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The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum beneath a layer of ash and pumice several metres deep. The disaster was so swift and so complete that, although most of the inhabitants escaped, the materials of their daily lives were preserved intact giving us a near-perfect representation of what life was like in a Roman provincial town of the first century, from the graffiti on the walls to the fruit on the market stalls. The classical historian and pre-eminent communicator Michael Grant shows us these two cities, their arts, trades, public and private life, their squares and temples, pubs and brothels after nineteen hundred years frozen in death.… (más)
Paperback reprint (2005) of an older (1971) book by the excellent classical history populariser Michael Grant. Since there’s been 30-odd years of further work on the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum since the original publication, the material is probably dated, but it’s still an excellent read in the “what-life-was-like-in-“ genre. There’s not that much volcanology (which is alright, since the geology of Vesuvius deserves a full scale book on its own) but a lot of details on what the towns were like, what was sold in the shops and what was done in the houses. Wall graffiti reveals an amazing amount of information, including the observation that Roman ladies were a lot more politically active than expected – although they couldn’t stand for office, they made their elective preferences known by writing on the walls. Everybody’s familiar with the haunting casts of bodies made by injecting plaster into cavities in the ash; Grant points out that these are so detailed that we can tell that Roman ladies shaved their pubic hair into patterns – something I never learned in high school Latin class. Grant further quotes graffiti from Roman men expressing their opinions on styles, which I can’t quote here.
Lots of maps on various scales, and many excellent floor plans; I would greatly like an updated edition but Michael Grant died in 2004. Certainly a good book for general background on Roman life and times. ( )
I love reading Michael Grant, and especially the way classical history and archaeology is being written now. Whilst very academic and rigorous, it is also very conversational. I read this on the train from Paris to Rome, and was all ready to go by the time I got there!! ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
1,892 years ago, within the space of a very few catastrophic hours, Pompeii and Herculaneum were overwhelmed by Mount Vesuvius and buried deep down in the earth.
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Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum beneath a layer of ash and pumice several metres deep. The disaster was so swift and so complete that, although most of the inhabitants escaped, the materials of their daily lives were preserved intact giving us a near-perfect representation of what life was like in a Roman provincial town of the first century, from the graffiti on the walls to the fruit on the market stalls. The classical historian and pre-eminent communicator Michael Grant shows us these two cities, their arts, trades, public and private life, their squares and temples, pubs and brothels after nineteen hundred years frozen in death.
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Lots of maps on various scales, and many excellent floor plans; I would greatly like an updated edition but Michael Grant died in 2004. Certainly a good book for general background on Roman life and times. (