Herculaneum

Ok, we’ve discovered a problem at this apartment. There is about 3 minutes of hot water in the shower. At first we thought is was a fluke, but this morning we have convincing evidence. I showered first and ran out of hot water before I was rinsed off. So, I went down to the Internet point and worked on the blog. Maridee waited about an hour and then got her three minutes of hot water! We’re going to have to get better at this!

With our errands done and our showers done, we decided to go ahead and make the trip to Herculaneum. We rode the same train (it’s more like subway cars that run above ground) that we came to Sorrento on, just about three-fourths of the way back to Naples. I must say these “trains” are the most colorful trains I think I have seen! They are pretty much covered in graffiti right up to the windows. Most of the train stops are well decorated as well!

We arrived in at our train stop and after a short walk of 8 blocks downhill towards the ocean, we arrive. Here you are, walking through typical, maybe lower-class housing and you pass through the gates and you are presented with these ruins that are sunken down below the city.

Herculaneum suffered the same fate as Pompeii, except it was one day later. Pompeii was showered with hot ash for 18 hours and was buried to a depth of eight feet. About 2000 of the 20,000 residents got caught by the eruption. The next day Vesuvius sent a wall of boiling mud down its slopes and buried Herculaneum to a depth of 30 meters or about 100 feet. The mud hardened to stone and Herculaneum was gone. However, it did not suffer the same fires that ravaged Pompeii, rather, it was simply buried. Because of this, it is considered better preserved. You can still see the frescoes on the walls, the mosaic tiled floors, pottery, and marble stone work. You can even see the blackened wooden beams that smoldered under the heat of the boiling mud.


Because the Herculaneum’s had more warning, many of them tried to escape into the sea. This would have been a pretty good idea except the eruption caused a tidal wave which swept them all back onto the land. During some excavations in 1981, hundreds of bodies were found buried in the mud that filled the arches leading to the sea.


The modern-day city sits on top of it some 100 feet higher. Although there is still come restoration and conservation work ongoing, there are plans to buy up the land surrounding the site and excavate it even further.


One of the interesting facts about the ruins is that the arches seen at the front of the city used to be beach front property. You can see just how deep it really got buried. The modern beach is probably about a mile away now. Another interesting view of the city shows Vesuvius looming in the background with the modern city above and the ancient city below.


It was all very interesting and very much like Pompeii, but after tromping around for three hours we had enough and headed home.




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