Vesuvius MapKen Feisel
Posted on 09/21/2023 8:45:45 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The north slope of Mount Vesuvius has largely been ignored archaeologically compared to its other sides, where the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were once located. Recent work there has shown that it was no less important than these other sites during the Roman era. Having reached his mid-seventies, Rome's first emperor, Caesar Augustus, lived out his final days in a villa near the base of Mount Vesuvius. While traveling in the Bay of Naples, he fell ill and detoured to the ancestral home of his biological father's family, the Octavii, near the city of Nola. In A.D. 14, at the age of 76, he breathed his last in the same room where his father had died, in the shadow of the great volcano.
The villa's exact whereabouts were eventually lost. Given its reported proximity to Vesuvius, most archaeologists presumed that the A.D. 79 eruption that destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, along with countless rural villas, had also buried the estate in a deep blanket of volcanic debris. It seemed unlikely that it would ever be discovered. However, in 1929, the director of excavations in Pompeii, Matteo Della Corte, was tipped off by a friend about Roman ruins on the north slope of Vesuvius in the town of Somma Vesuviana, just a few miles from Nola. Although Della Corte's excavations were brief, a narrow, 30-foot-deep trench revealed a building covered by volcanic ash. Leading volcanologists of the time determined that this destruction layer was a result of the A.D. 79 eruption. The scale of the building, ornate columns, and fragments of expensive marble left the archaeologists in awe.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Vesuvius MapKen Feisel
An apse in the Villa of Augustus is painted with a mythological scene involving Tritons and Nereids.Credit: Girolamo F. De Simone
Wow. New Orleans, LA just to the north!
The level of sophistication of the paintings would not be matched until the Renaissance...............
I have been to all of those places for good long visits — except Nola and Nuceria. Darn! The cave of the Oracle of Cumae is amazing. Drank artichoke wine in a bar in Ercolano (Herculaneum). Several trips to Pompeii and long stays in Napoli, and boat trips in the Bay to Capri and Ischia. Looked down the crater of Vesuvius while it was steaming! Glad I went when I did.
Sounds fun!
The prehistoric version of Nola got hit by a much earlier eruption as well.
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