Pompeii: The Living City [Hardcover]

Alex Butterworth (Author), Ray Laurence (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312355858 | ISBN-13: 978-0312355852 | Publication Date: October 3, 2006 | Edition: First Edition

The ash of Mt. Vesuvius preserves a living record of the complex and exhilarating society it instantly obliterated two thousand years ago. In this highly readable, lavishly illustrated book, Butterworth and Laurence marshall cutting-edge archaeological reconstructions and a vibrant historical tradition dating to Pliny and Tacitus; they present a richly textured portrait of a society not altogether unlike ours, composed of individuals ordinary and extraordinary who pursued commerce, politics, family and pleasure in the shadow of a killer volcano.  Deeply resonant in a world still at the mercy of natural disaster, Pompeii recreates life as experienced in the city, and those frantic, awful hours in AD 79 that wiped the bustling city from the face of the earth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The thriving ancient port city of Pompeii was memorably destroyed and its 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants killed in A.D. 79 by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Archeologists have dug parts of the city out of the rubble, reconstructing its layout and life. Drawing on this evidence and on ancient writings on Pompeii, British popular historians Butterworth and Laurence splendidly recreate the bustling life of this Roman town, as well as the eruption. They tell of Umbricius Scaurus, one of the city's most respected businessmen, who grew wealthy manufacturing the culinary staple garum, a fermented fish sauce. We also read fictionalized accounts of other lives, such as Simulus, a smallholder happy to be farming a plot of rich soil, and Receptus, a slave whose new master made his life miserable. The authors vividly recreate the horrors of the earthquake in A.D. 62 that destroyed much of the town and the terrors of the volcanic eruption. They recount the heroic efforts of one woman to claw her way out of the rubble of the Villa of the Mysteries only to be killed by a new eruption. This is a first-rate and compelling history of an ancient city. 16 pages of color photos. (Oct.)
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Review

"A compelling and yet highly detailed narrative. I only wish it had been available when I was researching my novel." - bestselling author Robert Harris

"An immensely evocative, well-written and powerful portrait of what life was really like in Pompeii." - Tom Holland, author of RUBICON

"Brings Pompeii startlingly alive once more" - History Today

"a vivid portrait of place and people before the cataclysms of AD 62 and 75" -Church Times

"accessible, wide-ranging and evocative and makes surprisingly compelling reading." - Catholic Times

"For those looking to be transported back to the living city, it will be hard to resist." - Oxford Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (October 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312355858
• ISBN-13: 978-0312355852
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delving into the life and death of an ancient city, December 13, 2006

By 

Rebecca Huston "telynor" (On the Banks of the Hudson) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pompeii: The Living City (Hardcover)

Mention Pompeii, we tend to think of the ruins of a Roman city, and the eerie plaster casts that were made of those who had perished, the echoes of their bodies found in the ashes. Many books have the hints that the ancient Romans had it coming, the eruption of the nearby Vesuvius being a sign of divine retribution for their decadent, pleasure loving lives, and it was a view point that many later Christian writers took up with glee. Most writers focus simply on the eruption, the efforts of the inhabitants to flee, and not much more.

But authors Alex Butterworth and Ray Laurence take on a very different approach. Instead of imposing modern stereotypes onto the story of Vesuvius and Pompeii, they take a far wider and much more intimate account of the story. The tale begins a few years before the earthquake that shattered the city in 62 ce, a catastrophic event that ruined or damaged many of the buildings, and caused many inhabitants to either be killed or flee to other parts of the Empire.

But a few stay, taking advantage of low land values, and a dramatic political shift and are determined to rebuild. After all, not only was Pompeii on what is now the Bay of Naples, but it was a major port and agricultural center as well. It is an ironic fact that volcanos produce soils rich in nutrients, perfect especially for the grapes that produced the sweet wines that the Romans were so fond of. And during the first century of the common era, many thought that Vesuvius was a dormant volcano. Even Spartacus with his slave army had camped in the crater during his rebellion.

All of this I had known before reading this book. What I discovered afterwards amazed me. For Pompeii had a powerful patroness, none other than Poppaea Sabina, the wife of Nero. Possibly born and raised in Pompeii, Poppaea maintained close ties to Pompeii and the graffiti that was found etched and painted on the surviving walls mention her many times. Indeed, the authors go into great detail about the women of Pompeii, from their business dealings, lives as slaves, wives and workers; all too often, Roman women seem to be skipped over in favour of their more martial, public husbands and sons.

Interspersed throughout the book are small fictional snippets about the actual people in Pompeii. They're not too long, tiny vignettes about ordinary people, whether they are politicians, an abused slave girl seeking sanctuary, a smallholding farmer, or an overseer on an estate. Each one is vividly written and I found myself wanting to know more about each person. It was these snippets that really caught my attention and they kept the narrative fresh and creative. Not that there was a problem with the longer sections -- the authors are wise enough to gear this towards the causal reader; the story flows well for covering nearly twenty years of political turmoil and natural disasters.

