Felice Barnabei

“ The matter transported consisted of soil of various kinds—sand, ashes, fragments of lava, pozzolana and whitish pumice, enclosing grains of uncalcined lime, similar in every respect to those of Pompeii. In the part of Herculaneum already excavated the corridors in the upper portions of the theatre are compactly filled, up to the head of the arches, with pozzolana and pumice transformed into tufa (which proves that the formation of this stone may take place in a comparatively short time) . ”

“ The antiquities excavated at Herculaneum in that century (i.e. the 18th) form a collection of the highest scientific and artistic value. They come partly from the buildings of the ancient city (theatre, basilica, houses and forum) , and partly from the private villa of a great Roman family (cf. Comparetti and de Petra, La Villa Ercolanese dei Pisoni, Turin, 1883) . ”

“ The Villa Suburbana has given us a good number of marble busts, and the so-called statue of Aristides, but above all that splendid collection of bronze statues and busts mostly reproductions of famous Greek works now to be found in the Naples Museum. It is thence that we have obtained the reposing Hermes, the drunken Silenus, the sleeping Faunus, the dancing girls, the bust called Plato’s, that believed to be Seneca’s, the two quoit-throwers or discoboli, and so many masterpieces more, figured by the academicians in their volume on the bronzes. ”

“ It is clear that this immense congeries of earth and stones could not flow in a dry state over those 5 m. of country (in the beginning very steep, and at intervals almost level) , where certainly it would have been arrested and all accumulated in a mound; but it must have been borne along by a great quantity of water, the effects of which may be distinctly recognized, not only in the filling and choking up even of the most narrow, intricate and remote parts of the buildings, but also in the formation of the tufa, in which water has so great a share ”

“ In 1738, while Colonel D. Rocco de Alcubierre was directing the works for the construction of the “Reali Delizie” at Portici, he received orders from Charles IV. (later, Charles III. of Spain) to begin excavations on the spot where it had been reported to the king that the Elbeuf statues had been found. At first it was believed that a temple was being explored, but afterwards the inscriptions proved that the building was a theatre. This discovery excited the greatest commotion among the scholars of all nations ”

“ But leaving the questions suggested by these names (see Etruria, &c.) , [2] as well as those which relate to the origin of Pompeii (q.v.) , it is sufficient here to say that the first historical record about Herculaneum has been handed down by Livy (viii. 25) , where he relates how the city fell under the power of Rome during the Samnite wars. It remained faithful to Rome for a long time, but it joined the Italian allies in the Social War. ”

“ This Spanish inscription refers to a Rectina who died at the age of 18 and was the wife of Voconius Romanus. It is quite possible that she was the Rectina whom Pliny the elder wished to assist during the disaster of Vesuvius, for her husband, Voconius Romanus, was an intimate friend of Pliny the younger. The latter addressed four letters to Voconius (i. 5, ii. 1, iii. 13, ix. 28) , in another letter commended him to the emperor Trajan (x. 3) , and in another (ii. 13) says of him: “Hunc ego cum simul studere, mus arte familiariterque dilexi ”

“ Venuti, Prime Scoverte di Ercolano (Rome, 1748) ; and Romanelli, Viaggio ad Ercolano (Naples, 1811) . A full list will be found in vol. i. of Museo Borbonico (Naples, 1824) , pp. 1-11.
The most important reference work is C. Waldstein and L. Shoobridge, Herculaneum, Past, Present and Future (London, 1908) ; it contains full references to the history and the explorations, and to the buildings and objects found (with illustrations) . Miss E. R. Barker’s Buried Herculaneum (1908) is exceedingly useful. ”