Mosaic floor proves Vesuvius eruption

Did you ever wonder what the effect of the Vesuvius eruption (79 AD) was? Just have a look at this mosaic floor!

I shot this picture while visiting Herculaneum (in Italian: Ercolano). A small ancient city that was covered with several feet of vulcanic ash and lava. And as we all know, also Pompei was a victim of the famous Vesuvius eruption.

This mosaic floor lies in one of the Herculaneum houses. You can see the effect of the earthquakes that went together with the vulcanic eruption. The seismic wave pattern is stil visible as one part of the floor is almost 2 feet lower then the surrounding ground.

We can only imagine how scared the ancient citizens of Herculaneum must have been when the big Vesuvius 'mountain' roared and trembled and the floor was waving under their feet.

But...the earthquake was a lifesaver!

Although my pictures shows the devastating effects of the earthquake, it was in fact a lifesaver. Because, not like in Pompei, almost everyone in Herculaneum escaped. The city also wasn't a victim of the ash cloud (like Pompei) but a thick river of lava covered the city. Almost no bodies were find, so they were lucky and got away in time. The only victims were found in the beach houses outside the city.

The ruins of Herculaneum. You can see the Vesuvius vulcano in the background:

Is it worth a visit?

A lot of tourist visit Pompei, but I must say I enjoyed Herculaneum a lot more.

The city of Herculaneum is much smaller, which makes it possible to visit it in a couple of hours. You need at least a whole day to see every corner of Pompei.

A lot of tourist skip Herculaneum, so it's more quiet to visit.

I visited both Pompei and Herculaneum and I think that you see more evidence of the vulcanic eruption in Herculaneum (like my picture above).

The thick lava layer is still visible in Herculaneum (it's about 20 feet high). Very impressive!

I went to visit Napels/Pompei/Herculaneum in octobre and it's a good month to do so. The weather is still pretty nice and only gets a bit chilly during the evening. But the sun sets a lot earlier. The advantage of this is that you can wander around in Herculaneum during sunset. There were only a handfull tourists visiting the city that moment so I was actually walking alone in the evening shadows. A very special experience!

Did you already visit Herculaneum or Pompei? Which one did you like more? I'll be sharing some Pompei pictures in my next post!

Thanks for reading
Rob