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POMPEII
by
LING, ROGER
Roger Ling's recreation of Pompeii not only describes the day-to-day life of the city's inhabitants on the eve of the fatal volcanic eruption of AD 79, but he reconstructs the city's long earlier history, back to Etruscan times. He concludes with the rediscovery of Pompeii in the 16th century and its continuing excavation.
Stock: In Stock, Delivery: Standard 2-3 Days (inc BFPO), £2.65
Format: Paperback
Published: 20/05/2005
Publisher: THE HISTORY PRESS LTD
ISBN: 0752414593
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Reviewed By: |
BBC History Magazine |
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Date: |
09/05/2006 |
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Reader Rating: |
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Review:
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FOR THE tourist, Pompeii is a city frozen in time - to be precise, 24 August AD 79 When Vesuvius obliterated it. The Fabulous cornucopia of evidence it provides for that instant has until recently rather hindered scholars from getting to grips with its origins. Who is going to destroy mosaic floors and frescoed walls to investigate its lower levels? Furthermore, pompeii may be of incalculable importance to us, but t was small beer in ,taly. Rome, to whom ill Italian towns owe )beisance, was where :he action was. True, Pompeii had local )ull because, being on a vital north-south route, next to the River Sarno and also (at that time) by the sea, it acted as a Distribution centre for the produce of its large hinterland. But Naples was easily the most prestigious city in the neighbourhood.
In this richly illustrated and )beautifully written survey, Roger Ling, professor of Classical Art and Archaeology at Manchester, :)rings all his vast experience from working at Pompeii to bear on producing the best brief account of the town currently available.
For example, it now seems clear that, by the sixth century BC, Pompeii had already reached its Full size. Given the irregular lay¬out of its earliest sections, it was probably an indigenous settlement, not a Greek colony (Greeks with their strict grid¬pattern towns had been in this region from the eighth century BC). By the fourth century BC it was inhabited by an Italian people from nearby Samnium (speaking Oscan). By the 250s BC Rome was in control of most of Italy, and Pompeii, still Samnite, was a free ally. Mass terrace-style houses constructed in the late third century (the earliest existing buildings of Pompeii) may have been due to Italians wanting refuge from the marauding Hannibal. In
the second century, there was a marked increase in the sophistication of architecture and decoration (for example columns and colonnaded gardens), the result of Greek influence (Rome made Greece a 46 BC). uence waned after Rome's war against the Italian cities (91-87 BC). Pompeii, which held out against Rome, was punished in 80 BC by having newly-retired Roman soldiers dumped on it. Latin now replaced Oscan; Samnite names disappeared from lists of public-office holders; Roman buildings appeared¬ an amphitheatre, baths, theatres. Under the first Emperor Augustus, the elite of Pompeii put up monuments dedicated to the great man, in their own name - temples, markets and so on. Running water was installed for the first time. The houses of the elite became more affluent; the country-house look was especially popular. In AD 62, a massive earthquake rocked the town, but Pompeii was wealthy enough to restore itself. And then - Vesuvius. Much of this will be new to many people. More familiar territory is then traversed by Ling's excellent account of "Life in Pompeii'; and he ends with Pompeii's "afterlife" -salvaging of marbles, metals and artwork in the aftermath for use and recycling (for example all the statues in the forum, and virtually all the cult-statues, are missing), booty-hunting even into the medieval period, and from the 18th century, rediscovery and excavation. Anyone seriously interested in Pompeii should start with Ling's account. As I read it, I felt I was getting a better sense of the town than I have ever had from any number of visits, guides and picture-books. ©
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