Heroic Herculaneum

A city in a hill. The hill is a quirk of preservation, a great lava flow from an erupting Mount Vesuvius in October, AD 79. The small city started to be re-discovered in 1709 by Prince d'Elbeuf, when he bought the site and started poking around water wells for artifacts.

Overview with the modern city in the background. It's a small, compact place with a grid layout. Large, public areas have yet to be excavated.

Bring your wheat, get it stone ground into flour. A fishy mosaic in a room attached to the bath house.

Take a seat, share you bench with a fellow sweater. The grand, arched interior of the bath house.

Domestic spaces with lovely frescos. No self-respecting house is without some wall bling.

As at all major archaeological sites in Italy, work continues.