A TALE OF TWO CITIES: IN SEARCH FOR ANCIENT POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM

IN SEARCH FOR ANCIENT POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM
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A TALE OF TWO CITIES: IN SEARCH FOR
ANCIENT POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM
Lale ÖZGENEL
Received: 14.12.2006; Final Text: 15.04.2008.
INTRODUCTION
Keywords: Pompeii; Herculaneum;
The ancient and modern are often juxtaposed in an inseparable way in
excavation; documentation; Rocque Joaquin
de Alcubierre; Karl Jakob Weber.
cities which are continuously inhabited since their foundation in antiquity.
* I thank to Mert Ayaro?lu for preparing the
The architectural splendor of ancient Rome for example, is visible and
figures for publication.
traceable in several fragmented contexts in the heart of modern Rome;
remains of ancient architecture are embraced and invaded by the modern
city that grew around and over the ruins of its ancient counterpart. In
only rare instances, such as the Pantheon, the Markets of Trajan and the
Colosseum, or the impressive façade of the Temple of Zeus inserted into
a later building, is it possible to see the monuments that once adorned
ancient Rome still standing to their full height.
The remains of many other ancient cities on the other hand, are found at
a distance from nearby modern settlements and are not encroached by
buildings. These ancient cities are actually more potent in revealing and
displaying the ancient urban context in an un-fragmented state. Yet the
fact that these are often not well preserved and that large portions remain
unexcavated hinder that potential, and to an untrained eye, the ancient city
often looks like a spread of ruins. While monuments like theaters or baths
are in general well preserved and might partially stand to their full height,
the ‘ancient city’ is often conceived as a walking track with a collection of
building stones. In several cases the remains of buildings whose walls are
rarely preserved to their full height do not give a sense of how they once
looked like. Finding a still standing ancient building, let alone an ancient
city, and wandering inside, therefore, is not a common experience.
Renowned for their superb preservation, Pompeii and Herculaneum are
two exceptional examples. The archaeological character and context of
these two ancient cities, especially those of Pompeii, are exceptional in
many respects:
Pompeii occupies a special place in Roman archaeology, for this city and its
neighbors, notably Herculaneum, were remarkably well preserved under the

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Figure 1. Pompeii (from an old postcard).
Figure 2. Cast of a young Pompeian woman
(Maiuri, 1953, Pl. LVI).
Figure 3. Via dell’Abbondanza in Pompeii
(Maiuri, 1953, Pl. XXXVI) and “House
of Wooden Partitions in Herculaneum”,
overhangs are modern additions (Maiuri,
1945, Pl. XIII).
volcanic debris that rained down from Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The ruins
give an unequalled glimpse of the daily life of town dwellers during late
republic and early Empire. In contrast, in Rome itself, because of continuing

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1. A comprehensive study on the
rebuilding throughout the Empire, remains from these periods are only
architectural history of Pompeii is
sporadically preserved (Gates, 2003, 343).
Richardson (1988). Mau (1982) (originally
published in 1902 in German as Pompeji
The fact that it was destroyed by a single natural disaster which rendered it
in Kunst und Leben) is one of the earliest
largely (though not totally) inaccessible to the survivors and to succeeding
guidebooks on Pompeii while the most
recent and revised guidebook on Pompeii by
generations means that what we have has not been altered, by later
La Rocca and de Vos (2002) is an inclusive
demolition, by the construction of buildings of later generations, and that by
and well illustrated publication.
uncovering it what has been discovered is a unity, fixed in time. We can see
2. By 1860 when Italy was unified, more than
Pompeii as it was on that fateful day, whereas all the other cities in this book
9 hectares was already uncovered, Berry
are only partial survivals, with buildings and other evidence often belonging
(1998, 7). At present three-fourths of ancient
to widely separate periods in their existence (Tomlinson, 1992, 175).
