This city was, together with Pompeii and Stabiæ, involved in the common
ruin occasioned by the dreadful eruption of Vesuvius, in the reign of
Titus, which has already been described in our previous pages.
It was situated on a point of land stretching into the gulf of Naples,
about two miles distant from that city, near where the modern towns of
Portici and Resini, and the royal palace, by which they are separated,
now stand. The neck of land on which it was built, and which has since
disappeared, formed a small harbor. Hence the appellation of =Herculis
Porticum=, (the small haven of Hercules,) sometimes given to
Herculaneum, and thence in all probability, the modern name of Portici.
The latter being situated immediately above some of the excavations of
Herculaneum, the just fear of endangering its safety, by undermining it,
is given as a principal reason why so little progress has been made in
the Herculanean researches.
The discovery of Herculaneum is thus explained. At an inconsiderable
distance from the royal palace of Portici, and close to the seaside,
Prince Elbeuf, in the beginning of the last century, inhabited an
elegant villa. To obtain a supply of water a well was dug, in the year
1730, through the deep crust of lava on which the mansion itself had
been reared. The laborers, after having completely pierced through the
lava, which was of considerable depth, came to a stratum of dry mud.
This event precisely agrees with the tradition relative to Herculaneum,
that it was in the first instance overwhelmed by a stratum of hot mud,
which was immediately followed by a wide stream of lava. Whether this
mud was thrown up from Vesuvius, or formed by torrents of rain, does not
appear to have been decided. Within the stratum the workmen found three
female statues, which were sent to Vienna.
It was not until some years after this, that the researches at
Herculaneum were seriously and systematically pursued. By continuing
Elbeuf’s well, the excavators at once came to the theater, and from that
spot carried on their further subterraneous investigation. The condition
of Herculaneum was at that time much more interesting, and more worthy
the notice of the traveler, than it is at present. The object of its
excavation having unfortunately been confined to the discovery of
statues, paintings, and other curiosities, and not carried on with a
view to lay open the city, and thus to ascertain the features of its
buildings and streets, most of the latter were again filled up with
rubbish as soon as they were divested of everything movable. The marble
even was torn from the walls of the temples. Herculaneum may therefore
be said to have been overwhelmed a second time by its modern
discoverers; and the appearance it previously presented, can now only be
ascertained from the accounts of those who saw it in a more perfect
state. Agreeably to them, it must at that time have afforded a most
interesting spectacle.
The theater was one of the most perfect specimens of ancient
architecture. It had, from the floor upward, eighteen rows of seats, and
above these, three other rows, which, being covered with a portico, seem
to have been intended for the female part of the audience, to screen
them from the rays of the sun. It was capable of containing between
three and four thousand persons. Nearly the whole of its surface, as
well as the arched walls which led to its seats, was cased with marble.
The area, or pit, was floored with thick squares of =giallo antico=, a
beautiful marble of a yellowish hue. On the top stood a group of four
bronze horses, drawing a car, with a charioteer, all of exquisite
workmanship. The pedestal of white marble is still to be seen in its
place; but the group itself had been crushed and broken in pieces by the
immense weight of lava which fell on it. The fragments having been
collected, might easily have been brought together again, but having
been carelessly thrown into a corner, a part of them were stolen, and
another portion fused, and converted into busts of their Neapolitan
majesties. At length, it was resolved to make the best use of what
remained, that is, to convert the four horses into one, by taking a fore
leg of one of them, a hinder leg of another, the head of a third, &c.,
and, where the breach was irremediable, to cast a new piece. To this
contrivance the bronze horse now shown in the museum of Naples owes its
existence; and, considering its patchwork origin, it still conveys a
high idea of the skill of the ancient artist.
In the forum, which was contiguous to the theater, beside a number of
inscriptions, columns, &c., two beautiful equestrian statues of the
Balbi family were found. These were of white marble, and were deposited
in the hall of the left wing of the palace at Portici. Adjoining to the
forum stood the temple of Hercules, an elegant rotunda, the interior of
which was decorated with a variety of paintings, such as Theseus
returning from his Cretan adventure with the Minotaur, Telephus’s birth,
Chiron, the centaur, instructing Achilles, &c. These were carefully
separated from the walls, and are deposited in the museum at Naples.
The most important discovery, however, was that of a villa, at a small
distance from the forum; not only on account of the peculiarity of its
plan, but because the greater number of the works of art were dug out of
its precinct; and more especially because it contained a library
consisting of more than fifteen hundred volumes, which are likewise
safely deposited in the museum, and which, were they legible, would form
a great classic treasure. These have been mentioned in the account of
the museum at Naples, which will be found on a previous page. The villa
is conjectured to have belonged to one of the Balbi family. Although
elegant, it was small, and consisted of a ground-floor only, like those
of Pompeii. Beside a number of small closets round an interior hall, it
contained a bathing-room, curiously fitted up with marble and
water-pipes, and a chapel of a diminutive size, without any window or
aperture for daylight, the walls of which were painted with serpents,
and within which a bronze tripod, filled with cinders and ashes, was
found standing on the floor. The apartment which contained the library
was fitted up with wooden presses around the walls, about six feet in
hight: a double row of presses stood insulated in the middle of the
room, so as to admit a free passage on every side. The wood of which the
presses had been made, was burned to a cinder, and gave way at the first
touch; but the volumes, composed of a much more perishable substance,
the Egyptian or Syracusan papyrus, were, although completely carbonized
through the effect of the heat, still so far preserved as to admit of
their removal to a similar set of modern presses, (provided, however,
with glass doors,) in the museum.
In the middle of the garden belonging to this villa, was a large basin,
having its edges faced with stone, and the two narrow ends rounded off
in a semicircular form. This piece of water was surrounded by beds or
parterres of various shapes; and the garden was on every side inclosed
by a covered walk supported by columns. Of these columns there were
sixty-four, ten for each of the shorter, and twenty-two for each of the
longer sides of the quadrangle: they were made of brick, neatly stuccoed
over, exactly similar to those in the Pompeian barracks. Each pillar
supported one end of a wooden beam, the other extremity of which rested
on the garden wall, thus forming an arbor, in all probability planted
with vines around the whole garden. Under this covered walk, several
semicircular recesses, which appear to have served as bathing-places,
were built. The spaces between the pillars were decorated with marble
busts and bronze statues, alternately arranged. This garden was
surrounded by a narrow ditch; and another covered walk, of a
considerable length, led to a circular balcony, or platform, the ascent
to which was by four steps, but which overhung the sea about fifteen
feet. The floor of the balcony consisted of a very beautiful tesselated
pavement. From this charming spot the prospect over the whole bay of
Naples, including the mountains of Sorrento, the island of Capri, and
Mount Posilipo, must have been delightful.