was a small city of Campania between Neapolis and Pompeii, that it was
situated between two streams at the foot of Vesuvius on a hill
overlooking the sea, and that its harbour was at all seasons safe. With
regard to its earlier history nothing is known. The account given by
Dionysius repeats a tradition which was most natural for a city bearing
the name of Hercules. Strabo follows up the topographical data with a
few brief historical statements--[Greek: Oskoi eichon kai tauten kai ten
ephexes Pompeian ... eita Turrhenoi kai Pelasgoi, meta tauta Saunitai].
But leaving the questions suggested by these names (see ETRURIA,
&c.),[2] as well as those which relate to the origin of Pompeii (q.v.),
it is sufficient here to say that the first historical record about
Herculaneum has been handed down by Livy (viii. 25), where he relates
how the city fell under the power of Rome during the Samnite wars. It
remained faithful to Rome for a long time, but it joined the Italian
allies in the Social War. Having submitted anew in June of the year 665
(88 B.C.), it appears to have been less severely treated than Pompeii,
and to have escaped the imposition of a colony of Sulla's veterans,
although Zumpt has suspected the contrary (_Comm. epigr._ i. 259). It
afterwards became a municipium, and enjoyed great prosperity towards the
close of the republic and in the earlier times of the empire, since many
noble families of Rome selected this pleasant spot for the construction
of splendid villas, one of which indeed belonged to the imperial house
(Seneca, _De ira_, iii.), and another to the family of Calpurnius Piso.
By means of the Via Campana it had easy communication north-westward
with Neapolis, Puteoli and Capua, and thence by the Via Appia with Rome;
and southwards with Pompeii and Nuceria, and thence with Lucania and the
Bruttii. In the year A.D. 63 it suffered terribly from the earthquake
which, according to Seneca, "Campaniam nunquam securam huius mali,
indemnem tamen, et toties defunctam metu magna strage vastavit. Nam et
Herculanensis oppidi pars ruit dubieque stant etiam quae relicta sunt"
(_Nat. quaest._ vi. 1). Hardly had Herculaneum completed the restoration
of some of its principal buildings (cf. Mommsen, I.N. n. 2384; _Catalogo
del Museo Nazionale di Napoli_, n. 1151) when it fell beneath the great
eruption of the year 79, described by Pliny the younger (_Ep._ vi. 16,
20), in which Pompeii also was destroyed, with other flourishing cities
of Campania. According to the commonest account, on the 23rd of August
of that year Pliny the elder, who had command of the Roman fleet at
Misenum, set out to render assistance to a young lady of noble family
named Rectina and others dwelling on that coast, but, as there was no
escape by sea, the little harbour having been on a sudden filled up so
as to be inaccessible, he was obliged to abandon to their fate those
people of Herculaneum who had managed to flee from their houses,
overwhelmed in a moment by the material poured forth by Vesuvius. But
the text of Pliny the younger, where this account is given, has been
subjected to various interpretations; and from the comparison of other
classical testimonies and the study of the excavations it has been
concluded that it is impossible to determine the date of the
catastrophe, though there are satisfactory arguments to justify the
statement that the event took place in the autumn. The opinion that
immediately after the first outbreak of Vesuvius a torrent of lava was
ejected over Herculaneum was refuted by the scholars of the 18th
century, and their refutation is confirmed by Beule (_Le Drame du
Vesuve_, p. 240 seq.). And the last recensions of the passage quoted
from Pliny, aided by an inscription,[3] prove that Rectina cannot have
been the name of the harbour described by Beule (ib. pp. 122, 247), but
the name of a lady who had implored succour, the wife of Caesius Bassus,
or rather Tascius (cf. Pliny, ed. Keil, Leipzig, 1870; Aulus Persius,
ed. Jahn, _Sat._ vi.). The shore, moreover, according to the accurate
studies of the engineer Michele Ruggiero, director of the excavations,
was not altered by the causes adduced by Beule (p. 125), but by a
simpler event. "It is certain," he says (_Pompei e la regione sotterrata
dal Vesuvio l'anno 79_, Naples, 1879, p. 21 seq.), "that the districts
between the south and west, and those between the south and east, were
overwhelmed in two quite different ways. From Torre Annunziata (which is
believed to be the site of the ancient Oplontii) to San Giovanni a
Teduccio, for a distance of about 9 m., there flowed a muddy eruption
which in Herculaneum and the neighbouring places, where it was most
abundant, raised the level of the country more than 65 ft. The matter
transported consisted of soil of various kinds--sand, ashes, fragments
of lava, pozzolana and whitish pumice, enclosing grains of uncalcined
lime, similar in every respect to those of Pompeii. In the part of
Herculaneum already excavated the corridors in the upper portions of the
theatre are compactly filled, up to the head of the arches, with
pozzolana and pumice transformed into tufa (which proves that the
formation of this stone may take place in a comparatively short time).
