Day 105 ~ Herculaneum via Naples

 April 24, 2022

68 degrees, sunny. A day to make you want to sing for the joy of being alive!

“The smallest evil if neglected, will reach the greatest proportions.” ― Pliny the Younger, Graffiti and other Sources on Pompeii and Herculaneum

Vesuvius as it is today. In 79 AD, there was only one peak that reached twice as high toward heaven, 8000 ft, roughly double its current elevation. In your imagination, continue the slopes upward on either side and you'll have an idea of how massive the volcano was and how much of it was blown to pieces in an eruption that lasted several days.  

The eruption of Vesuvius in April of 79 AD was, if not evil, at least disaster of greatest proportions. There was no help for it except not to have settled at the foot of the massive volcano. In 2018, we visited Pompeii, which was destroyed in minutes by hot ash, poisonous gasses and pumice stones that rained down on the panicked populace. Today, we visited Herculaneum, a smaller town of about 5000 souls, that was covered, not with ash, but with volcanic mud and lava.

Before the eruption, the sea lapped against these walls. It was first believed that the people escaped Herculaneum's destruction since it was slower than Pompeii's, but 300 skeletons were discovered in these ancient boat houses.

This picture gives you an idea of how deeply the site was buried.

The walls were highly decorated with intricate paintings and patterns, but our guide doesn't believe the walls were red. He says they were a mellow ochre, but that there was a mineral in the pigment that turned red under the extreme heat.

Herculaneum was the Monte Carlo of its day, a playground for the rich and famous. Wealthy Romans had summer villas here by the sea. 

This imposing fellow was Marcus Onius Balbus. His name is unfamiliar to me, but he was a politician of some sort, governor of Crete for a time. He made sure Herculaneum had all the comforts of much larger cities--public baths, running water (sadly, in lead pipes. If they hadn't died in the eruption, lead was slowly poisoning the populace), central heating (Hypocausts spreading warm air under the floors) and an underground sewer system instead of using the sloping streets to carry away its filth like Pompeii did.

This is not a public latrine, which was my first guess. It's the earliest version of fast food, a sort of first century McDonalds. Soups and stews were kept bubbling in those pots and hungry patrons would stand in front of the shop to eat a bowlful. Take a look at the many colors of marble that form the counter. Beautiful!

An ornate mosaic graces an ancient dining room. You can also see both the yellow and red colors on the wall, indicating that some parts of the room must have reached different temperatures when it was covered with the pyroclastic material. 

Sometimes I worry that we are touring scenes of disaster and ruin at each stop, but in some respects, that is the story of our species. We are capable of achieving great things, of creating beauty, but we are not all powerful. Many things are out of our control, destructive forces that even today cannot be foreseen. 

The ruins of Herculaneum in the foreground and the ruins of Vesuvius in the background. The modern day town is built over the old one. Archaeologist estimate 2/3rds of the ancient city is still waiting to be unearthed. 

Today the mountain is rigged with sensors and monitored 24/7. That's because millions of people still live in what's called the "red zone" if there should be another eruption. And scientists have discovered that Vesuvius is connected underground to a super caldera that now forms Naples' harbor.  

Vesuvius' last eruption was in 1944, during which the opening at the top was plugged up with pumice, ash and lava. Kind of puts me in the mind of a pressure cooker...

Will Vesuvius erupt again? I'm betting it will...