HERCULANEUM, hir-kb-la'ne-ilm, or HERCULANUM. Italy. an ancient buried city, about five miles southeast of Naples. Strabo says it was first occunied by Oscan, afterward by Tyrrhenian and Pelasgians, and then by the Samnites. It took part in the social war against the Romans. In the time of Sulk it was a ann(iripiw., and a fortified town. It was situated between Neapohs and Pompeii, on ele vated ground between two rivers, and its port was one of the best on the coast. It suffered in 63 A.D. in the same earthquake that nearly de stroyed Pompeii. In the greater eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. it was buried under a vol canic tuff formed of sand and ashes, partly consolidated by the agency of water. The site of Herculaneum, though well described, had been long sought in vain, when in 1713 three female statues (now in the Dresden Museum) were found in digging a well at Portici, a vil lage situated on the ancient site. After this discovery further excavation was prohibited by the government, until in 1738 the well was dug deeper, and the theatre of Herculaneum was discovered. In 1750 a long, narrow passage, sloping down into the theatre, was opened, and is still the only way by which travelers descend to examine this structure. The excavations were continued more or less industriously for 50 years; but comparatively little progress was made, as the work was difficult and also dan gerous to the houses in the• populous villages of Resin and Portici, situated above. As soon as one part was excavated and explored it was filled up with the rubbish from a new digging. The theatre is the only building to be seen underground, and it is encumbered with the supports built to sustain the rock above it. It is a noble edifice, massively built of solid stone, and seated 8,000 persons. Bronze statues of Drusus and Antonia and of the Muses were found in various parts of the building. In a square on the south of the theatre a temple was found which was connected with another temple, to the east of it, by a wide street lined with porticoes. One of these temples, dedicated to the mother of the gods, had been restored by Vespasian after the earthquake of 63 A.D. On the north of the theatre was a basilica 228 feet long and 132 broad, surrounded by a portico of 42 columns, and adorned with paintings. Many beautiful paintings and works of art were re moved from these buildings to the museum at Naples. A sumptuous private villa was disin
terred, containing a number of statues, and in one of the rooms a quantity of papyrus manu scripts. Some of the statues are excellent as works of art, such as those of Agrippina, Aris tides, the Sleeping Faun and the Mercury. Other precious relics discovered here, and now in the museum, are busts of Plato, Demosthe nes, Scipio Africanus, Augustus, Seneca, etc., beautiful mosaics, and articles' of furniture. New excavations were carried out in 1828-37, and since 1868. The chief discoveries made were those of the forum, a small and elegant temple, a basilica, a dilapidated building sup posed to have been an inn, dwelling-houses, tombs, etc. One of the houses discovered at Herculaneum contained a quantity of provi sions, dates, chestnuts, large walnuts, dried figs, almonds, prunes, corn, oil, pease, lentils, pies and hams, none of which had been disturbed for 18 i centuries, for the doors remained fas tened n the same state as they were at the period of the catastrophe which buried the town. The internal arrangement of the house, and the manner in which it was ornamented, proved that it had belonged to a rich family, admirers of the arts; for it contained many pictures, vases, articles in glass, bronze and terra-cotta. Few skeletons comparatively have been found either in Pompeii or Herculaneum, so that it is probable most of the inhabitants saved themselves by flight. At the door of a villa in Herculaneum were found two, one of which held a key in one hand, and in the other a bag with coins and cameos. Near them were silver and bronze vessels.
Among the most interesting objects discov ered here are the papyri above mentioned, over 1,750 of which are now in the Naples Museum. The rolls are of cylindrical form, and much charred. Hardly a third of them have been un rolled. The process presents great difficulties, from the tendency of the MSS. to crumble. One of the works is a treatise by Epicurus on Nature; there are some writings of Philode mus, a Syrian philosopher; but on the whole they are of little value. There have been pub lished 11 volumes of the Wolumina Hercula nensia,) containing engraved transcripts of the unrolled papyri (folio, Naples, 1793-1855), and since 1861 several volumes of a continuation of the same.