by Alex Butterworth (Author), Ray Laurence (Author)
This startling new book concentrates on the twenty years between 59 and 79AD, thus beginning with the earthquake which all but destroyed Pompeii and ending with the volcanic eruption which has become part of our collective popular imagination. Alex Butterworth and Ray Laurence have synthesised the latest research into Pompeii to bring this period of flux and instability back to life. By concentrating on key members from each strata of Pompeiian society we are plunged into the everyday life of a city rebuilding itself, in the knowledge that it will all be for nothing when Vesuvius erupts. So we follow Suedius Clemens who has been sent by Vespasian to settle disputes over land; Decimus Satrius Lucretius Valens who is set to join Pompeii's elite magistrates following the death of his protector; the Vettii brothers who were fabulously rich and ostentacious dealers in wine and perfume; Pherusa, the runaway slave; lusty young Rustus who is contemplating parricide...This exhilirating narrative approach to Pompeii captures the subjective experience of life in the city, and uses Pompeii as an introduction to the cultural landscape of the Roman empire as a whole.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Edition: 1
Publisher: Orion
Published: 09 Jun 2005
ISBN 10: 0297645609
ISBN 13: 9780297645603
Book Overview: 'An immensely evocative, well-written and powerful portrait of what life was really like in Pompeii. Read it!' TOM HOLLAND, Author of RUBICON Pompeii has universal fascination - every year more than 2 million people visit it. This book is unique in that it reimagines real lives of characters from each strata of society to build up a picture of how Pompeii functioned as a living city. Employs the latest research to recreate Pompeii's society in unprecedented detail - we learn about what Pompeiians ate, their sex lives, burial rites, political scandals as well as trade and their rivalry with a nearby town that resulted in a nasty incident at the games... Fantastically readable - the book reads like a novel in that we follow the dramas, triumphs and trials of ordinary lives