Herculaneum: a brief history of an ancient city

Herculaneum was a small fortified town located on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, on a plateau of volcanic ash elevated above the sea and enclosed by two torrential streams. These streams flowed through deep ravines carved over time into the soft volcanic tuff.
The city overlooked the shores of the Gulf of Naples and possessed safe landing points at all times. The crater of the volcano, which towers above the town, lies about 7 km away.

The urban layout, based on a regular grid plan, consisted of five cardines running perpendicular to the coastline and three decumani crossing them at right angles. The upper decumanus, still not excavated in the open air, likely coincided with the road connecting Naples and Pompeii. The route of this communication road can be traced thanks to the Tabula Peutingeriana (Fig.1), a 12th–13th century copy of an ancient Roman map showing the road network of the Roman Empire.

The Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in his Roman Antiquities written at the end of the 1st century BC, recounts that the city was founded by Hercules (called Herakleion in Greek after the hero Heracles) while driving the cattle gifted by the Sun to the giant Geryon from Spain along the shores of the Gulf of Naples. The Augustan-age geographer Strabo states that the city shared a similar historical development with Pompeii, suggesting the existence of an earlier archaic settlement. He reports that the area was inhabited by the Oscans-Opici, the Etruscans, and later the Samnites.

How long before the eruption had the area been inhabited, and by whom? The name of the Greek demigod would suggest a Greek foundation. The Greeks had known the coasts of the Italian peninsula since the Mycenaean Age and founded in Campania the first settlement of Pithekoussai (“inhabited by monkeys”) on the island of Ischia around the middle of the 8th century BC. Shortly afterward, for reasons still unknown, they founded Cumae on the opposite coast and later Partenope and Neapolis.

Today, some scholars consider Pithekoussai an emporion, a commercial settlement with a harbor inhabited by Greek and foreign merchants and craftsmen, lacking the political autonomy and agricultural self-sufficiency typical of a Greek apoikia (colony). Other scholars instead regard it as a true, self-sufficient colony, though experimental and atypical, since excavations have not revealed the usual characteristics of later Greek colonies.

As for Herculaneum itself, however, the name of its mythical Greek founder and the presence of Greek settlements in the surrounding area are not supported by archaeology. Numerous deep excavation surveys conducted in recent years across the open-air archaeological area have uncovered no pottery earlier than the 4th century BC, the period to which the current urban plan dates. Although one may hypothesize the existence of an older Greek nucleus—a small fortress equipped with a harbor—the settlement only later assumed its present appearance, copying the urban layout of nearby Neapolis.

The city covered an area of about 20 hectares and had a population of approximately 4,000 inhabitants. It entered the Roman sphere at the end of the 4th century BC during the Second Samnite War and became a municipium in 89 BC. At the beginning of the 1st century BC, the Oscan language was still used in official documents, although the population was soon Romanized and adopted Latin.

Its central and panoramic position within the Gulf of Naples, together with its pleasant climate and healthy sea breezes, made the site particularly desirable. From the middle of the 1st century BC onward, many Roman patricians built luxurious seaside villas along the Campanian coast, some of them directly on the Herculaneum shoreline. Systematic excavations along the ancient coastline have revealed an impressive series of grand maritime villas.

During the Augustan Age, many public buildings were renovated thanks to the arrival of Senator Marcus Nonius Balbus, a supporter of Octavian, praetor, and governor of the province of Crete and Cyrene. Numerous inscriptions discovered in the city were dedicated to him and his family. Several Roman senators chose Italian towns as centers for their business and political influence, becoming benefactors (evergetae) of local communities in order to increase their personal prestige, or dignitas. It was common practice for these wealthy individuals to construct or restore public buildings at their own expense in exchange for statues or inscriptions commemorating their generosity. We know that Balbus built the local basilica and curia, restored the city walls, contributed to the construction of the palestra, and probably donated the suburban baths to the city.

Many of Balbus’ freedmen lived in the town—former slaves who, after their liberation, adopted the nomen of their patron. The forum and theater of the city, still buried today, were explored by Bourbon excavators during the 18th century and were found almost intact. Their decorative richness demonstrates an extraordinary level of wealth, perhaps even greater than that of nearby Pompeii.

The territory around Herculaneum was famous for vineyards and fig cultivation and contained several villae rusticae, large countryside estates dedicated to agricultural production. Woodland areas and livestock farming are also documented.

Herculaneum society, like Roman society in general, displayed significant differences in wealth and social class, reflected in the varying sizes of urban houses. About 40% of the homes measured less than 50 square meters, another 40% ranged between 100 and 300 square meters, while only the remaining portion consisted of large residences exceeding 300 square meters. Nevertheless, many houses featured elegant and refined wall decorations, indicating a generally high standard of living.

The devastating earthquake of AD 62 (or 63), a precursor to the eruption of AD 79, destroyed or severely damaged many buildings in the city. Careful observation still reveals numerous repair works, such as brick pillars added to house walls for structural reinforcement. Like nearby Pompeii, Herculaneum became a vast construction site after the earthquake, never fully completed because of the eruption. Reconstruction works were nearly finished and were financed by Emperor Vespasian. The citizens honored the emperor by dedicating marble and bronze statues of the Flavian dynasty in the forum.

The city therefore appeared prosperous and fully recovered when the catastrophic eruption of AD 79 destroyed it, erasing it from the geography of the ancient world.