At the end of August 79 A. D. the volcano Vesuvius began to erupt and within three days death fell on the northern cities, villas and farms that surrounded the volcano. One of the most famous victims of the eruption was the Roman city of Pompeii, known for its wealthy inhabitants and luxuriously decorated houses. Another city that fell from the onslaught of Vesuvius was Herculaneum, an equally wealthy, but not as large, seaside resort and commercial port.
Herculaneum in particular is worth a visit because its ruins are much better preserved than Pompeii.
Herculaneum was much closer to the crater than Pompeii. Despite this, Herculaneum escaped the initial onslaught of tephra rain because the wind was blowing in the opposite direction on the first day of the eruption. As the wind carried a deadly cloud of gas and ash to the nearby city of Pompeii, many of Herculaneum's inhabitants gathered their belongings and prepared to flee.
The next night, Vesuvius threw his rage on the now largely evacuated city of Herculaneum. Six consecutive pyroclastic flows and surges buried the city's buildings, destroying walls, pulling out columns and other large objects. Other areas were simply swallowed up by ash and hot gases and almost escaped destruction.
When Herculaneum was partially excavated in the early 18th century, archaeologists found intact buildings, wooden furniture, and even fruit and bread. They also found about 300 skeletons, establishing that the city had not been fully evacuated as previously thought. Unlike Pompeii, most of the city of Herculaneum has yet to be excavated.
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Herculaneum is much easier to explore than Pompeii because it is smaller and Herculaneum has fewer tourists than Pompeii. The most remarkable building in Herculaneum is a luxury villa called Villa Papiri. There is a version that the villa belonged to Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesonin, Julius Caesar's father-in-law.