Pompeii is excavated while in Herculaneum
only four city blocks are entirely revealed
due to the hardened soil conditions
The on-going excavations in both cities brought to light not just individual
(Jashemski, 2002, 8).
buildings and artifacts but an urban fabric (Figure 1)(*). In both towns not
3. A comprehensive English publication
only monumental public buildings, as is often the case in several sites, but
on the history of excavations in Pompeii
houses, streets, public buildings, commercial units, drainage channels,
and Herculaneum is Parslow (1995). For
shorter accounts see Deiss (1995, 37-49) for
fountains, wells, city walls, cemeteries, parks and even some unfortunate
Herculaneum; Mau (1982, 25-30) and Cooley
inhabitants are unearthed (1)(Figure 2). In many areas the remains are
(2003, 65-96) for Pompeii. The most recent
preserved well up to their first storey, in some even up to the second, thus
study is Gardner Coates and Seydl (2007).
displaying the actual building size and appearance (Figure 3). This is truly
a rare case where both the public buildings and the private architecture of
two neighboring ancient cities are uncovered in such a big scale and with
such intensity.
Unearthing and revealing such a vast and almost intact ancient context
is an unusual phenomenon and has a remarkable history (2). The
excavation history of Pompeii and Herculaneum is a complex and long
narrative displaying the gradual progress in not only the archaeological
uncovering of an ancient urban context in its entirety but also in methods,
objectives and documentation of this vast exposure (3). This paper offers
an informative insight into the first epoch of the excavations undertaken
in Pompeii, Herculaneum and the nearby sites in the 18th century and
illustrates the dynamics of excavation in the early Bourbon Period during
which the digging narrative of Vesuvian archaeology was initiated; within
the limits of an article it would be unfair to attempt to cover the entirety of
this long, complicated and still evolving tale narrated by several events and
actors.
THE ‘MYTH OF CAMPANIA’
AD 79: Pompeii and Herculaneum
In Roman antiquity the region roughly bordered by the bay of Naples
on one side and the Vesuvius on the other was called Campania (Figure
4). There were many moderately sized ancient Roman towns in this area,
especially scattered at the low plains lying in between the volcano and the
bay. Not far from the imperial capital Rome the bay strip was a popular
resort destination for Roman magnates and was dotted with several
sea-side villas. Pompeii and Herculaneum were among the prosperous
cities located in close proximity. As in many other Roman cities both
towns were adorned with monumental public buildings such as theaters,
baths, temples, basilicas, commercial establishments and city squares that
demonstrate the presence of a lively urban community that extended to the
countryside by means of villas and farm houses.
In the first century AD, two natural catastrophes hit Campania and
changed the fate of the region in an irreversible way. The first one came
on February 5, AD 62, in the form of a large earthquake which affected the
shoreline of the gulf of Naples and damaged several public and private

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Figure 4. Bay of Naples.
buildings in many settlements including Pompeii and Herculaneum where
the collapse of the water reservoirs resulted in flooding and hence more
damage (Sigurdsson, 2002, 34). Buildings that would have survived with
partial collapses were disintegrated and swept away by the hit of the flood,
thus leaving not only smashed and collapsed buildings behind but also a
massive amount of mud mixed with building material. As noted by the
Roman author Seneca, the major damage was in Pompeii and Herculaneum
where many public buildings were completely destroyed and many houses
were either partially collapsed or received major and threatening cracks
(Table 1).
The second disaster came shortly after, on August 24, AD 79, when many
Campanians were still busy with repairing their homes and public edifices
4. Earthquakes, unlike volcanic eruptions,
were known from Campania and mentioned
that were damaged by the earthquake 17 years before. The threat this time
by ancient authors. As reported by Seneca
however, was more serious and devastating; a series of initial tremors
(Questiones Naturales VI) a large number of
sheep was found dead due to poisoning on
signaled the coming of not another big earthquake, as opposed to what the
the slopes Vesuvius in the AD 62 earthquake, Campanians had thought from previous experience, but instead a massive
a fact which undeniably indicated the
gradual release of volcanic gases prior
and devastating volcanic explosion and eruption hitherto unknown to
to a major eruption. Other short notice
the settlers of this region (4). Vesuvius was dormant for centuries and no
pre-eruption symptoms, such as tremors
eruption was recorded in memory up until AD 79. This was an unfortunate
accompanied with the drying of wells and
springs also evidenced the coming of a
lack of information, for the inhabitants of the Campanian towns could
major volcanic explosion shortly before it
not foresee the fatal and grave consequences of a volcanic explosion;
happened; none of these unfortunately were
recognized as a warning by the Campanians, many remained stationed in their hometowns and houses assuming that
Sigurdsson (2002, 35).
the catastrophe will be a short-termed one like the earlier earthquake (5).
5. Deiss (1995, 32-33); Strabon, the Greek
Contrary to this belief the eruption lasted for about three days, initially
geographer noted the curious summit of
burying the villas and the farms at the higher altitudes and gradually
Vesuvius a few generations before AD 79.
