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According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Herculaneum was founded by Hercules. The town was probably of Italic origin, coming under Greek influence, like most of Campania, in the 6th century B.C. It later fell to the Samnites in the late 5th century B.C. At the end of the Samnite Wars the town sided with Rome.
In 89 B.C. the town rebelled against Rome, hoping to join an Italic coalition. This was stopped through the intervention of Roman troops commanded by Titus Didius, one of Silla's legates. Herculaneum was then named a Roman municipium.
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Due to its climate and setting Herculaneum soon became a town of choice for escaping city life. It had many luxurious residences - its owners even numbering the emperor's family.
However, above it and its neighbours loomed Vesuvius.
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Vesuvius today stands over 1,200m. It is still active and is actually in two parts - an external crater, Monte Somma and the main cone, Gran Cono, which was produced by the eruption of AD79.
The slopes of the mountain bear witness to the many lava flows that have taken place over the centuries. However, vegetation grows abudantly, especially on the lower slopes, due to the richness of the soil (the volcanic ash contains high percentages of soil enriching potassium, calcium and sodium).
Prior to AD79 little is known of any volcanic activity with the exception of a massive eruption in about 1800 B.C. Since then major eruptions have occurred in 203, 472, 512, 685, 787, 968, 1037 and 1139.
Between 1139 and 1631 was a period of relatively little activity.
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In December 1631 a major eruption buried many villages under lava flows, killing around 3,000 people. Vesuvius then entered a more continuous period of activity with over 20 major eruptions, culmination in the eruption of March, 1944, which destroyed the villages of San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, Massa di Somma, Ottaviano, and part of San Giorgio a Cremano.
Since 1944 Vesuvius has remained ominously quiet for over 60 years. In recent times the quiet periods have only lasted from between 18 months to 7½ years, so the current lack of activity is abnormal. Vesuvius is being constantly monitored for seismic activity and although it is not thought that Vesuvius will erupt in the immediate future, emergency plans have been put in place to evacuate the population living in the areas of greatest risk to pyroclasic flows. The plans assume that Vesuvius would give sufficient warning to allow for the evacuation of over 600,000.
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