Throughout the book, we're given tantilizing hints of the world of Pompeii, from the glittering surroundings of the wealthy and powerful, to the grinding misery of the slaves, graffiti and slander scrawled on the walls -- the Romans were not prudish or shy about denigrating an opponent in public -- the use of frankly sexual art that would horrify most people today, and all of the little bits of a world that was lost on a late morning in August, in the year 79 ce.

It's a great read, and I happily recommend this one for anyone interested in ancient Rome. This was a book that kept me up late at night, moving smoothly between the stories, and knowing that inevitable doom was about to hit. One aspect that I really enjoyed was that the authors bothered to put Pompeii and its story within the larger context of the Roman world, and suddenly a lot of history and ideas of their world came into focus and began to make sense.

Two inserts of black and white and colour photos are included, along with three maps showing the Roman Empire with its provinces and cities, a map of the Bay of Naples and the area around Pompeii, and finally, one of Pompeii itself. Along with the narrative, there are acknowledgements, a bibliography and index, all of which serve to tempt the reader on further discoveries for themselves about Roman archaeology.

I happily recommend this one. It's a worthy addition to anyone's library, and especially those who find the Roman world a very interesting one indeed.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roman graffiti tells all!, February 4, 2006

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pompeii (Hardcover)

Just as you thought everything that could be said about Pompeii had been done in the multitude of books, films or TV specials, along comes this fresh and evocative account. The authors aren't content with simply analysing how the events unfolded and who reported what to the authorities and history. Instead, they use available records and artefacts to transport us in time, both literally and imaginatively to build a picture of life in the Bay of Naples city. Unlike the "standard" historian's relation of evidence and events, the authors set Pompeii within the larger context of empire. Further, they flavour their account with imaginative occasions in the lives of people who actually lived there. The book reads something like taking a newspaper to a theatre. Read a chapter, then watch actors on a stage acting out plausible background scenes.

The scene is set with the accession of the Emperor Nero in Rome. Nero had ties to Pompeii, not the least of which was that it was the native city of his mistress, and later wife, Poppaea. Pompeii, of course, had many natural advantages. Sitting below Vesuvius, which hadn't erupted in historical memory, granted it a productive environs. Volcanic soil is rich, the authors remind us. As a port city, Pompeii had an edge even on Rome. Luxury goods flowed in as farm produce and other goods went abroad or inland. Pompeii was noted for "garum", a fish paste produced in enormous quantities and many quality levels. However it smelled, and the authors cite opinions from several observers, it brought money to the city. Production and trade in this and other goods made Pompeii a lively place. Not the least of the dynamic was the role of freed slaves. Many of these captives might be manumitted solely to bring profit to aristocrats who didn't want their image tarnished by trading activities. Sponsoring a freed slave didn't remove their thrall, but bound them in new ways. The result was not only active trade, but also tumultuous politics, as the groups loyal to one sponsor clashed with that of another. Lawrence and Butterworth use a wealth of wall graffiti to depict the lively contests the city endured.

The buildup to the eruption is long and well detailed. Pompeii, though perched on the bay far south of Rome, wasn't isolated from either the capital's politics or social values. Nero's profligate lifestyle and the expanding of the Empire didn't leave the doomed city untouched. Nero's personal example might have been followed by some of the elite of the city, but it remained fairly provincial in social outlook. Sexual mores, always a titillating subject for those who first excavated and revealed the wall paintings in rich homes, was less of an issue among the hoi polloi. The rigours of Christianity's social norms had yet to take over, and Vesuvius interdicted that transformation.

There's risks in producing a book of this style. The addition of "speculative" segments, even based on detailed evidence, is likely to put off the professional historians and archaeologists. The "solid" evidence, on the other hand, is limited in scope, both chronologically and in geographic extent. Although there are accounts of background military and resulting political events, this is hardly a definitive work of the Roman Empire, even for a specific period. These apparent shortcomings, however, do not erode the value of what these authors set out to achieve. Their subtitle, "The Living City" declares their intention, and they have succeeded admirably in that task. This is an excellent account and serves as an excellent example of how to portray an ancient past and the people who lived in it. If there seems to be information lacking, the authors' excellent Bibliography provides the reader with sufficient resources to probe and examine the many and varied events that swirled about this scene of natural disaster. Perhaps the only thing truly missing is some account of the natural forces that destroyed Pompeii and its environs. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Underwhelmed, November 11, 2009

By 

anutany (NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Pompeii: The Living City (Hardcover)

I bought this book based on the glowing reviews and was underwhelmed. While it is not bad, in many places I found it dry, confusing and disjointed. I did not particularly like the mix of historical fiction and history. I thought that those fiction vignettes undermined the actual research while not adding anything of interest to the story. Many chapters were devoted to Nero and Roman politics of the time, which was relevant but seemed like filler since it did not contribute much to the Pompeian narrative.
Overall if you haven't read anything about Pompeii I would recommend Mary Beard's work which provided much better and more engaging look into the life of Pompeii.