Since then Vesuvius erupted several times,
reaching the lower levels and covering the cities found within a radius
most recently in 1944, Cooley (2003, 36).
of 24 kilometers around Vesuvius. The hot mixture of volcanic gas, mud,
For the ancient references to Vesuvius see
Sigurdsson (2002, 32-33).
pumice and ash flowing continuously and with an increasing speed and

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6. On the excavated unfortunate inhabitants
density for three days eventually poured in from the windows and roofs,
see Brion (1960; 35-37); Bisel (1986) for a
filled the interiors and flattened the buildings, thus burning, poisoning
study and preliminary report of the 139
skeletons found in the boat houses lined
and burying those who chose to take refuge in deeper corners or basements
along the harbor in Herculaneum by 1987
rather than to evacuate (6):
and also Sigurdsson and Carey (2002, 55-58).
7. For a more detailed account of the pre and
Vesuvius’ victims would have been asphyxiated by the hot gases contained
post eruption history of Pompeii; see Cooley
in the dust-laden cloud, which would have covered the distance from the
(2003, 17-49) and Sigurdsson and Carey (2002,
crater to Pompeii in a mere six minutes” (Cooley, 2003, 45).
37-64).
8. It is roughly estimated that at least one
At the end of the third day, an almost 9 m. thick lava layer was
tenth of the population in Pompeii were
accumulated over the Campanian towns including Pompeii and
killed in the AD 79 disaster (Cooley, 2003, 48). Herculaneum, thus making the area on which they once spread look like an
empty flat plain, as if not settled before (7).
An ancient account of this disaster is preserved in the letters of Pliny the
Younger, a Latin author who was an eyewitness of the eruption at the
age of seventeen with his uncle (Table 2). His letters addressed to the
ancient historian Tacitus, when he was forty-two years old, in response
to the historian’s query about how his uncle Pliny the Elder died in the
bay of Naples during the eruption provide information on the tragic last
days of Pompeii. At the time of the disaster Pliny the Elder who was a
renowned scholar was acting as the Roman navy commander and his fleet
was stationed at the cape of Misenum located 32 km. across the harbor of
Pompeii. According to one of the letters, the elder Pliny had abandoned
his ship and rushed to the harbor of Pompeii to make a closer observation
of this previously unknown and undocumented natural calamity and to
record it in detail. Had he and his tablets survived a much better account
of the disaster, its aftermath and the fate of the Vesuvian cities would be
known. (8).
THE START OF ‘ARCHAEOLOGY’ AT CAMPANIA
AD 1710: Herculaneum and d’Elbeuf
What happened in the immediate aftermath of the eruption remains as
an unknown episode in the history of Campania. No written account
of this period survived, except some in passing references found on a
funerary inscription and in some poems and epigrams (Cooley 2003, 50-
57). Undoubtedly many settlements completely vanished and many others
were beyond repair and recovery. It is likely that some survivors returned
to their towns to dig channels with the hope of rescuing and pillaging
their valuable remains or finding the bodies of their relatives and family
members after the lava layer cooled and hardened enough to dig. Some
signs of post eruption scavenging have been recorded in various spots both
by the early and later excavators but whether these digs were actually done
by the ancient inhabitants or the later treasure hunters is not yet clear. The
reigning emperor Titus is known to have devised a plan for the economic
recovery of Campania but the details and the method of this plan is not
known (Cooley, 2003, 53; Parslow, 1995, 113). The emperor might have
conceived of unearthing the Campanian towns and repopulating them
but it is clear that the empire lacked the technical means and knowledge
to undertake this massive clearing and restoration project which even for
today is an almost impossible mission. It is likely that the survivors of the
AD 79 eruption moved to the nearby cities and started a new life, perhaps
receiving a compensation grant from the empire.
The names of the Campanian towns have survived in memory at least
for some time as illustrated by the Peutinger Table of the twelfth century,

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Table 1. The Younger Seneca on AD 62
“We have heard, my dear Lucilius, that Pompeii, a busy town in Campania, situated
earthquake (Natural Questions 6.1.1-3)(cited
from Cooley, 2003, 17)
where the shore of Sorrento and Stabiae form one side and from the other the shore
of Herculaneum come together and encircle with a beautiful bay the sea where it
has been brought in from open waters, has subsided under an earthquake. All the
surrounding areas have also been affected. What is more, this happened during
winter, a time our ancestors used to promise us was free from danger of this kind.
