The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found

Like much of Mary Beard's work, this points out almost as much about what we don't know - or what we think we know but have in fact constructed for ourselves - as what we do know about Pompeii. It is an enjoyable and enlightening stroll through the archaeology and social history of Pompeii, and although it is not organised as a companion to a visit it would make a good preface or coda to one. It captures highlights rather than being a systematic survey, and is written for the generalist who already has some classical background but is not an expert.

This is a brilliant and highly readable account by the famous popular classicist, author and TV personality. She explains in detail what we have discovered in the ruins of Pompeii, what it might mean, but also just as importantly warns against jumping to conclusions based on over-interpretation of the evidence available, sometimes based on what we might like, or believe might be true, based on our impressions of Roman life from popular culture. It is a fascinating exploration of the ruins and it is surprising what we do know, for example the numerous surviving graffiti range from election posters, enabling us to reconstruct much of the political history of the town, to scurrilous scribblings equivalent to the modern day equivalents in show more toilet cubicles and bus stations. I was particularly struck by specific examples such as the House of the Painters at Work, where painters were interrupted on the job on the very day of the eruption of Vesuvius, and we can see exactly where they left each panel on the wall at the time when they presumably made, or tried to make, their escape from the falling pumice or lava flow. Another thing that struck me was the stuff that has been lost since it has been excavated, for example wall paintings that were pristine when uncovered in the 18th or 19th century, but which have now faded almost or completely to nothing. One of the major myths about Pompeii's destruction that she exposes is the fallacy that the interruption was unexpected - the evidence was that there had been tremors in the weeks and months leading up to the eruption and many townspeople seem to have moved possessions out of the town before the end (there had been a major earthquake 16 or 17 years earlier, so this was not uncommon). I could write a whole essay on this wonderful description, but suffice to say this is an excellent account for the general reader. show less

This could be viewed as a “biography” of a city. It is much more than a description of the eruption of Vesuvius. It is a detailed reconstruction of life in Pompeii in 79 CE, based on extensive research. Mary Beard provides evidence based on archeological digs and her opinions on the most likely interpretation. She covers almost every aspect of city life, including architecture, city layout, buildings, roads, politics, living conditions, food, sleep, use of animals, and more.

Often her views go against the prevailing myths or legends about Pompeii that have grown over the years. For example, she argues against the vast number of brothels that have been attributed to Pompeii, and based on population, believes most of these were taverns show more instead. I have read other books by this author, and particularly enjoy the depth of her analysis. Recommended to readers who enjoy well-written detailed accounts of life in ancient times. show less

Mary Beard uses the remains of Pompeii as a jumping off point to explore Roman social history. She continually reminds us that much of what we think we know and is often presented as facts are in fact educated guesses and that other interpretations are possible. Contrary to popular belief Pompeii is not a Roman town frozen in time, and visitors to the town before the eruption would have had a very different impression to what the modern-day visitor gets. The book is engagingly written, and my only complaint is that many of the reproductions of black and white photos are not very clear.

This is this generation's best book on Pompeii; it's impossible to imagine visiting the site without having read it, and although it's not a guidebook, it does have a helpful appendix called "Making a Visit" that covers what to wear, how best to arrive, and which houses you'll probably be most interested in seeing. Mary Beard is a distinguished professor of classics at Cambridge, and she writes about Pompeii as though it were her life's work. What I appreciated most about the book were the complete lack of prudishness about the town's ubiquitous, licentious artwork—the frontispiece of my Folio Society edition is a detail of a mosaic showing a slave with genitals as big as his forearms—and the way Beard always takes pains, in a show more graceful way, to explain what we know, what we don't know, and the various ideas about what the truth might be. A lot of the stories the guidebooks tell you are probably wrong. She sets it straight.

The book is written very casually, without footnotes or unnecessary scholarly trappings. Occasionally it has a dashed-off quality that comes from quick writing (the same word repeated too soon, and the like), but that's a quibble. This is like getting a verbal tour of the site from a very smart friend who's lived a few miles away from it for twenty years. However, it's not a tour of the buildings and monuments so much as a peek into what the people were like, what they did for work and fun and what they seemed to care about. If you've visited the site, as I did a long time ago, this will explain a lot about what you saw (did you know that the ruined state of some of the buildings is due not to age but to Allied bombing in World War II?) and if you haven't been there yet, this will certainly make you want to go. show less

A fascinating "insider" look on the real Pompeii by Mary Beard, a Professor of Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, that unwraps some of the mysteries of the city covered in ash in 79 CE. (I confess I only picked it up from a library shelf because it was at the height of the Icelandic volcano explosion that is spewing ash over Europe, and I thought it might be an interesting book to read -- much like I re-read Camus' The Plague at the height of the SARS epidemic, but anyway....) This book de-myths Pompeii and tells the story of the city as you've probably not read or heard it before. It is full of fascinating facts and stories, often illustrated by the graffiti of the city, or other telling remnants. It strips bare some of the show more nonsense local guides like to tell of Pompeii; informs us that the days of previous tremors had already caused many of its inhabitants to flee; that it is likely that a lot of the missing goods of the city were long ago pried from their hiding places by early looters; and that frankly, much we've been told has been pure conjecture or mythologizing. Fifteen pages in, I simply couldn't put it down. (Also fascinating in terms of how much the science of archaeology has improved over the past few decades.) show less

I didn't read a non-fiction book in nearly a year. This was not the right book to re-exercise that muscle. The Fires of Vesuvius is dense. Dr. Beard is a highly respected academic classicist and although here she tries to write to a lay audience, it is certainly an academic book (exhibit 1: that graphics are sorted into illustrations, figures and plates. Illustrations and figures are set into the text and numbered consecutively, but independently from each other. There are two sections of pages dedicated to plates. Each of these images which is referenced and cross-referenced from various places inside the book. Overall, there are over 200. You will spend much time searching for the right image.)

But despite the density, I did find the show more book a very interesting exploration about what life was like in Pompeii. I had no pre-existing knowledge: I had never taken a classics class, never been to Pompeii (or Italy) and my only real understanding of this time-period is from reading the talmud. In that context, also, it was fascinating to compare Roman culture with Talmudic culture (freeing slaves on a regular basis: universal! Having a set, primarily written canon for a religion: super abnormal!) There was also a lot to explore here about how Roman elections work, what people did for fun, and a lot, a lot of epistemology. How much can we trust the veracity graffiti and murals? What about when that conflicts with what seems likely to us? show less