Herculaneum..A Blast from the Past

Herculaneum, a seaside town on the Gulf of Naples met the same fate as Pompei in 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius reawakened for 3 terrible days. The power of an explosively erupting volcano is hard to conceive. We visited the ruins of this long buried town, which is still being excavated. In fact, most of the modern town still stands on top of the ancient Ercolano. The photo is the atrium of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite. There are elegant mosaics a large fountain, trompe l’oeil painting, and sculpted ‘masks’ for ‘protection’.