This tremor was on the 5th February in the consulship of Regulus and Verginius,
and it inflicted great devastation on Campania, a region never safe from this evil,
yet which has remained undamaged and has so often got off with a fright. For part
of the town of Herculaneum too fell down and even the structures that remain are
unstable, and the colony of Nuceria, though it escaped disaster, nevertheless is not
without complaint. Naples too lost many private buildings, but no public ones, be-
ing stricken only lightly by the great evil; even villas have collapsed, everywhere
things shook without injury. In addition, the following events occurred: a flock of
six hundred sheep died and statues split, some people have lost their minds and
wander about in their madness. Both the texture of my proposed work and the
coincidence of the misfortune at this time demand that we explain the reasons for
these things.”
Table 2. Pliny the Younger on AD 79
eruption (Letters, LXV, To Tacitus)(tr.
“YOUR request that I would send you an account of my uncle’s death, in order to
by William Melmoth; revised by F. C. T.
transmit a more exact relation of it to posterity, deserves my acknowledgments; for,
Bosanquet, The Harvard Classics, Vol. IX,
if this accident shall be celebrated by your pen, the glory of it, I am well assured,
Part 4. (New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–
will be rendered for ever illustrious. And notwithstanding he perished by a
14) [Bartleby])
misfortune, which, as it involved at the same time a most beautiful country in ruins,
and destroyed so many populous cities, seems to promise him an everlasting
remembrance; notwithstanding he has himself composed many and lasting works;
yet I am persuaded, the mentioning of him in your immortal writings, will greatly
contribute to render his name immortal. Happy I esteem those to be to whom by
provision of the gods has been granted the ability either to do such actions as are
worthy of being related or to relate them in a manner worthy of being read; but
peculiarly happy are they who are blessed with both these uncommon talents: in
the number of which my uncle, as his own writings and your history will evidently
prove, may justly be ranked. It is with extreme willingness, therefore, that I execute
your commands; and should indeed have claimed the task if you had not enjoined
it. He was at that time with the fleet under his command at Misenum. On the 24th
of August, about one in the afternoon, my mother desired him to observe a cloud
which appeared of a very unusual size and shape. He had just taken a turn in the
sun, and, after bathing himself in cold water, and making a light luncheon, gone
back to his books: he immediately arose and went out upon a rising ground from
whence he might get a better sight of this very uncommon appearance. A cloud,
from which mountain was uncertain, at this distance (but it was found afterwards
to come from Mount Vesuvius), was ascending, the appearance of which I cannot
give you a more exact description of than by likening it to that of a pine-tree, for it
shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at
the top into a sort of branches; occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden gust of air
that impelled it, the force of which decreased as it advanced upwards, or the cloud
itself, being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in the manner I have
mentioned; it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted,
according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders. This
phenomenon seemed to a man of such learning and research as my uncle
extraordinary and worth further looking into. He ordered a light vessel to be got
ready, and gave me leave, if I liked, to accompany him. I said I had rather go on
with my work; and it so happened, he had himself given me something to write out.
As he was coming out of the house, he received a note from Rectina, the wife of
Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at the imminent danger which threatened her;
for her villa lying at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way of escape but by
sea; she earnestly entreated him therefore to come to her assistance. He accordingly
changed his first intention, and what he had begun from a philosophical, he now
carries out in a noble and generous spirit. He ordered the galleys to be put to sea,
and went himself on board with an intention of assisting not only Rectina, but the
several other towns which lay thickly strewn along that beautiful coast. Hastening

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then to the place from whence others fled with the utmost terror, he steered his
course direct to the point of danger, and with so much calmness and presence of
mind as to be able to make and dictate his observations upon the motion and all the
phenomena of that dreadful scene. He was now so close to the mountain that the
cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships,
together with pumice-stones, and black pieces of burning rock: they were in danger
too not only of being aground by the sudden retreat of the sea, but also from the
vast fragments which rolled down from the mountain, and obstructed all the shore.
