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Pompeii: The Living City

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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.

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]

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.

This book brings Pompeii alive in way that I've only seen before in well made TV documentaries. The authors bring a depth of scholarship and imagination to this book that makes it easy to read and enjoyable. They have bought together many strands of information that has for many years languished in dusty Italian archives or only been published in Italian in obscure technical books.

This book only really covers the last 20 or so years of the cities life. It interspaces imaginative reconstructions of people's lives with the factual information on what people in the city would have lived with. We get a good overview of the reign of Nero and the impact he had on the city. (He has a deserved reputation for madness if this book is anything to go by) It also covers the great earthquake in AD63 and the impact it had on the city in the years leading up to its final destruction in AD79.

If you have any interest in Pompeii then this is a book you should read. It brings the Roman world alive. You have a distinct feeling that Pompeii was a complex city, in many ways like modern cities with its infrastructure needs - though distinctly different in its political processes and its reliance on the mass of slaves to keep things running. All said, this is a good read and if you know nothing of ancient Rome or Pompeii a good, and lively, introduction to both.

No time to write much - twin 19 month-old boys will do that.
I've been to pompeii a number of times, worked on a dig there and have read many books about the town. This book weaves such a fascinating story using known facts and logical assumptions that, after finishing it, I picked it up and read it again.

This book takes a very close look at the buried city of Pompeii, and the type of living that went on in it prior to, and at the time of, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It goes into great detail, and even has some fictional episodes done in italics to give more of a flavor to the work. It tended to be a bit dry at times, which cost it that last star, in my estimation. On the other hand, you will learn a great deal that you didn't know about life in Pompeii, and by extension, other parts of the Roman Empire during and shortly after the time of Nero.

"Pompeii the Living City" combines meticulous historic research with some very clever fictional bridges to provide an engrossing account of the Roman town's social, political and cultural life before its cataclysmic end in 79 AD. The authors bring together a mass of information about the Roman Empire and Pompeii's modest place therein, in a kind of patch quilt approach that works well for the non-academic reader. Pompeii is an icon for natural disaster for contemporary society, but it wasn't of much importance at the time of its demise. Of the small resort towns and cities located around the Bay of Naples in the First Century AD, it was less interesting in terms of commerce or for vacationing wealthy Romans than Baiae, Stabiae, etc. owing, among other things, to a devastating earthquake in 62 AD that destroyed a lot of infrastructure as well as public and private buildings.

Authors Alex Butterworth and Ray Laurence have done an impeccable job of bringing Pompeii back to daily life with wonderful descriptions of its urban organization, politics, demographics, food and social behavior. Despite the town's relatively minor status at the time, reading this book will give you a pretty good idea of what life was like in much of the urbanized parts of the Roman Empire. The authors' fictional or fictionalized characters are skillfully drawn, credible and help pull together the historic data..

This is entertaining reading and respectable history. Recommended.

Pompeii is an endlessly interesting story and there are some other excellent books available on the subject that you might want to check out. "The Natural History of Pompeii" (Feenster and Meyer) is an encyclopedic work, lavishly illustrated, that covers the flora and fauna of the town and surrounding area. "PompeiI: The History, Life and Art of the Buried City" is more excellent history of the area. And "Pompeii" (Robert Harris) is terrific fictional history of the period, in a kind of mystery form.

These two authors, Mr. Butterworth and Dr. Laurence, have brought a great human story to life. Offering insights I found most mesmerizing. I especially liked some of the 'dirt', Nero's challenges, and many attempts to murdering his mother, Agrippina, his acting career, and an account of the burnign of Rome. Their description of the devastating earthquake and the all important water system and aquaducts. The suggestion of the importance of public arenas and games, not unlike modern societies. This is a great non-fiction read.

The product was in terrific shape as the overview said it would be and the price was very reasonable. I am happy with this product.