Who is pompeii and herculaneum

In the 18th century, the discoveries of Herculaneum and Pompeii, both originally destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, prompted a revival in interest of classical antiquity.

With the exceptions of scattered minor discoveries, the cities were long forgotten as a result of socio-political factors, most notably the invasions of neighboring civilizations, until their complete discovery in the 18th century. Unlike its more well known counterpart Pompeii, the excavation of Herculaneum unearthed a preserved city of wealth and grandeur, due to it being frozen under volcanic rock and other carbonated material. Source: unesco. The vast expanse of the commercial town of Pompeii contrasts with the smaller but better-preserved remains of the smaller Herculaneum, while Villa A in Torre Annunziata gives a vivid impression of the opulent lifestyle enjoyed by the wealthier citizens of the early Roman Empire.

When Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, it engulfed the two flourishing Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as the many wealthy countryside villas in the area. Pompeii was buried largely by a thick layer of volcanic ash and lapilli and Herculaneum disappeared under pyroclastic surges and flows.

These sites have been progressively excavated and made accessible to the public since the midth century. However, in the case of Herculaneum large areas of the ancient town still lie under the modern town and have only been explored and surveyed by the network of 18th-century tunnels that drew the attention of Grand Tour visitors, the basis still today for visiting the Herculaneum's underground ancient theatre.

These areas are mostly not currently included in the World Heritage property. Pompeii, with its well-preserved buildings in an excavated area of 44 ha, is the only archaeological site in the world that provides a complete picture of an ancient Roman city. The main forum is flanked by a number of imposing public buildings, such as the Capitolium, the Basilica and temples and within the city there are also many public bath complexes, two theatres and an amphitheatre.

In Herculaneum several impressive public buildings are well preserved, including a spacious palaestra accessed through a monumental gateway, two sets of public baths, one of which Central Thermae is monumental and vividly decorated, the College of the Priests of Augustus, and a theatre of standard form. The Villa of the Papyri, outside the city walls, is an opulent establishment.

The town is also noteworthy for the completeness of its shops, still containing equipment such as enormous wine jars. Organic matter was often carbonized by the high temperatures and exceptionally preserved finds include everyday objects such as foodstuffs, architectural elements and wooden furniture. Both Pompeii and Herculaneum are renowned for their remarkable series of residential and commercial buildings, built along well-paved streets.

The earliest is the atrium house, entirely inward-looking with a courtyard at its centre: the House of the Surgeon at Pompeii is a good example. Under Hellenistic influences, this type of house was enlarged and decorated with columns and arcades and equipped with large representative rooms. In its highest form, this type of Roman house, known from towns all over the Empire, developed into a veritable mansion, richly decorated and with many rooms, of which the House of the Faun and the House of the Chaste Lovers are outstanding examples.

The suburban villas across the Vesuvian area are perhaps even more exceptional in terms of the scale of their buildings and grounds, as well as their lavish decorations. The two villas in Torre Annunziata are both extraordinary examples of suburban buildings in the countryside of Pompeii. It is especially well known for its magnificent and well-preserved wall paintings, one of the most important examples of Roman painting with their superb illusionistic frescos of doors, colonnades and garden views.

On the other hand, villa B is an excellent example of villa rustica provided with rooms and spaces designated for market activities such as storage of amphoras and trading of locally produced foodstuffs, especially wine.

There were many changes to these buildings over time in response to changing circumstances of the owners; these include repairs and adjustments that were a response to the seismic events that led up to the AD 79 eruption and reflect a community living with changing environmental and economic conditions.

A special feature of Pompeii is the wealth of graffiti on its walls. An election was imminent at the time of the eruption, and there are many political slogans scrawled on walls, as well as others of a more personal nature, often defamatory. At Herculaneum, the volcanic deposits preserved hundreds of wax tablets, some of which conserve legal documents, and more than 1, papyri scrolls containing Greek philosophical texts were found at the Villa of the Papyri.

The diverse range of literary sources available in Pompeii and Herculaneum provides a picture of the final decades of these ancient cities and the image of socially complex and dynamic communities, representing exceptional evidence of typical ways of life in Roman society in the first century AD and the importance of texts in political and private life.

Other important sources of archaeological evidence are the human remains of those who died in the eruption. Pompeii witnessed an early archaeological experiment when plaster was poured into voids found in the volcanic material and which allowed casts to be made of the forms of the human and animal victims and other organic material.

At Herculaneum, on the other hand, about skeletons were discovered along the ancient shoreline. The study of these significant samples of victims from the towns provides insight into their health, lifestyles and death and a chance to compare the two data sets. This led to varying degrees of preservation and a vast difference in the numbers of survivors. There were two main stages in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In the first phase, a huge column of volcanic ash, gas, and rock shot high into the air and then began to rain down from the sky.

Because the wind was blowing in a south-easterly direction, this rain of pumice rocks fell over the town of Pompeii, injuring the inhabitants, trapping them in buildings and causing other buildings to collapse. Herculaneum survived this phase, potentially allowing many residents to escape before the more destructive second stage of eruption. The second stage featured pyroclastic flows, fast-flowing rivers of gas and ash that cascade down the side of the volcano with intense speed and ferocity.

These flows buried Pompeii under m of ash and covered Herculaneum in roughly 25m of ash. First, we should mention that the depth of the volcanic debris covering the two cities played a major part in how they were discovered and excavated.

Mount Vesuvius covered Herculaneum in roughly 5 times the amount of ash that Pompeii was and as you can imagine, this made the conditions of its discovery very different! In , architect Domenico Fontana discovered Pompeii, however, he covered up the remains. Historians believe that what he discovered were the erotic frescoes from the ancient brothels and, finding these shocking, he re-buried them.

Pompeii was rediscovered in and excavations have been taking place ever since. When you visit the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum, you may think the buildings look similar; both sites have buildings with columns and arches, and the streets appear similar too.

But there are some big differences. First, none of the buildings of Pompeii have surviving upper levels. When the volcano first began to erupt, it showered Pompeii with pumice and this obliterated many of the upper levels of the building, leaving only their lower walls. Second, the buildings in Herculaneum are far better preserved.