Here he stopped to consider whether he should turn back again; to which the pilot
advising him, “Fortune,” said he, “favours the brave; steer to where Pomponianus
is.” Pomponianus was then at Stabiæ, separated by a bay, which the sea, after
several insensible windings, forms with the shore. He had already sent his baggage
on board; for though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet being within sight
of it, and indeed extremely near, if it should in the least increase, he was
determined to put to sea as soon as the wind, which was blowing dead inshore,
should go down. It was favourable, however, for carrying my uncle to
Pomponianus, whom he found in the greatest consternation: he embraced him
tenderly, encouraging and urging him to keep up his spirits, and, the more
effectually to soothe his fears by seeming unconcerned himself, ordered a bath to be
got ready, and then, after having bathed, sat down to supper with great
cheerfulness, or at least (what is just as heroic) with every appearance of it.
Meanwhile broad flames shone out in several places from Mount Vesuvius, which
the darkness of the night contributed to render still brighter and clearer. But my
uncle, in order to soothe the apprehensions of his friend, assured him it was only
the burning of the villages, which the country people had abandoned to the flames:
after this he retired to rest, and it is most certain he was so little disquieted as to fall
into a sound sleep: for his breathing, which, on account of his corpulence, was
rather heavy and sonorous, was heard by the attendants outside. The court which
led to his apartment being now almost filled with stones and ashes, if he had
continued there any time longer, it would have been impossible for him to have
made his way out. So he was awoke and got up, and went to Pomponianus and the
rest of his company, who were feeling too anxious to think of going to bed. They
consulted together whether it would be most prudent to trust to the houses, which
now rocked from side to side with frequent and violent concussions as though
shaken from their very foundations; or fly to the open fields, where the calcined
stones and cinders, though light indeed, yet fell in large showers, and threatened
destruction. In this choice of dangers they resolved for the fields: as resolution
which, while the rest of the company were hurried into by their fears, my uncle
embraced upon cool and deliberate consideration. They went out then, having
pillows tied upon their heads with napkins; and this was their whole defense
against the storm of stones that fell round them. It was now day everywhere else,
but there a deeper darkness prevailed than in the thickest night; which, however,
was in some degree alleviated by torches and other lights of various kinds. They
thought proper to go farther down upon the shore to see if they might safely put
out to sea, but found the waves still running extremely high, and boisterous. There
my uncle, laying himself down upon a sail-cloth, which was spread for him, called
twice for some cold water, which he drank, when immediately the flames, preceded
by a strong whiff of sulphur, dispersed the rest of the party, and obliged him to rise.
He raised himself up with the assistance of two of his servants, and instantly fell
down dead; suffocated, as I conjecture, by some gross and noxious vapor, having
always had a weak throat, which was often inflamed. As soon as it was light again,
which was not till the third day after this melancholy accident, his body was found
entire, and without any marks of violence upon it, in the dress in which he fell, and
looking more like a man asleep than dead. During all this time my mother and I,
who were at Misenum- but this has no connection with your history, and you did
not desire any particulars besides those of my uncle’s death; so I will end here, only
adding that I have faithfully related to you what I was either an eye-witness of
myself or received immediately after the accident happened, and before there was
time to vary the truth. You will pick out of this narrative whatever is most
important: for a letter is one thing, a history another; it is one thing writing to a
friend, another thing writing to the public. Farewell.”

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9. Fontana, the architect responsible from
a revised version of a late antique map, on which the Campanian towns
the channel project accidentally discovered
were marked correctly (Cooley, 2003, 51). In between the publication of this
some inscriptions, and also buildings with
colored wall-paintings but could not relate
map and the early 18th century when Herculaneum and Pompeii were re-
these finds to Pompeii. The city was firmly
discovered and identified correctly as such, the ancient Campanian towns
identified as Pompeii in 1763 after an
inscription bearing the name Pompeis, Berry
fell into oblivion and the area which lied over the buried Pompeii came to
(1998, 7).
be called la Civita (Brion, 1960, 39).
During the course of the 16th and 17th centuries coincidences led to some
chance discoveries of ancient building materials and artifacts from the
buried Campanian towns. These however did not create a sensational
response and reaction. The city of Pompeii for example was actually
spotted for the first time in the 16th century, during a construction project
devised by count Muzzio Tuttavilla who planned to divert the water
of the Sarno river to his villa in Torre Annunziata underneath of which
was another buried site (Parslow, 1995, 44). The planned underground
channel of the shortest route happened to pass across the ruins of Pompeii.
