Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-07
OLD HERCULANEUM
CITY OF BURIED TREASURES TO
BE ExCAvATED.
Important Archaeological Finds That
Led. to It's Discovery-scme Of
Its Interesting Features.
From the London Globe.

From the London Globe.
Archaeology stu continues to provide
new fields for the excavator. The end OF
the century just closed saw the Heraion
OF Argos and the palaces OF Crete laid
bare. Pompeii was discovered more than
100 years ago, at q time when there was
little Of the present historical and scfen-
tific spirit infused into antiquarian re-
searches-when Winckelmann. indeed. was
insisting that such a spirit was necessary,
and surely we shall benefit by the inter
val which has elapsed between the first
tentative attempts at and the proposal now
on foot for excavating the long-known site
of Herculaneum. We can only imagine the
interest-the awe and the wonder-aroused
by the revealing Of Pompeii. an interest
tempered by the romantic conditions at
tendant on Its destruction. To us its UNI
earthing has long been an accomplished
fact. and Pompeii has become household
word. only more famous than some other
sites by reason Of the glamour of Its ter
rible story; for. regarded merely as evil
dence. 1t has long existed In exactly the
same category as the other sites OF an
tiquity-Tiryns. Mycenae. Troy. the Acrop-
oils of Athens. But Herculaneum has
never had the same chances of becoming
famous ancient city. Notwithstanding
the fact that Invaluable matter has been re-
claimed from time to time. matter which
the archaeological specialists knows the full
value Of but which has not had any effect
on the popular mind
Of Etruscan Origin.
Herculaneum. supposed to be of Etrus-
can origin. lies on the Campaniap plain at
the foot of its Instructor. yesuvius. almost
midway between Naples and Pompen. Our
knowledge of the city dates from 1IO9.
when the sinking of we'll brought to light
marble facings and fragments OF statues.
The we'll seems to have struck the ancient
level in the stage structure of the theater.
and twenty-nine years later Charles III
ordered excavations to be made on the
spot where the statues had been found.
This work. though very irregular and lg-
norantly carried through. was continued
for more than forty years Ito 1850, but at
this point the Investigations were RENTED
IL favor of more vigorous researches at
Pompeii. The galleries tunneled through
were largely filled In again. and more at
tention would seem to have been devoted
to the actual finds than to the city itself.
A little systematic work was done under
the French rule. and again in the years
between 1927 and 1887, when another re-
lapse occurred until Victor Emmanuel
enabled the work to be taken up again by
bestowing money for the purpose in 1865
The meagerness of the results. however.
combined with the fact that new sinkings
happened to fall on the old tunnels. led to
the idea that the whole of the site had
already been completely tunneled with gal
leries in the time of Charles III, and prac-
tically nothing more has been done. The
more important work belonged. therefore.
to the eighteenth century. only the small
portion Of the city now exposed to daylight
being the work Of the nineteenth century.
1t is the earlier work presumably which
the proposed new scheme will resume. The
buildings were then explored to a great
depth by means Of tunnels. and only the
theater Is visible, the orchestra of which
lies eighty-five feet below the surface of
thu soil. The ruins. such exist, have in
consequence to be visited by torchlight.
and from writings of various visitors the
visit appears to be decidedly tame one,
with none Of the charm exerted by Pom
DELL
Danger to Newer Cities.
Tho modern s,Ihurhs of Res!na and POr-