Original: The historian , Diodorus Siculus , relates a tradition that Hercules , in the performance of his labors , passed through the country of nearby Cumae on his way to Sicily and found there a place called '' the Phlegraean Plain '' ( phlegraion pedion , '' plain of fire '' ) , '' from a hill which anciently vomited out fire ... now called Vesuvius . ''
Simplified: The historian Diodorus Siculus said that there was a story that Hercules once passed through the country of Cumae when he was going to Sicily . There , he found a place called '' the Phlegraean Plain '' ( phlegraion pedion , '' plain of fire '' ) .