From ancient times to the present, human beings have struggled to survive various natural disasters, of which volcanic eruptions are a particularly terrible natural disaster. In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted, killing tens of thousands of Pompeii residents in an instant, burying all pompeii covering an area of 1.8 square kilometers into volcanic ash!
What many people don't know is that the volcano that erupted in 79 AD buried not only Pompeii, a commercially developed city, but also Herculaneum, a city that provided a holiday for the Roman nobility.
Pompeii and Herculaneum geographical location
This article will give you a detailed look at the ins and outs of the Vesuvius eruption
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Herculaneum</h1>
Herculaneum was a particularly important city in the Roman Empire, with ruins in the present-day Italian city of Erclano. To its east is the Roman commercial city of Pompeii. Herculaneum is the product of the ancient Romans' localization of the name Hercules in Greek mythology. The name of the city Hercules was naturally a good luck, hoping that this deity would protect the inhabitants of each city.
The Hercules did, and Herculaneum developed rapidly under the Roman Empire. It not only became a resort for the Roman nobility and a back garden, but also developed regional industries such as fishing and wine making like other Roman-ruled territories.
Due to the abundance of products and the suitable climate, many people with heads and faces in Rome are willing to use Herculaneum as a good place for a leisure vacation. This includes Piso Kesonius, the father-in-law of Julius Caesar, the founding emperor of the Roman Empire.
The nobleman built a luxurious villa in Herculaneum, and archaeologists later determined the noble identity of the owner of the villa through research and analysis of papyrus scrolls unearthed from Herculaneum.
Bust of Piso Kesoninus
Herculaneum's then-civil minister, Marc Nonio Balbo (the equivalent of the governor of modern society), was a benevolent slave owner. Many of his herculaneum were forced into slavery, and later partially regained their freedom with his help.
The Roman Empire at the time had a rule that expropriated slaves did not have their own names, and if they were freed, they would be allowed to use the surnames of their former masters. Slaves who had been freed by Balbo at the time were also allowed to continue living in Herculaneum using the surname Balbo. Balbo was thus loved by slaves who were freed.
Slaves in the Roman Empire engaged in heavy manual labor
This interesting phenomenon was discovered when archaeologists studied the door numbers of each of herculaneum's residents. Because there were many people with the surname Balbo in the city of Herculaneum, this was combined with the fact that Rome had given the surname of the master to the slaves who restored their freedom at that time, and the origin of the surname of Balbo was inferred. That is to say, herculaneum was inhabited by many slaves who had regained their freedom.
The peaceful life of the inhabitants of Herculaneum did not come to an end until 1979.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > volcanic lockdown</h1>
Ash columns produced by volcanic eruptions
In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted, spewing out a large amount of volcanic ash and volcanic rock debris to the outside world, and the eruption reached an astonishing height of 34 kilometers! For the first 12 hours, the ash went straight to the commercial city of Pompeii, drowning it in ash. After 12 hours, the erupting ash column collapsed, and a large amount of ash and volcanic debris poured into the city of Herculaneum, burying the beautiful city along with the residents who had no time to evacuate.
The first attack on Herculaneum was 160 kilometers per hour of volcanic ash, which was not fast and did not cause much damage to the city of Herculaneum. But there were six ash attacks before and after, which completely buried the entire city of Herculaneum.
After being buried by volcanic ash, the city of Herculaneum did not reappear until 1738, after a large-scale excavation. Preserved by volcanic ash, the entire city of Herculaneum has maintained its 1st-century AD appearance and has not suffered much damage. Nature's magic is simply amazing!
By studying the objects left behind in the city of Herculaneum, modern people can understand the food, clothing, shelter and clothing of the Romans in the 1st century, can study the frescoes and sculptures of ancient Rome, and even study the political and economic development of the Roman Empire at that time. That is to say, Vesuvius has left a priceless historical legacy for all mankind in a particularly cruel way.
Carbonized toast was unearthed in the city of Herculaneum
The city of Herculaneum has been preserved, but the inhabitants inside are miserable. The volcanic ash rushing down from the sky reached 500 degrees Celsius, directly burning the skin and flesh of the residents who were too late to evacuate and melting them into skeletons.
During an expedition to the city of Herculaneum, archaeologists found 300 human skeletons in the city's houseboats. Horrificly, after restoration, archaeologists found that the skeletons still maintained their pre-death posture. That is, they were killed instantly by rushing volcanic ash. Among these skeletons are men, women, old people, and children. There were nobles with jeweled diamond rings on their hands, and there were slaves who had nothing. Perhaps only death can make these people truly equal.
The skeletons in the houseboat
Archaeologists have made assumptions as to why the three hundred men chose to take refuge in the houseboats — that, limited by the level of knowledge at the time, the Romans did not know what the eruption was or how to take refuge. Those who fled to the houseboat simply wanted to escape the seismic activity caused by the volcanic eruption.
In an ongoing investigation into the city of Herculaneum, archaeologists found a corpse that had died alone on a bed. The body lay flat on the bed and was supposed to have been burned in his sleep. Archaeologists have carefully studied the body and deduced the identity of the man— most likely the gatekeeper of the house, who, due to his duty, could not take refuge with others, but could only coexist with the house.
Archaeologists found some shiny crystals around the corpse, and after testing, they found that these were fragments of human brain tissue. That is to say, the temperature of the rushing volcanic ash is so high that it can directly make the human skull burst and the brain tissue vitrify.
Crystallized brain tissue collected by archaeologists
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a guess about the rest</h1>
There were more than 4,000 people in Herculaneum at the time, but so far only 301 bodies have been found. Where did the rest go? Historians have two views on this issue:
One is that the rest are buried in the unexplored part of the city of Herculaneum, supported by a number of older archaeologists. Only one-third of the city of Herculaneum has been excavated, and the rest are still buried deep underground. Vesuvius is so destructive that not many people should survive its attack.
There are also some archaeologists who firmly believe that most of the inhabitants of Herculaneum managed to escape the city, and the main representative of this is Stephen Tucker. Tucker studies the history of the Roman Empire after the accident and discovers that the Supreme Regency of Herculaneum has emerged in Naples, Italy. This meant that some of the inhabitants of Herculaneum managed to escape the city destroyed by volcanic ash and settle down in Naples.
After the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the Roman Emperor Titus built a lot of infrastructure in the small town of Cooma, reviving the once desolate town. The infrastructure was most likely built to resettle refugees fleeing Herculaneum.
The geographical location of Herculaneum, Naples and Cooma
The successful escape of the inhabitants of Herculaneum confirms that Stephen Tucker's theory is partially correct. But exactly how many people died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Herculaneum is still unknown, and will only be confirmed until the remaining two-thirds of the city is dug up.
The destruction of Herculaneum was a typical natural disaster, and it was a real wake-up call for humanity. Human beings are not the masters of nature, and only by correcting the position of human beings in nature can they develop better.