Tufa is also found in the lowest part of the city towards the sea in
front of the few houses that have been discovered; and in the very high
banks that surround them, as also in the lowest part of the theatre,
there are plainly to be seen earth, sand, ashes, fragments of lava and
pumice, with little distinction of strata, almost always confused and
mingled together, and varying from spot to spot in degree of
compactness. It is clear that this immense congeries of earth and stones
could not flow in a dry state over those 5 m. of country (in the
beginning very steep, and at intervals almost level), where certainly it
would have been arrested and all accumulated in a mound; but it must
have been borne along by a great quantity of water, the effects of which
may be distinctly recognized, not only in the filling and choking up
even of the most narrow, intricate and remote parts of the buildings,
but also in the formation of the tufa, in which water has so great a
share; for it cannot be supposed that enough of it has filtered through
so great a depth of earth. The torrent ran in a few hours to the sea,
and formed that shallow or lagoon called by Pliny _Subitum Vadum_, which
prevented the ships approaching the shores." Hence it is that, while
many made their escape from Pompeii (which was overwhelmed by the fall
of the small stones and afterwards by the rain of ashes), comparatively
few can have managed to escape from Herculaneum, and these, according to
the interpretation given to the inscription preserved in the National
Museum (Mommsen, _I.N._ n. 2455), found shelter in the neighbouring city
of Neapolis, where they inhabited a quarter called that of the buried
city (Suetonius, _Titus_, 8; _C.I.L._ x. No. 1492, in Naples: "Regio
primaria splendidissima Herculanensium"). The name of Herculaneum, which
for some time remained attached to the site of the disaster, is
mentioned in the later itineraries; but in the course of the middle ages
all recollection of it perished.
In 1719, while Prince Elbeuf of the house of Lorraine, in command of
the armies of Charles VI., was seeking crushed marble to make plaster
for his new villa near Portici, he learned from the peasants that
there were in the vicinity some pits from which they not only quarried
excellent marble, but had extracted many statues in the course of
years (see Jorio, _Notizia degli scavi d' Ercolano_, Naples, 1827). In
1738, while Colonel D. Rocco de Alcubierre was directing the works for
the construction of the "Reali Delizie" at Portici, he received orders
from Charles IV. (later, Charles III. of Spain) to begin excavations
on the spot where it had been reported to the king that the Elbeuf
statues had been found. At first it was believed that a temple was
being explored, but afterwards the inscriptions proved that the
building was a theatre. This discovery excited the greatest commotion
among the scholars of all nations; and many of them hastened to Naples
to see the marvellous statues of the Balbi and the paintings on the
walls. But everything was kept private, as the government wished to
reserve to itself the right of illustrating the monuments. First of
all Monsignor Bayardi was brought from Rome and commissioned to write
about the antiquities which were being collected in the museum at
Portici under the care of Camillo Paderni, and when it was recognized
that the prelate had not sufficient learning, and by the progress of
the excavations other most abundant material was accumulated, about
which at once scholars and courtiers were anxious to be informed,
Bernardo Tanucci, having become secretary of state in 1755, founded
the Accademia Ercolanese, which published the principal works on
Herculaneum (_Le Pitture ed i bronzi d' Ercolano_, 8 vols., 1757,
1792; _Dissertations isagogicae ad Herculanensium voluminum
explanationem pars prima_, 1797). The criterion which guided the
studies of the academicians was far from being worthy of unqualified
praise, and consequently their work did not always meet the approval
of the best scholars who had the opportunity of seeing the monuments.
