My parents arrived with little fanfare and no travel issues on the evening of the 30th. On the 31st I took them to Herculaneum.
Herculaneum (Ercolano) is on of the five major Vesuvius sites. The others are Pompeii, Stabiae, Oplontis, and Boscoreale. Herculaneum is a unique contrast to Pompeii in that it is below the modern city and many of the second levels survived the eruption in 79 AD. Some 75% of it remains buried as there are modern buildings on top of the buried city.
Views from the walkway above and around Herculaneum.
You can see Vesuvius lurking in the background of this one.
Oh, see those arches down there?
They found a whole bunch of skeletons in them in the 1980's. Apparently, until then, they had thought the town had been completely evacuated before getting hit by the eruption.
Terrace of M. Nonius Balbus, general good guy and friend to Herculaneum.
Balbus apparently gave a lot of money to Herculaneum.
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Mom next to the funerary altar of
senator M. Nonius Balbus
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M. Nonius Balbus.
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The Sacellum of the Four Gods
A sacellum is like a shrine. This one is dedicated to these four gods:
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Minerva
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Mercury
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Neptune
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Vulcan
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House of Relief of Telephus
This is the relief for which the house is named. It depicts Achilles with his mother (left) and Achilles scraping rust from his spear into Telephus's unhealed wound on the (right). It's something to do with the myth of Telephus and Greeks being weird.
This is part of the atrium of the house. The disks are called oscilla and which usually depict Dionysian themes to ward off evil.
I don't remember what building this was in, I just liked the floor.
A view along the pedestrian area of town. Much to the right is buried underneath the current city.
Charred wood oozing....sap? glue? I'm not really sure. Thoughts?
More charred wooden beams and doors.
Cucumas Shop
This is the sign for the Cucumas Shop.
It sold drinks and wine (or if you're a Zelda fan, it sell magic potion).
Hall of the Augustals
The Augustals were dedicated to the cult of Augusts. This is their meeting place.
Women's Baths
This is the mosaic on the floor in the changing room area of the Women's Baths.
I think it's supposed to be Triton.
Triton is the son of Poseidon and father to Ariel the little mermaid.
Samnite House
This house was built in the 2nd Century BC.
It is one of the oldest houses discovered in Herculaneum.
Looking through Herculaneum, into modern Ercolano, up to Vesuvius.
Some of the modern buildings look in worse shape than the ancient ones.
This picture was taken while waiting for my father to finish reading all the signs and information and going into every house that he possibly could. My mother and I finished about an hour before he did. Luckily the weather was nice and we did not mind siting and waiting.
Note: I realize I go back and forth between using Greek names and Roman names for the gods and whatnots, but that is how the guide book, given at Herculaneum, describes these things. Someone should really get their act together over there.
After Herculaneum we wandered off to find something to eat and to explore the docks where locals were getting extremely fresh fish straight from the boats.
This concludes our adventures for today.
