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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Time-travellers beware,
By
This review is from: Pompeii - the Life of a Roman Town (Hardcover)
Robert Harris' best-selling novel 'Pompeii' convincingly put flesh on the bones of the town's inhabitants. Mary Beard's historical survey does the same for the town itself.
Beard is careful to avoid distortion through over-simplification. She takes pains to stress, for example, that the reality of Pompeii's story is not the clichéd one of a town 'frozen in time' but a more complex and fascinating one altogether. First, she explains that many inhabitants upped sticks well before the fateful day in August 79, taking their treasures with them. Secondly, townpeople and looters alike had plenty of opportunity to salvage/steal valuables after the eruption. And thirdly, much of what we see today is, in fact, reconstruction - almost all of the upper levels of Pompeian buildings for a start. All of these things, together with 'aggressive restoration', Allied bombing and erosion mean that what we see today is far from the sealed capsule that time-travellers hope for. Beard's Pompeii is an up to the minute account drawing upon much fascinating research - on studies of wheel ruts gouged into the town's shiny black-bouldered streets, for example, which indicate complex one-way traffic systems. Or of plaster casts of plant roots which help to identify crops. Perhaps Beard's greatest gift is a no-nonsense directness that often cuts through academic over-speculation. For instance, following a discussion of what anthropologists call 'zoning' (in which sectors of a town are associated with particular functions or degrees of affluence), she concludes: 'the simple truth is that Pompeii was without the zoning we have come to expect.' As ever, Beard's style is highly readable and her book is therefore as valuable to the general reader as to the student. Pompeii is exhilarating and unique. It has found the book it deserves.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A most compelling account,
By
This review is from: Pompeii (Paperback)
An outstanding account of the town of Pompeii and what has been discovered there, this book questions the many assumptions which have been made in the past - often with very little proof, viz. the pictures on the walls of the brothel there. The numbers above the erotic depictions have always been explained as the 'positions' that customers wanted. (Liking the idea for a novel,I used it in my first book.) As Beard posits, however, it's much more likely that the numbers were above places for customers to place their sandals and clothes.Pompeii is not only a compelling read, but it's been written by one of the heavyweight academics of the Roman world. In my opinion, it's an essential part of any Roman enthusiast's library. Highly recommended. Beard's other books are also well worth reading, particularly The Roman Triumph. Ben Kane, author of The Forgotten Legion.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully written account,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Pompeii (Kindle Edition)
Great book to read ahead of your visit to Pompeii - maybe on the Eurostar as it rushes to Salerno or Naples from Rome? Rather go to Salerno, Naples is too crowded and dirty. Anyhow, this book is a well written, easy read, great research.
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