false<![CDATA[The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found]]>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255575760m/4678790.jpg46787901Pompeii is the most famous archaeological site in the world, visited by more than two million people each year. Yet it is also one of the most puzzling, with an intriguing and sometimes violent history, from the sixth century <span class="era">BCE</span> to the present day.
Destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 <span class="era">CE</span>, the ruins of Pompeii offer the best evidence we have of life in the Roman Empire. But the eruptions are only part of the story. In <i>The Fires of Vesuvius</i>, acclaimed historian Mary Beard makes sense of the remains. She explores what kind of town it was--€”more like Calcutta or the Costa del Sol?--€”and what it can tell us about “ordinary” life there. From sex to politics, food to religion, slavery to literacy, Beard offers us the big picture even as she takes us close enough to the past to smell the bad breath and see the intestinal tapeworms of the inhabitants of the lost city. She resurrects the Temple of Isis as a testament to ancient multiculturalism. At the Suburban Baths we go from communal bathing to hygiene to erotica.
Recently, Pompeii has been a focus of pleasure and loss: from Pink Floyd’s memorable rock concert to Primo Levi’s elegy on the victims. But Pompeii still does not give up its secrets quite as easily as it may seem. This book shows us how much more and less there is to Pompeii than a city frozen in time as it went about its business on 24 August 79.47293001122008The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Foundtotal:35|5:7|4:24|3:3|2:0|1:1|351411161340falsefalseFri Apr 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009Fri Apr 03 07:55:46 -0700 2009Fri Apr 03 07:56:22 -0700 2009
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Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didius Falco novels, set in ancient Rome during this period. So any books I can find that give me more background are always of interest.
This is very readable--most historians can't write, but Mary Beard has a very nice style--she has a blog in th...more...]]>
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(Excellent review in the New York Times here. Note to self: read Edward Bulwer-Lytton'sThe Last Days of Pompeii before or concurrently.)more...]]>
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is the original title of this book published in the UK [1998:].
Supposed to be highly readable.]]>
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00falsefalseThu Dec 25 00:00:00 -0800 2008Mon Jan 26 16:29:38 -0800 2009Mon Jan 26 16:31:52 -0800 200940falsefalseSun Oct 04 10:33:29 -0700 2009Sun Oct 04 10:34:11 -0700 200940falsefalseWed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009Sat Apr 18 09:38:54 -0700 2009Sat Apr 18 09:39:50 -0700 200940falsefalseWed Apr 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009Tue Mar 17 18:30:39 -0700 2009Wed Apr 15 16:31:47 -0700 2009 Combined with the Complete Pompeii, I g...more...]]>
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