Descrizione
The pendant Vesuvius Naples takes its name from the famous volcano. According to some, the name derives from Vesbio, captain of the Pelasgians who dominated that territory.
However, there are some popular etymologies: given that in ancient times it was believed that Vesuvius was consecrated to the demigod hero Hercules, and the city of Herculaneum, at its base, took its name from him, it was believed that the volcano, albeit indirectly originated from the name of the Greek hero. In fact, Hercules was the son that the god Jupiter had had from Alcmena, queen of Thebes. One of the epithets of Jupiter (Zeus in ancient Greece) was Ὕης, Hýēs, meaning “he who makes it rain”. Thus Hercules would become Ὑήσου υἱός, Hyḗsou hyiós [hyːˈɛːsuː hʏɪˈos]that is the “son of Hýēs“, from which the Latin Vesuvius would be derived [wɛˈsʊwɪʊs]).
The popular tradition of the Vesuvius pendant Naples
A popular tradition of the late seventeenth century (carried on by the abbot and historian Camillo Tutini) would instead want the word to derive from the Latin phrase Vae suis! (“Woe to his people!”), Since most of the eruptions that have occurred until then had always preceded or postponed important historical events, and almost always full of misfortunes for Naples or Campania. An example above all: the eruption of 1631 would have been the natural “warning” of the Masaniello uprisings of 1647. In the Neapolitan poems on Vesuvius of the late nineteenth century you can find the Vesuvius called the Mountain (with the article and the letter M in capital letters) to indicate its greater importance than the others. The same motif is also found on the rings and bracelets of our own creation.
