Editing Mount Vesuvius (section)

==Mythology==
Vesuvius has a long historic and literary tradition. It was considered a divinity of the [[Genius (mythology)|Genius]] type at the time of the eruption of AD 79: it appears under the inscribed name Vesuvius as a serpent in the decorative [[fresco]]s of many ''{{lang|la|lararia}}'', or household shrines, surviving from [[Pompeii]]. An inscription from [[Capua]]<ref>[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]] x.1, 3806 = {{cite book |editor1-last=Mommsen |editor1-first=Theodorus |title=Inscriptiones Bruttiorum, Lucaniae, Campaniae, Siciliae, Sardiniae Latinae. Pars Prior: Inscriptiones Bruttiorum Lucaniae Campaniae |series=Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum |volume=X.1 |date=1883 |publisher=Georgius Reimerus |location=Berolini |page=380 |doi=10.1515/9783112610220-011}}</ref> to {{lang|la|IOVI VESVVIO}} indicates that he was worshipped as a power of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]; that is, ''Jupiter Vesuvius''.<ref>{{harvnb|Waldstein|Shoobridge|1908|p=97}}</ref>

The Romans regarded Mount Vesuvius as being devoted to [[Hercules]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kozák |first1=Jan |last2=Cermák |first2=Vladimir |chapter=Vesuvius-Somma Volcano, Bay of Naples, Italy |title=The Illustrated History of Natural Disasters |publisher=Springer |year=2010 |pages=45–54 |isbn=978-90-481-3325-3 |doi=10.1007/978-90-481-3325-3_3}}</ref> The historian [[Diodorus Siculus]] relates a tradition that Hercules, in the performance of his labors, passed through the country of nearby [[Cumae]] on his way to [[Sicily]] and found there a place called "the Phlegraean Plain" ([[Phlegraean Fields|''Φλεγραῖον πεδίον'']], "fiery"), "from the mountain which of old spouted forth a huge fire [...] the mountain is called Vesuvius."<ref>Diodorus Siculus, ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' 4.21.5 = {{cite book |editor1-last=Oldfather |editor1-first=C. H. |title=Diodorus of Sicily: The Library of History: Books II.34–IV.58 |series=Loeb Classical Library |volume=303 |date=1935 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=410–411 |doi=10.4159/DLCL.diodorus_siculus-library_history.1933}}</ref> It was inhabited by giant bandits, "the sons of the Earth. With the gods' assistance, he pacified the region and continued. The facts behind the tradition, if any, remain unknown, as does whether {{lang|la|[[Herculaneum]]}} was named after it. An [[epigram]] by the poet [[Martial]] in 88 AD suggests that both [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], patroness of Pompeii, and Hercules were worshipped in the region devastated by the eruption of 79.<ref>{{harvnb|Waldstein|Shoobridge|1908|p=108}} re Epigram IV line 44.</ref>

{{Wide image|Naples from the Castello Sant Elmo with Abbazia San Martino the port and the Vesuv.jpg|600px|City of Naples with Mount Vesuvius viewed from the [[Castel Sant'Elmo]]}}