The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-02-02
THURSDAY, FEB. .. 1905.
UNEARTHINC HERCULANEUM.


Few among great modern under
takings make a stronger appeal to
the imagination than the proposal to
mine from its buried depths the Ro-
man CITY of Herculaneum that was
overwhelmed in the year A. d. 10, at
the same time that Pompeii was coy
cred with cinders and ashes. Hercu-
lanuem was city of splendid villas,a
center of wealth and culture, bearing,
it has been said, about the same re-
lation to the city of Rome that New
port bears to New York. 1t was a
summer resort city of palaces that
housed the very finest examples of
Greek and Roman art, both in paint
ing and in sculpture. 1t is believed
that everything in Herculaneum has
been perfectly preserved, even to the
fabrics and the paintings, as the ma
terial that covered the city was wet
conglomerate that served to enfold
and preserve, but not to destroy. 1t
is assumed that complete eXcava-
ton will reveal to the world a beau
tiful city 1880 years old, and in the
exact form and setting, with the houses
standing just as they were, with the
kitchen arrangements, the sleeping
rooms, the furniture, the wall decora-
tions-eyerything just as the over
whelming catastrophe caught Hercu
laneum in all its pride and glory
eighteen centuries ago.
Pompeii was buried on an average
of less than twenty feet; Herculane-
um at from seventy TO eighty feet.
PoInpeii was rural town, with few
costly houses. After the eruption the
tops of many of the dwellings were ex-
posed, and most of the treasures re
moved. But Herculaneum, with the
exception of one or two walls, is prac-
ticallY untouched since the day it was
buried. The proposed excavation
will not only entail an enormous mon
etary cost, but be an engineering feat
requiring most careful methods of
procedure. The modern city of Re-
sina is built upon the ancient site, land
the excavating of the buried city will
req lire tunneling processes that may
be dangerous to the town that is sew
enty feet above. 1t may become nee
essarY to construct supporting walls
and arches if the underground city is
to be completely cleared and made to
shine with electric light as though lit
by the light of day.
A great international scheme is
now being organized for the unearth-
ing of this splendid ancient Greek and
Roman .city-more Greek in its art
and civilization, it is said, than Ro-
man. Prof. Charles Waldstein, Slade
professor of fine arts of the Uniyersi-
ty of Cambridge, England, and for
merly a director of the American
School at Athens, is endeavoring to
form something like an international
syndicate which shall undertake to
finance the great undertaking. He is
understood to be acting with written
1ndoi sement from the King of Italy.
His addresses in this country are at
tracing much interest. President
Roosevelt has given the scheme IN
hesitating commentator. No def
mite estimate as to probable cost of
the proposed excavation has been
given out, though it is conceded that
the cost will be enormous-so great
that the Italian government is not
willing, unaided, to undertake it. 1t
is not to be doubted, however. that
modern engineering skill, backed by
modern wealth, will solve the fasci-
mating problem of unearthing this
splendid buried city.