(I should note here, Ann contributed a large part to of this entry)
On this day, Ann (the brilliant) had arranged a private driver take us to Herculaneum and to visit the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. At 10 a.m. we met our personal tour guide, Ricardo, an actual Archeologist! Well, as it turns out, he had a PhD in Art History. But in the end he knew lots about this time period and went into wonderful detail about the evolution of the mosaic, fresco and sculpture art. As it turns out, the Romans were working in perspective and other advanced drawing techniques a millennium before the Renaissance. Who knew?
Here is I gathered from a couple of Wikipedia entries:
Located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town destroyed in 79 AD by volcanic pyroclastic flows, fast-moving currents of hot gas and rock that reach speeds of up to 450 mph – at temperatures of about 1,830 °F.
Ricardo said that, while Pompeii was buried under 13 to 20 ft of ash, Herculaneum was entombed under about 60 feet of this pyroclastic flow which, of course, hardened into solid rock. This made Pompeii easy to excavate and Herculaneum a bit of a pain. That is why Pompeii is almost completely excavated and better known. Only 30% of Herculaneum is been uncovered and you can easily see why. It's hard to dig something out of solid rock without damaging it.
Ricardo also pointed out that a lot of people live in Ercolano directly atop the ruins. The Italian government has paid people for the right to their property upon their death. So, in about 50 years or so, archeologists will be able to start digging again.
After lunch, we headed (guide and all) to the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. This place is amazing. In 1709 this farmer was digging for a well and found himself in the middle of the theatre of Herculaneum. It was full of amazing and beautiful Roman status, which were promptly dug up and passed around to various royals around Europe. The political history of this area is as easy to follow as a strand of spaghetti in a bowl of pasta, but the general drift is that this 18 year old kid (Charles of Bourbon) became King of Naples in the 1730's. Not only did he become King, he "restored the autonomy of the Kingdom of Naples by making it an independent and sovereign state." (Don't ask.) So, Charles wanted to have cool and shiny stuff to impress the other royalty of Europe. So, in 1738 like Indiana Jones, Charles mounted his horse, donned his fedora and directed his minions to start digging. That same year he started building the Palace of Portici, just a kilometer from the dig site, conveniently close enough to house all the impressive goods. Over the years (then to now) all the stuff dug up at Herculaneum and Pompeii were eventually collected at the National Archeological Museum. And boy, do they have a lot. Including some stuff that isn't quite PG. I am including photos of just a few of the many cool things we saw. Only the PG photos. After all, this is sent to many a work email.
Now there was one very large statue of Hercules. I asked Ann who had the better rear end, Herc or Michelangelo's David? (We saw David when we went to Florence two years ago.) According to Ann, "No comparison! David!"
We asked the driver to drop us off in Positano where we explored the town and took the bus back to our B&B. An end to a delightful day.
Ciao
bill
