The Italian Cultural Institute in Haifa
is pleased to invite you to the second lecture in the series:
Treasures and celebrations of the Gulf of Naples: Art and Culture from Naples to Pompeii
HERCULANEUM: HIDDEN TREASURES IN THE SHADOW OF VESUVIUS
Presents Dr. Hamutal Suliman-Wolf, researcher at
the University of Haifa, Department of Art History
Tuesday, 10 February 2026, @ 18:00
ONLINE | Webex & YouTube
Free event, in Hebrew.
To book and receive the link for the Webex meeting, please fill in the REGISTRATION FORM
In this lecture, we will delve into ancient Herculaneum. According to tradition, its foundation is linked to the hero Heracles on his return from the Iberian Peninsula. The city’s very name evokes the Greek world, although—as the historian Strabo notes—its origins are more likely connected to the conquests of local Italic tribes, before it came under Roman control in 89 BCE.
The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE buried Herculaneum beneath a thick layer of pyroclastic deposits (about 15–18 metres), ensuring an extraordinary state of preservation. Major discoveries include a theatre and the Villa of the Papyri, where a collection of around 1,800 papyrus scrolls was found, along with ancient sculptures and wooden furnishings.
The site has also yielded tools, doors, boats, textiles, ropes, and other organic materials—foodstuffs, seeds, and fruit. Collectively, these finds offer a rare and invaluable perspective on everyday life and on the world of the Roman aristocracy who lived in this small town on the Gulf of Naples.
- FREE admission. Online event, in Hebrew.
- To receive the link for the Webex meeting, please fill in the REGISTRATION FORM.
As an alternative, you may follow this lecture online via:
The series | The history of the Neapolitan region reaches back to before the 8th century BCE, when merchants from Asia Minor and Greece used the gulf as a key hub in their trading networks. The settlement of Naples, or Neapolis, was founded at the end of the 6th century BCE by aristocrats exiled from Cumae, and it quickly became one of the major centers of Magna Graecia and, more broadly, of southern Italy. The city continued to thrive and expand under Roman rule as well: Rome regarded it as a model of high Hellenistic culture and allowed its inhabitants to preserve the Greek language and customs. The Gulf of Naples thus stands out as a true crossroads of ancient peoples and cultures, which has bequeathed to us an outstanding heritage—archaeological remains, monumental architecture, vividly colored frescoes, and an extraordinary wealth of works of art.
Free event, in Hebrew.