It entered the city from the amphitheater side, extended to the forum
and crossed the necropolis of the Herculaneum Gate, thus making the
longest cut through Pompeii. During the digging of this channel under
the direction of architect Domenico Fontana from 1592 to 1600 several
inscriptions were unearthed by the laymen who were not aware of the fact
that they were excavating over the top surface of a 66 hectares ancient city
lying deep below (9). An inscription bearing two clearly visible words,
decurio pompeis, referring to a Pompeian magistrate, was an archaeologically
diagnostic evidence but was misinterpreted as referring to the villa of
the Roman general Pompey and not to the Roman city of Pompeii. Its
discovery therefore did not arouse further discussion or interest (Cooley,
2003, 63). The canal was already completed when Lucas Holstenius, a
German antiquarian visited the area in 1637and proposed correctly that
Pompeii and la Civita were the same. His proposal was not welcomed.
Another inscription bearing the name Pompei found in 1689 however
aroused a controversy on its identification between an architect named
Picchetti and a historian named Bianchini. Picchetti suggested that the
name referred to the Roman general Pompey while Bianchini claimed that
it indicated the city of Pompeii. This intellectual debate aroused further
personal interest and made one Macrini return to the site in 1693 and go
down to the tunnels. Although Macrini noted the ruins of ramparts and
buildings and suggested excavation to clarify whether these ruins belonged
to the ancient city of Pompeii called la Civita no attempt was made until
1710 (Brion, 1960, 41).
The credit for discovering Herculaneum is held by the Austrian prince
Duc d’Elbeuf (Emmanuel-Maurice de Lorraine) who, having married
a Neapolitan Princess in 1710, decided to build a sumptuous seaside
villa and settle down at Portici, a site which is close to Herculaneum. At
about the same time a peasant from the nearby town of Resina found
several pieces of buried marble while digging a well in his land. All of the
unearthed pieces were immediately purchased by the prince who following
the trends in the decoration of the aristocratic mansions of his time was
interested in embellishing his villa with marble statuary and accessories.
d’Elbeuf had realized that the marble pieces he acquired were not ordinary
building materials but actually came from monumental ancient buildings
and bought the land to make excavations. The first ‘archaeological
excavations’ in the region of Campania, in this respect, began under the
personal initiative of prince d’Elbeuf. Horizontal canals were tunneled out
from the already dug well by his seven workers who by chance first hit the

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wall of the stage building of the theater in Herculaneum which was one
of the most decorated public buildings of the ancient city. The building
however was mistakenly identified as the Temple of Hercules by d’Elbeuf
(Figure 5). The stage was discovered in its integrity, together with its
polychrome marble revetments, columns and statuary thus yielding much
more valuable pieces than the prince could have ever expected. In 1716,
at the end of an intensive nine month long tunneling and digging period
d’Elbeuf was summoned back to Austria. Until his departure however,
his workers, despite working in cramped conditions in the narrow tunnels
which were lit and smoked with torches and received air only from the
Figure 5. The front stage of the theater at
well, were able to present him with a fairly rich collection of antiquities that
Herculaneum as excavated (Maiuri, 1945,
Pl. XL)
included portrait heads, decorative marbles and a group of marble portrait
statues. This was the first private yet undocumented collection unearthed
from Herculaneum.
In this opening epoch of the excavation history Prince d’Elbeuf acted like
an aristocratic treasure-hunter mesmerized by the amount and quality of
the art work cleared from the stage building. Even for his private interest
the prince did not feel the urge or the need to document and record the
method and progress of the excavation, the clearing and destruction of
levels and the position, status, identification and description of the in-
situ finds. The sole motive was to decorate his private residence in the
manner of a museum of antiquities, and for that he luckily found the right
building in the first attempt. On the other hand without actually realizing
the future consequences of his private mission and despite all his efforts
of secrecy, the Prince aroused both a scholarly and public interest and was
recorded as the first ‘excavator’ in the long digging narrative of Pompeii
and Herculaneum. In 1711, the news about his finds was published in the
Giornale de’Letterati d’Italia, after a manuscript written by Andrea Simone
Imperato, the rector of S. Maria di Pugliano in Resina (Parslow 1995, 22-
23). The manuscript was written with the intention of documenting all the
known eruptions of Vesuvius to provide information on the post-eruption
state of the landscape, inhabitants and the countryside around Resina and
reported also on the location of the wells where antiquities were found and
the activities of Prince d’Elbeuf. This manuscript and the newspaper report
are the earliest written and published texts concerning the documentation
history of Campanian archaeology. A letter dated to 1731, moreover,
reports about the first site-visiting tours and the exposure of the ruins at
Resina to the visitors, not yet identified as Herculaneum (Parslow, 1995,
22).
