Herculaneum

American  

[hur-kyuh-ley-nee-uhm] / ˌhɜr kjəˈleɪ ni əm /

noun

1. an ancient city in SW Italy, on the Bay of Naples: buried along with Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in a.d. 79; partially excavated.

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Herculaneum British  

/ ˌhɜːkjʊˈleɪnɪəm /

noun

1. an ancient city in SW Italy, of marked Greek character, on the S slope of Vesuvius: buried along with Pompeii by an eruption of the volcano (79 _ad ). Excavation has uncovered well preserved streets, houses, etc

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Other Word Forms

• Herculanean
  adjective
• Herculanensian
  adjective

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Herculaneum

Darius Arya, an archeologist and historian, with Hiddleston in the ancient city of Herculaneum.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

For a more intimate experience, check out the Getty Villa in Malibu, modeled after the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2026

One of the more remarkable findings was the product of pure scholarship: Mr. Goddio remembered a fresco he’d seen unearthed in Herculaneum, the city buried along with Pompeii by the Vesuvian eruption of A.D.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025

The temperature of the pyroclastic flows that buried Herculaneum and Pompeii was several hundreds of degrees Celsius, hot enough to easily burn and destroy soft tissue.

From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2025

In the 1730s and 40s, building work near Naples had accidentally discovered the buried ruins of the first-century Roman towns Herculaneum and Pompeii, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall