Herculaneum

American  

[hur-kyuh-lay-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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Herculaneum

The Herculaneum collection is the only known intact library to survive from antiquity, potentially preserving works that have otherwise vanished from history.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

Seales' team decoded surviving portions of a Herculaneum scroll known as PHerc.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 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

"Finding furniture like that is very rare outside of somewhere like Herculaneum or Pompeii so to have it in a very muddy building site in central London is pretty amazing," he says.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2026

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

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