Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata
The story of the Roman City of Pompeii reads like a horror movie. On August 24 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and left in its wake one of the biggest fatalities caused by natural phenomena in the history of the earth. The hot lava from the earth’s crust completely engulfed Pompeii and a nearby town known as Herculaneum. Of course the death toll on the movies is exaggerated for show. A lot of people were able to escape the disaster, but not all of them…and this is as grisly as any disaster can get.
Today’s story is not about the disaster but about what you can see in the 3 towns when you visit. Take a look below.
Pompeii
Pompeii was founded in the 6th century BC while Herculaneum is said to have been founded in the same century by Hercules. The cities were occupied by Oscans, Samnites, Greeks, Etruscans and Romans over the centuries that they existed. The towns valley in that while Pompeii was promoted to the status of Colonia in 89BC, Herculaneum was given the lower status of a municipum. Before the2 towns were destroyed by eruptions, they had experienced some earthquakes and construction was still underway.
Herlaneum
Between the 2 towns, Pompeii has gotten a lot of excavation. A main forum, the temple of Capitolum that is dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Mineva are some of the buildings discovered. A basilica, a court house and public baths are the other buildings that were discovered during the excavations. Not to be forgotten are the triangular forum, the 2 theaters, an atrium house, a surgeon’s residence, the House of the Mysteries etc. that were also found.
From Herculaneum town that was built on a promontory overlooking the Bay of Naples, the following have been discovered; Several impressive public buildings are well preserved, two sets of public baths, the College of the Priests of Augustus, a theatre of standard form, the House of the Bicentenary, the House of the Deer, etc.
The list of buildings, paintings, ancient tools and other artifacts is so long that it cannot fit into this blog posts. Why don’t you just visit the destination and take a look yourself?
by Kennedy Runo on 05/12/2014 in Sightseeing