most spectacular of these was the Villa of Papyri, thought to have belonged to Julius Caesar's father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesar Ninus. This sprawling estate later yielded an extraordinary treasure, the only surviving library from the ancient Greco-Roman world, containing around 1,800 carbonized papyrus scrolls. Many of the villa's sculptures are now housed in Naples' Archaeological Museum, while a full-scale reconstruction stands at the Getty Museum in California. The town's exact origins remain uncertain, while the name and urban layout hint at a Greek connection, historical records point to Oskin and later Latin as the main languages. By the 4th century BC, Herculaneum was part of the Samnite League before aligning with Rome, though it sided against her during the Social War, as mentioned before. When Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, a blistering chiroplastic surge hit the city at around 400 degrees Celsius, hot enough to instantly kill but also to preserve organic material through carbonization. Herculaneum was then entombed beneath a 25 meter thick layer of volcanic mud, sealing in not just buildings and statues, but furniture, textiles, food and even human waste. If you follow this path along the edge of the archaeological site, not far from the main entrance, you'll come across a cave which houses the bronze hydra fountain in Herculaneum's great gymnasium or palestra. For me, this is the most awe-inspiring and mystical location in Herculaneum. The hydra is a multi-headed serpent from Greek mythology. It was a powerful Roman symbol linked to strength, protection and the endless flow of life. In Roman culture, fountains were far more than decoration. They were part of the water supply network, fed by aqueducts bringing fresh water into public spaces. Ja, the serpent's twisting body and open jaws once released water into a basin, turning mith into a functional piece of engineering. For the Romans, water was sacred, tied to hygiene, leisure and social status. The palestra itself was a place for athletic training, education and social gatherings. So a fountain like this sends a message. Rome commands nature, tames mith and channels it for the benefit of its citizens. In ancient Herculaneum, leisure was a way of life. Locals and wealthy visitors flocked to the grand bathhouses, not just to bathe, but to exercise, get massages and socialize. The seaside offered fishing, strolling and ocean views from elegant villas. Dining was an event with taverns, food stalls and lavish banquets featuring music and poetry. People enjoyed board games, dice and strategy matches. While private gardens and frescoed courtyards provided peaceful escapes. Though smaller than Pompeii, Herculaneum still pulsed with entertainment, from musicians and actors to the daily rhythm of conversation, laughter and the Mediterranean sun. Today, excavating Herculaneum remains a formidable challenge, due to the hard volcanic rock encasing the site and the modern town built above it. But those same factors are what kept its treasures so remarkably intact. In any case, it was a pleasure sharing this video with you. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching.