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Andrew Wallace-Hadrill. Herculaneum: Past and Future. London: Lrances Lin- coln. 2011. Pp. 351. $60.00. ISBN978-0-7112-3142-9. Published in collaboration with the Packard Humanities Institute.
Herculaneum-the often forgotten cousin of Pompeii-is passed by train- and busloads of tourists alike, many of whom remain sadly ignorant that such a re- markable city exists. Unlike Pompeii, for which there is an abundance of well-writ- ten and well-illustrated literature, the last English-language introductory work on Herculaneum was Joseph Jay Diess's revised edition of Herculaneum. Italy's Buried Treasure in 1989, first published in 1966. Thus, Herculaneum: Past and Present by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, one of the leading English-speaking schol- ars of the Bay of Naples and the head of the Herculaneum Conservation Project, is a most welcome addition. The book more than fulfills its aim to provide an up-to-date overview of, and introduction to, the site, its past and future (7). Its accessible, clear prose and lavish photography, coupled with a synthesis of new findings and recent scholarship, means that this book should become the stan- dard reference for Herculaneum for the foreseeable future.
In this work, the city rather than the Villa of the Papyri takes center stage. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the geology of Campania, the seismic activity that preceded the eruption of Vesuvius, and the phases of the eruption in AD 79. Chapter 2 charts the history of excavations at Herculaneum from the Spanish Bourbon rulers to the...