HERCULANEUM, the name of an ancient city of Campania, in Italy, which was destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius in the first year of the Emperor Titus, or the 79th of the Christian era; and which has been rendered interesting on account of the curious monuments of antiquity discovered and disinterred from its ruins. The epoch of the foundation of Herculaneum is unknown. Dionysius of Halicarnassus conjectures that it may be referred to a period about half a century anterior to the war of Troy, or about 1340 years before Christ; and therefore that it lasted about 1400 years.
The thickness of the heap of lava and ashes by which the city was overwhelmed has been much increased by successive streams vomited forth since that catastrophe, and now forms a mass twenty-four feet deep, of dark gray stone, which is easily broken in pieces. By its non-adhesion to foreign bodies, marbles and bronzes are preserved in it as in a case made to fit them; and exact moulds of the faces and limbs of statues are frequently found in this substance. The precise situation of this subterranean city was not known till the year 1713, when it was accidentally discovered by some labourers, who, in digging a well, struck upon a statue on the benches of the theatre. Many others were afterwards excavated and sent to France by the Prince of Elbeuf. But little progress was made in the excavations till the Infanta Charles of Spain ascended the throne of Naples, when, by unwearied efforts and great liberality, a considerable portion of Herculaneum was explored, and such treasures of antiquity thence extracted, as form the most curious museum in the world. To attempt removing the covering being found too arduous a task, the king contented himself with cutting galleries to the principal buildings, and causing one or two of them to be cleared out. Of these the theatre is the most considerable. On a balustrade which divided the orchestra from the stage was found a row of statues; and, on each side of the pulpitum, the equestrian figure of a person of the Nonia family. From the great rarity of equestrian statues in marble, these would have been very valuable objects had their workmanship been even less excellent than it is; and one of them in particular is a very fine piece of sculpture. After the king of Spain left Naples, the digging was continued, but with less spirit and expenditure; indeed, the collection of curiosities derived from Herculaneum and Pompeii had become so considerable, that a relaxation of zeal and activity ensued. These relics are arranged in a wing of the palace, and not only consist of statues, busts, altars, inscriptions, and other ornamental appendages of ancient opulence and luxury, but comprehend an entire assortment of the domestic, musical, and churgical instruments used by the ancients; tripods of elegant form and exquisite execution, lamps in endless variety; vases and basins of noble dimensions, chandeliers of the most beautiful shapes, patere and other appurtenances of sacrifice, looking-glasses of polished metal, coloured glass so hard, clear, and well stained, as
to appear emeralds, sapphires, and other precious stones; a kitchen completely fitted up with copper-pans lined with silver, kettles, cisterns for heating water, and every utensil necessary for culinary purposes; specimens of various sorts of combustibles, retaining their form though burned to a cinder; corn, bread, fish, oil, wine, and flour; a lady's toilet, fully furnished with combs, thimbles, rings, paint, ear-rings, and so forth. Amongst the statues, which are numerous, the greatest share of merit is allowed to a Mercury and a sleeping faun; the busts occupy several apartments, but very few of the originals whom they were meant to represent are known. The floors are paved with ancient mosaic. A few rare medals have been found in these ruins; the most curious is a gold medallion of Augustus, struck in Sicily in the fifteenth year of his reign. The fresco paintings, which, for the sake of preservation, have been taken off the walls and framed and glazed, are to be seen in another part of the palace. The elegance of the attitudes, and the infinite variety of the subjects, stamp them as performances worthy of the attention of artists and antiquaries; but no pictures yet found are masterly enough to prove that the Greeks had carried the art of painting to as great perfection as they did that of statuary. But we cannot suppose those authors incapable of appreciating the merits of an Apelles or a Zeuxis, who with so much critical discernment have pointed out the beauties of the works of a Phidias, or a Praxiteles; nor can we imagine that they would have bestowed equal praise upon both kinds of performances if either of them had been much inferior to the other. We must therefore presume that the capital productions of the ancient painters being of more perishable materials than busts and statues, have been destroyed in the fatal disasters which have so often afflicted both Greece and Italy. Herculaneum and Pompeii were but towns of the second order, and not likely to possess the masterpieces of the great artists, which were usually destined to adorn the more celebrated temples, or the palaces of kings and emperors. A more valuable acquisition than bronzes and pictures was thought to have been made when a large parcel of manuscripts was found amongst the ruins; and hopes were entertained that many classical works, of which time has deprived us, were about to be restored to light, and that a new mine of science was on the point of being opened. But the difficulty of unrolling the parchment, of pasting the fragments on a flat surface, and of deciphering the obscure letters, has proved so great, that little progress has hitherto been made; and the value of the writings which have been unrolled has by no means corresponded to the public expectation.
But although the few successful results of the investigation, which have hitherto been laid before the public, are indeed of such a nature as not to have rewarded, by their importance, the great labour which has been bestowed on them, the zeal of the lovers and patrons of literature has not allowed their ardour to be subdued by the difficulties of the task. The progress of the discovery and examination of these singular remains of antiquity has been described, from time to time, in the Philosophical Transactions, and in many other publications. It was in October 1752 that the first of the carbonised rolls of papyrus were found; and Paderni's account of them is accompanied by an interesting specimen, which exhibits the genuine form of the characters used by the Romans in their manuscripts.