After the departure of Prince d’Elbeuf, his villa was bought first by Duca
Giacinto Falletti di Cannaloga, who adorned it with his own private
collection composed of another group of unrecorded ancient statuary
cleared from the site under his supervision. The villa and the collection it
housed were later bought by the King of Naples, Charles of Bourbon in
1746. Several minor eruptions that occurred in between 1717 and 1737 in
the meantime must have discouraged any other long-term excavation.
THE ‘BOURBON ARCHAEOLOGY’
AD 1738: Herculaneum, Alcubierre and Bardet
The excavation history of Herculaneum and Pompeii took another route
towards the middle of the eighteenth century with the arrival of Charles
of Bourbon to Campania to establish a new and independent domain of
power based at Naples. Among the European courts of the time, possession

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10
METU JFA 2008/1
LALE ÖZGENEL
10. Louis XIV of France, the great-
and display of ancient art work was conceived as a major agent in planting
grandfather of Charles for example was
a new political power and regime. The antiquities that could be confiscated
renowned as an art lover, patron and
collector and he built the magnificent
from both of the ancient towns and other nearby buried villas, from 1738
Versailles palace and opened an Opera house onwards, would thus serve for the very same purpose for Charles of
in Paris during his reign, Cooley (2003, 66).
Bourbon and his successors. In this context, the antiquities of Campania
would be collected for the first time exclusively to form not a private
collection but a royal one under the imperial patronage and control of
the Neapolitan Kings. The unearthed antiquities would be classified and
treated as national treasury and would thus be protected and displayed
under the auspices of the royal court in Naples. Their export and transport,
by any means and for any purposes, outside the kingdom of Naples
without the acknowledgement of the court would also be forbidden. This
was clearly a much more conservative, protective and possessive attitude
towards the preservation of antiquities uncovered elsewhere in Italy at that
period; of the antiquities found in the domains of the Papacy, in contrast,
the Pope claimed only one-third and felt free to issue export permits
(Cooley, 2003, 69; Gardner Coates and Sedyl 2007, 38-39).
The eighteen year old Charles of Bourbon (Charles VII) assumed the throne
of the ‘Kingdom of Two Sicilies’ which covered the area from Sicily to the
borders of the Roman states that lie beyond the territory of Naples after
winning a battle against the Austrians in 1734. This was a crucial victory,
for Naples became an autonomous kingdom next to Spain and Austria. It
became a state in need of a royal court and a capital active and dominating
not only politically but also culturally for official recognition among the
more rooted contemporary European courts and capitals. Following the
footsteps of both the preceding and contemporary monarchs, Charles
initiated foremost a building program to adorn Naples with cultural
edifices including an opera-house and its countryside with imperial palaces
filled with art work (10). Of the three proposed imperial palaces during
his reign one was to be built at Portici as a hunting mansion where Prince
d’Elbeuf had built his villa and already did some excavation in ancient
Herculaneum. The archaeological wealth of the area was already made
known to Charles VII who resumed the excavation abandoned by d’Elbeuf
in 1738. The royal palace he later built at Portici would be used to house
the first ever-expanding royal collection and hence the first museum of
Campania, Museo Ercolanese.
During the Bourbon reign the excavations in Campania were conducted
under the directorship and management of a group of technical
professionals, none of whom had any prior knowledge and experience in
an archaeological undertaking. Among them some played a more decisive
role in not only initiating and navigating the course of the early Bourbon
phase of the excavation history but also in the birth and development
of modern archaeology. Two leading figures in this early episode were
Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre and Karl Jakob Weber. Both ended up in
Naples following Charles of Bourbon.
Alcubierre was a Spanish military engineer serving in the Spanish corps
in 1733 and arrived to Naples in 1734 with Charles VII at the age of thirty-
two. In 1738 as both an engineer and an artillery captain he was stationed
at Portici to survey the site for the building of the new summer palace and
the gardens, the future Museo Ercolanese, of Charles VII. The project also
included surveying the site for constructing a small fortress to guard the
coastline. During his survey Alcubierre learned about the presence and
clearing of antiquities from this area and was also shown the manuscript of
Imperato.

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