Among these was Winckelmann, who in his letters gave ample notices of
the excavations and the antiquities which he was able to visit on
several occasions. Other notices were furnished by Gori, _Symbolae
litterariae Florentinae_ (1748, 1751), by Marcello Venuti,
_Descrizione delle prime scoperte d' Ercolano_ (Rome, 1748), and
Scipione Maffei, _Tre lettere intorno alle scoperte d' Ercolano_
(Verona, 1748). The excavations, which continued for more than forty
years (1738-1780), were executed at first under the immediate
direction of Alcubierre (1738-1741), and then with the assistance of
the engineers Rorro and Bardet (1741-1745), Carl Weber (1750-1764),
and Francesco La Vega. After the death of Alcubierre (1780) the
last-named was appointed director-in-chief of the excavations; but
from that time the investigations at Herculaneum were intermitted, and
the researches at Pompeii were vigorously carried on. Resumed in 1827,
the excavations at Herculaneum were shortly after suspended, nor were
the new attempts made in 1866 with the money bestowed by King Victor
Emmanuel attended with success, being impeded by the many dangers
arising from the houses built overhead. The meagreness of the results
obtained by the occasional works executed in the last century, and the
fact that the investigators were unfortunate enough to strike upon
places already explored, gave rise to the opinion that the whole area
of the city had been crossed by tunnels in the time of Charles III.
and in the beginning of the reign of Ferdinand IV. And although it is
recognized that the works had not been prosecuted with the caution
that they required, yet in view of the serious difficulties that would
attend the collection of the little that had been left by the first
excavators, every proposal for new investigations has been abandoned.
But in a memoir which Professor Barnabei read in the Reale Accademia
dei Lincei (_Atti della R. Ac._ series iii. vol. ii. p. 751) he
undertook to prove that the researches made by the government in the
18th century did not cover any great area. The antiquities excavated
at Herculaneum in that century (i.e. the 18th) form a collection of
the highest scientific and artistic value. They come partly from the
buildings of the ancient city (theatre, basilica, houses and forum),
and partly from the private villa of a great Roman family (cf.
Comparetti and de Petra, _La Villa Ercolanese dei Pisoni_, Turin,
1883). From the city come, among many other marble statues, the two
equestrian statues of the Balbi (_Museo Borbonico_, vol. ii. pl.
xxxviii.-xxxix.), and the great imperial and municipal bronze statues.
Mural paintings of extraordinary beauty were also discovered here,
such as those that represent Theseus after the slaughter of the
Minotaur (Helbig, _Wandgemalde_, Leipzig, 1878, No. 1214), Chiron
teaching Achilles the art of playing on the lyre (ibid. No. 1291), and
Hercules finding Telephus who is being suckled by the hind (ibid. No.
1143).
Notwithstanding subsequent discoveries of stupendous paintings in the
gardens of the Villa Farnesina on the banks of the Tiber, the
monochromes of Herculaneum remain among the finest specimens of the
exquisite taste and consummate skill displayed by the ancient artists.
Among the best preserved is Leto and Niobe, which has been the subject
of so many studies and so many publications (ibid. No. 1706). There is
also a considerable number of lapidary inscriptions edited in vol. ii.
of the epigraphic collection of the _Cat. del Mus. Naz. di Napoli_.
The Villa Suburbana has given us a good number of marble busts, and
the so-called statue of Aristides, but above all that splendid
collection of bronze statues and busts mostly reproductions of famous
Greek works now to be found in the Naples Museum. It is thence that we
have obtained the reposing Hermes, the drunken Silenus, the sleeping
Faunus, the dancing girls, the bust called Plato's, that believed to
be Seneca's, the two quoit-throwers or discoboli, and so many
masterpieces more, figured by the academicians in their volume on the
bronzes. But a still further discovery made in the Villa Suburbana
contributed to magnify the greatness of Herculaneum; within its walls
was found the famous library, of which, counting both entire and
fragmentary volumes, 1803 papyri are preserved. Among the nations
which took the greatest interest in the discovery of the Herculaneum
library, the most honourable rank belongs to England, which sent
Hayter and other scholars to Naples to solicit the publication of the
volumes. Of the 341 papyri which have been unrolled, 195 have been
published (_Herculanensium voluminum quae supersunt_ (Naples,
1793-1809); _Collectio altera_, 1862-1876). They contain works by
Epicurus, Demetrius, Polystratus, Colotes, Chrysippus, Carniscus and
Philodemus. The names of the authors are in themselves sufficient to
show that the library belonged to a person whose principal study was
the Epicurean philosophy. But of the great master of this school only
a few works have been found. Of his treatise [Greek: Peri physeos],
divided into 37 books, it is known that there were three copies in the
library (_Coll. alt._ vi.). Professor Comparetti, studying the first
fasciculus of volume xi. of the same new collection, recognized most
important fragments of the _Ethics_ of Epicurus, and these he
published in 1879 in Nos. ix. and xi. of the _Rivista di filologia e
d' istruzione classica_ (Turin). Even the other authors above
mentioned are but poorly represented, with the exception of
Philodemus, of whom 26 different treatises have been recognized. But
all these philosophic discussions, belonging for the most part to an
author less than secondary among the Epicureans, fall short of the
high expectations excited by the first discovery of the library. Among
the many volumes unrolled only a few are of historical
importance--that edited by Bucheler, which treats of the philosophers
of the academy (_Acad. phil. index Hercul._, Greifswald, 1859), and
that edited by Comparetti, which deals with the Stoics ("Papiro
ercolanese inedito," in _Rivista di fil. e d' ist. class._ anno iii.
