The Friends of Herculaneum Society is a British association founded in 2004 to promote research into the archaeological site of

Herculaneum Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Like the nea ...

Ercolano Ercolano () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania of Southern Italy. It lies at the western foot of Mount Vesuvius, on the Bay of Naples, just southeast of the city of Naples. The medieval town of Resina () was bui ...

, near

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Italy. Its headquarters are in the

Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies The Faculty of Classics, previously the Faculty of Literae Humaniores, is a subdivision of the University of Oxford concerned with the teaching and research of classics. The teaching of classics at Oxford has been going on for 900 years, and was ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. It is registered as a charity and incorporated as a company under the name "The Herculaneum Society."

Role and Interests

The Society's registered aims as a charity are: * To advance to education of the public concerning the World Heritage Site of Herculaneum * To promote research into Herculaneum * To promote the conservation of the artefacts and buildings at Herculaneum. The Society's members are particularly interested in the

Villa of the Papyri The Villa of the Papyri ( it, Villa dei Papiri, also known as ''Villa dei Pisoni'' and in early excavation records as the ''Villa Suburbana'') was an ancient Roman villa in Herculaneum, in what is now Ercolano, southern Italy. It is named after ...

and in the possibility of finding a hitherto unknown library or libraries in the unexcavated parts of that structure. More than 1800

Herculaneum papyri The Herculaneum papyri are more than 1,800 papyri found in the Herculaneum Villa of the Papyri, in the 18th century, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The papyri, containing a number of Greek philosophical texts, come fro ...

were discovered in

in the 18th century, and it is hoped that many more may yet be discovered, including a Latin library containing hitherto lost classics. Members of the Society come from all walks of life. Its membership is not exclusive to scholars as it includes all those interested in Herculaneum, the Villa of the Papyri, other Vesuvian sites and Ancient Rome in general. * Every two years the Society organises a Congress at Herculaneum for its members incorporating talks by experts and visits to the ruins at Herculaneum and related sites *The Society organises other meetings with talks and tours for members and non-members in Oxford and other locations in the UK (and 2009 in Paris) *The Society offers financial support to students and scholars working on topics related to Herculaneum. For a list of past holders se
here
*The Society raises funds in support of work at Herculaneum. For the 2018 campaign in support of th
Ancient Graffiti Project
se
here.
* The Society runs biennial competitions for schools * An American Friends of Herculaneum Society has been established in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. See: http://herculaneumfriends.org

Publications

* The Society's newsletter "Herculaneum Archaeology" is published once or twice yearly and is available to all members. * The Society publishes a series called ''Sozomena: Studies in the Recovery of Ancient Texts.'' This is published on behalf of the Society by the distinguished publishing house

Walter de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

. The series editors are Alessandro Barchiesi, Robert Fowler,

Dirk Obbink Dirk D. Obbink (born 13 January 1957 in Lincoln, Nebraska) is an American papyrologist and classicist. He was Lecturer in Papyrology and Greek Literature in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University until 6 February 2021, and was the head of the ...

and Nigel Wilson.See the following

site: http://www.degruyter.com/view/serial/22598?rskey=PWWpIO&result=141&q= ''Accessed 2012-04-18''.

Trustees

Ms Kay Byers, Ms Alison Carter, Professor Daniel Delattre (

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

), Dr. Gianluca Del Mastro
University of Naples Federico II
, Dr Holger Essler
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
, Prof.

Robert Fowler Robert Fowler may refer to: * Robert Fowler (archbishop of Dublin) (1724–1801), bishop in the Church of Ireland * Robert Fowler (artist) (1853–1926), English artist * Robert Fowler (athlete) (1882–1957), American marathoner * Robert Fowler (A ...

(

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

), Dr. Joy Littlewood, Prof. Annalisa Marzano
University of Reading
, Dr. Carol Scott, Ms Kate Starling, Mr. Nigel Wilson (

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

)

References

External links

* http://www.herculaneum.ox.ac.uk {{authority control Learned societies of the United Kingdom Ancient Roman studies Ancient libraries Archaeological organizations