The Making Of Pompeii

Archaeological and historical studies of ancient Pompeii.

WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2008 'The world's most controversial classicist debunks our movie-style myths about the Roman town with meticulous scholarship and propulsive energy' Laura Silverman, Daily Mail The ruins of Pompeii, buried by an explosion of Vesuvius in 79 CE, offer the best evidence we have of everyday life in the Roman empire. This remarkable book rises to the challenge of making sense of those remains, as well as exploding many myths: the very date of the eruption, probably a few months later than usually thought; or the hygiene of the baths which must have been hotbeds of germs; or the legendary number of brothels, most likely only one; or the massive death count, maybe less than ten per cent of the population. An extraordinary and involving portrait of an ancient town, its life and its continuing re-discovery, by Britain's favourite classicist.

A collection of essays exploring the different ways in which the ruined city of Pompeii has been a major source of inspiration to Western imaginations. Creative and popular, as well as scholarly approaches are covered, including an interview with the novelist Robert Harris, and the volume is fully illustrated, with several images in full colour.

Recognizing the important contribution of the human skeletal evidence to the archaeology of Pompeii, Lazer presents an in-depth study of the people of pompeii, and gives students an essential resource in the study of this fascinating historical event.

Pompeii was one of most advanced cities of its time; it had a complex water system, gymnasium, and an amphitheater. Despite it's advancements, there was one thing it wasn't ready for: Mount Vesuvius—the volcano that led to its ultimate doom. The 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius was one of the worst disasters in all of European history. In a near instant, over 15,000 people were dead and a city was completely destroyed. This book looks at the rise, fall, and rediscovery of the great city of Pompeii.

Pompeii is the most famous archaeological site in the world, visited by more than two million people each year. Yet it is also one of the most puzzling, with an intriguing and sometimes violent history, from the sixth century BCE to the present day. Destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 CE, the ruins of Pompeii offer the best evidence we have of life in the Roman Empire. But the eruptions are only part of the story. In The Fires of Vesuvius, acclaimed historian Mary Beard makes sense of the remains. She explores what kind of town it was—more like Calcutta or the Costa del Sol?—and what it can tell us about “ordinary” life there. From sex to politics, food to religion, slavery to literacy, Beard offers us the big picture even as she takes us close enough to the past to smell the bad breath and see the intestinal tapeworms of the inhabitants of the lost city. She resurrects the Temple of Isis as a testament to ancient multiculturalism. At the Suburban Baths we go from communal bathing to hygiene to erotica. Recently, Pompeii has been a focus of pleasure and loss: from Pink Floyd’s memorable rock concert to Primo Levi’s elegy on the victims. But Pompeii still does not give up its secrets quite as easily as it may seem. This book shows us how much more and less there is to Pompeii than a city frozen in time as it went about its business on 24 August 79.

The fortifications of Pompeii stand as the ancient city’s largest, oldest, and best preserved public monument. Over its 700-year history, Pompeii invested significant amounts of money, resources, and labor into re-building, maintaining, and upgrading the walls. Each intervention on the fortifications marked a pivotal event of social and political change, signalling dramatic shifts in Pompeii’s urban, social, and architectural framework. Viewing the role of the defences as purely military in nature is over-simplified. Their fate was intertwined with that of Pompeii; their construction materials, methods and aesthetics reflect the political, social, and urban development of the city. This study redefines Pompeii’s fortifications, as a central monument that physically and symbolically shaped the city. It considers the internal and external forces that morphed its appearance, and traces how the fortifications served to foster a sense of community. The defences emerge as a dynamic, ideologically freighted monument, subject to manipulation and appropriation that was critical to the image and identity of Pompeii. The book is a unique narrative of the social and urban development of the city from foundation to the eruption of Vesuvius, through the lens of the monument most critical to its independence and survival.