fasc. x.-xii.). To appreciate the value of the volumes unrolled but
not yet published (for 146 vols. were only copied and not printed) the
student must read Comparetti's paper, "Relazione sui papiri
ercolanesi." Contributions of some value have been made to the study
of Herculaneum fragments by Spengel ("Die hercul. Rollen," in
_Philologus_, 1863, suppl. vol.), and Gomperz (_Hercul. Studien_,
Leipzig, 1865-1866, cf. _Zeitschr. f. osterr. Gymn._, 1867-1872).
There are in the library some volumes written in Latin, which,
according to Boot (_Notice sur les manuscrits trouves a Herculaneum_,
Amsterdam, 1845), were found tied up in a bundle apart. Of these we
know 18, but they are all so damaged that hardly any of them can be
deciphered. One with verses relating to the battle of Actium is
believed to belong to a poem of Rabirius. The numerical preponderance
of the works of Philodemus led some people to believe that this had
been the library of that philosopher. Professor Comparetti has thrown
out a conjecture (cf. Comparetti and de Petra, op. cit.) that the
library was collected by Lucius Piso Caesoninus (see _Regione
sotterrata dal Vesuvio_, Naples, 1879, p. 159 sq.), but this
conjecture has not found many supporters. Professor de Petra (in the
same work) has also published the official notices upon the
antiquities unearthed in the sumptuous villa, giving the plan
executed by Weber and recovered by chance by the director of
excavations, Michele Ruggiero. This plan, which is here reproduced
from de Petra[4] is the only satisfactory document for the topography
of Herculaneum; for the plan of the theatre published in the
_Bullettino archeologico italiano_ (Naples, 1861, i. 53, tab. iii.)
was executed in 1747, when the excavations were not completed. And
even for the history of the "finds" made in the Villa Suburbana the
necessity for further studies makes itself felt, since there is a lack
of agreement between the accounts given by Alcubierre and Weber and
those communicated to the _Philosophical Transactions_ (London, vol.
x.) by Camillo Paderni, conservator of the Portici Museum.
[Illustration: Plan of Villa Erolanese, Herculaneum.]
Among the older works relating to Herculaneum, in addition to those
already quoted, may be mentioned de Brosses, _Lettre sur l'etat actuel
de la ville souterraine d'Heraclea_ (Paris, 1750); Seigneux de
Correvon, _Lettre sur la decouverte de l'ancienne ville d'Herculane_
(Yverdon, 1770); David, _Les Antiquites d'Herculaneum_ (Paris, 1780);
D' Ancora Gaetano, _Prospetto storico-fisico degli scavi d' Ercolano e
di Pompei_ (Naples, 1803); Venuti, _Prime Scoverte di Ercolano_ (Rome,
1748); and Romanelli, _Viaggio ad Ercolano_ (Naples, 1811). A full
list will be found in vol. i. of _Museo Borbonico_ (Naples, 1824), pp.
1-11.
The most important reference work is C. Waldstein and L. Shoobridge,
_Herculaneum, Past, Present and Future_ (London, 1908); it contains
full references to the history and the explorations, and to the
buildings and objects found (with illustrations). Miss E. R. Barker's
_Buried Herculaneum_ (1908) is exceedingly useful.
In 1904 Professor Waldstein expounded both in Europe and in America an
international scheme for thorough investigation of the site.
