Herculaneum's ruins surface below ancient Pompeii

Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town, said to be built by Hercules, the mythological hero known for his strength and noble birth. But even this hero was helpless in the face of the powerful and destructive Vesuvius volcano over those fateful two days 79 A.D. Herculaneum was lost.

The buried ruins of the town were accidentally discovered almost half a century before its more prominent neighbour, Pompeii, but excavation of Herculaneum is still fresh and ongoing. Pompeii, buried only four metres under the lava and ash fall, was an easier excavation job than the 20 metre deep Herculaneum and it was only in the 20th century that the Herculaneum dig was re-opened, continuing to this day.

A smaller town with a wealthier population, Herculaneum's artefacts complement those of the bigger and more merchant Pompeii. One of its unearthed treasures is the seafront villa once used as a holiday home by Julius Caesar's father-in-law. Another is the temple used to worship Roman emperors as gods after they died.

Unlike Pompeii, the remains of the people who died at Herculaneum weren't preserved in plaster casts and the skeletons unearthed provide interesting evidence on the life of the ancient Romans, whose cremation practices left few examples of skeletal remains.

The early discovery of Ercolano, as it's known in Italian, had an influential effect on the neoclassical movement in Europe. The King of the Two Sicilies sponsored a publication promoting the discoveries of the buried town and Herculaneum motifs and designs began to appear on sought after furnishings throughout the Kingdom.

Along with Pompeii's ruins and the nearby Villa Oplontis of Torre Annunziata, whose wall paintings depict lavish Roman lifestyles, Herculaneum is a vivid time capsule open to our discovery. Sited on the western side of the Vesuvius' volcano and on the seafront to the Gulf of Naples, Herculaneum is closer to Naples city than the southern placed Pompeii. It is a good place to start any excavation of Vesuvius' buried treasure, before travelling down the coast road to the Villa and onto Pompeii's renowned attractions.