The Durneys Go Dutch: Easter Sunday at Herculaneum

We left Positano on Easter Sunday. We postponed festivities with the kids until the following day when we were at home. Instead, we spent our day visiting Herculaneum and traveling home. I will admit that when we talked about visiting a site like Pompeii or Herculaneum, I wasn't seeing the cultural value, I was just thinking about how challenging that would be with the kids. The group was in favor of it though and since Pete had already seen Pompeii years ago, we settled on Herculaneum and I am so glad we did! I will comment on my impressions and leave the story telling to Pete who was, after all, a Classics major at Bowdoin (and who also had the benefit of an audio guide, a luxury not afforded to those of us chasing kids all over antiquity). I loved seeing all of the magnificent tile work, on the floors and in mosaics.

Without further ado, here's Pete:

(*Disclaimer - Please forgive mistakes. College was a long time ago!) Herculaneum was a small Roman city/town (estimated population around 4,000-5,000) located right at the base of Vesuvius. When Vesuvius erupted, the town of Herculaneum was hit with a "pyroclastic flow." This was an extremely hot (500 degrees C/ 932 degrees F) and fast mixture of ash, rock and poisonous gas, which basically killed anyone in its path instantly. Wood and other organic material (loaves of bread) in the town was quickly carbonized by the high temperatures, which helped with its preservation. The town was more quickly buried than Pompeii with somewhere between 50-60 feet (15-18 meters) of volcanic material, which then basically solidified into a cement-like material. This made for excellent conditions for preservation. It also makes for a striking modern entrance to Herculaneum, as the current ground level is 50+ feet above the old town!

The arches at the bottom left are the entrances to small rooms
that used to be right at the water's edge on the Bay of Naples.

A stark and intense welcome to Herculaneum. Each of those harbor-side
room is filled with the skeletons (around 300 of them total) of inhabitants
who attempted, and failed, to flee by sea.

Statue of Senator Marcus Nonius Balbus. Revered here, at least in part,
because he promoted construction projects in the town.

Temple of the Four Gods
(Vulcan, Neptune, Mercury & Minerva)

Relief showing a story with Achilles (far left) from the myth of Telephus.

The town had a very orderly, grid layout.

The path down to the former water.

An impluvium, a basin for catching rain water inside a house. (the roofs had holes in them allowing for rain water to collect, two stories below.

Remaining mosaic floor tiles.

The Roman roads were not kind to strollers!

The floor of a room in someone's home.

Many large houses had their second stories preserved. Very impressive!

I (Erin) haven't seen Pompeii, but Pete tells me that while the public site are more impressive there, here at Herculaneum, the individual villas were better preserved and more impressive. I imagine this to be a wealthy suburb.

Inside another home. Amazing how much of the paint survived on the walls!

Amazing mosaic floors in the women's baths.

Caption this!

Lockers, with shelf compartments for your belongings while you bathed.

Neptune & Amphitrite Mosaic. WOW!

In the same room as the above mosaic. This family was baller!

Fresco with Hercules (left) in the College of Augustus. An organization
of Freemen associated with venerating the imperial family.

Under an archway

Local tavern/bar, with containers for storing food or drink. (Much more PC than the other watering hole we saw that had a giant phallic mosaic behind the bar!)

We had hired a private transfer to the Naples Airport, which picked us up in Positano and waited for us while in Herculaneum. They were conservative with time so we ended up arriving to the airport with a few hours to spare. Luckily the driver pointed to a restaurant in the airport with an outside playground. Then it was up, up and away and goodbye to a wonderful trip!

Europe from the sky: