HERCULANEUM		Quality of Remains
		Ease of Access
		Atmosphere & Setting

History & Occupation:

Herculaneum was founded in the 6th Century BC either by Greek colonists or by the Samnites from the surrounding area. Certainly by the end of that century, the town was a trading port under Greek control. The Greeks are responsible for the town's name, derived from the God Herakles in its later Romanised form. From the 4th Century til the 1st Century BC the town once more fell under control of the Samnites until in 89 BC it was taken by Rome during the Social War. Much like nearby Naples and Pompeii, Herculaneum was damaged severely by an earthquake in 62 AD and the town's life came to an abrupt end in 79 AD with the eruption of Vesuvius. Whereas Pompeii was buried in ash, slowly suffocating the inhabitants before pyroclastic flows devastated the remaining visible area, Herculaneum seemed to be escaping the damage. Then the pyroclastic flow began on the western slope, much closer to Herculaneum than its neighbour. The town was consumed by boiling rock and mud which filled and then buried the houses, flash-boiling those of the population who waited at the port for a boat to escape. The sea flooded the site during all the upheavals and the resulting compacted mud completely buried the town to such an extent that its location was entirely lost. The remains only came to light in 1709 when workers digging a well came across the city's theatre some 1630 years after it's burial.

Remains and Visit:

Though numerous buildings remain buried at Herculaneum (including the theatre and any other public entertainment centres), the area that has been excavated covers several streets and includes a bath house and huge public gymnasium area. It really is too intact and complex to detail each structure being, as it is, another Pompeii. Where Pompeii is much larger and better excavated, Herculaneum loses out to sightseers and this is a great shame. In fact, Herculaneum actually has more atmosphere than its more famous neighbour and parts of it are better preserved. It is possible to completely immerse oneself in the remains and forget there is a modern world above.

Images:

Street from above	Sacred area & suburban baths	Palaestra	Base of a statue	Suburban baths entrance hall
Baths	Floor in the baths	Suburban baths ceiling	Houses on the central decumana	Public drinking fountain
Great palaestra	Gymnasium	Argus house	A house on Cardo V	A taberna
Bath in the Deer house	In House of the Great Portal	College of the Augustan priests	In the Bicentenary House	In House of Neptune & Amphitrite
Aerial view (c/o Google Earth)