Negotiations of a highly complex character ensued with the Italian
government, which ultimately in 1908 decided that the work should be
undertaken by Italian scholars with Italian funds. The work was begun
in the autumn of 1908, but financial difficulties with property owners
in Resina immediately arose with the result that progress was
practically stopped. (F. B.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A fragment of L. Sisenna calls it "Oppidum tumulo in excelso loco
propter mare, parvis moenibus, inter duas fluvias, infra Vesuvium
collocatum" (lib. iv., fragm. 53, Peters). Of one of these rivers
this historian again makes mention in the passage where probably he
related the capture of Herculaneum by Minatius Magius and T. Didius
(Velleius Paterculus ii. 16). Further topographical details are
supplied by Strabo, who, after speaking about Naples,
continues--[Greek: hechomenon de phrourion estin Hrakleion ekkeimenen
eis ten thalattan akran echon, katapneomenon Libi thaumastos hoshth
hugieinen poiein ten katoikian]. Dionysius of Halicarnassus relates
that Heracles, in the place where he stopped with his fleet on the
return voyage from Iberia, founded a little city ([Greek:
polichnen]), to which he gave his own name; and he adds that this
city was in his time inhabited by the Romans, and that, situated
between Neapolis and Pompeii, it had [Greek: limenas en panti kairo
bebaious] (i. 44).
[2] See also Niebuhr, _Hist. of Rome_, i. 76, and Mommsen, _Die
unteritalischen Dialekte_ (1850), p. 314; for later discussions see
OSCA LINGUA, PELASGIANS.
[3] _C.I.L._ ii. No. 3866. This Spanish inscription refers to a
Rectina who died at the age of 18 and was the wife of Voconius
Romanus. It is quite possible that she was the Rectina whom Pliny the
elder wished to assist during the disaster of Vesuvius, for her
husband, Voconius Romanus, was an intimate friend of Pliny the
younger. The latter addressed four letters to Voconius (i. 5, ii. 1,
iii. 13, ix. 28), in another letter commended him to the emperor
Trajan (x. 3), and in another (ii. 13) says of him: "Hunc ego cum
simul studere, mus arte familiariterque dilexi; ille meus in urbe,
ille in secessu contubernalis; cum hoc seria et jocos miscui."
[4] The diagram shows the arrangement and proportions of the Villa
Ercolanese. The dotted lines show the course taken by the
excavations, which began at the lower part of the plan.
HERCULANO DE CARVALHO E ARAUJO, ALEXANDRE (1810-1877), Portuguese
historian, was born in Lisbon of humble stock, his grandfather having
been a foreman stonemason in the royal employ. He received his early
education, comprising Latin, logic and rhetoric, at the Necessidades
Monastery, and spent a year at the Royal Marine Academy studying
mathematics with the intention of entering on a commercial career. In
1828 Portugal fell under the absolute rule of D. Miguel, and Herculano,
becoming involved in the unsuccessful military _pronunciamento_ of
August 1831, had to leave Portugal clandestinely and take refuge in
England and France. In 1832 he accompanied the Liberal expedition to
Terceira as a volunteer, and was one of D. Pedro's famous army of 7500
men who landed at the Mindello and occupied Oporto. He took part in all
the actions of the great siege, and at the same time served as a
librarian in the city archives. He published his first volume of verses,
_A Voz de Propheta_, in 1832, and two years later another entitled _A
Harpa do Crente_. Privation had made a man of him, and in these little
books he proves himself a poet of deep feeling and considerable power of
expression. The stirring incidents in the political emancipation of
Portugal inspired his muse, and he describes the bitterness of exile,
the adventurous expedition to Terceira, the heroic defence of Oporto,
and the final combats of liberty. In 1837 he founded the _Panorama_ in
imitation of the _English Penny Magazine_, and there and in
_Illustracao_ he published the historical tales which were afterwards
collected into _Lendas e Narratives_; in the same year he became royal
librarian at the Ajuda Palace, which enabled him to continue his studies
of the past. The _Panorama_ had a large circulation and influence, and
Herculano's biographical sketches of great men and his articles of
literary and historical criticism did much to educate the middle class
by acquainting them with the story of their nation, and with the
progress of knowledge and the state of letters in foreign countries. On
entering parliament in 1840 he resigned the editorship to devote himself
to history, but he still remained its most important contributor.