Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town

This is social history at its best. This is not a dreary list of Emperors and their battles [although there are a few riots\ disturbances mentioned], but a story about how the people of Pompeii actually lived. The story goes beyond the drunken debauchery normally associated with the town and shows how the faceless plebians also lived and behaved. The townsfolk's penchant for pithy graffiti is particularly interesting, which implies that literacy was more widely spread than previously assumed.The book is well written and easy to read and covers most aspects of life in the town. The narrative concentrates on what the archaeological finds reveal about various houses scattered across the town from elite villas to artisans workshops. It even suggests there was some form of one way system - nearly two thousand years before they blighted modern life! There is also a discussion about how the roads within the town were constructed to try and stop heavy rainfall from flooding the centre - another modern parallel. The finds also indicate how public life was organised and administered ultimately revealing a complex and thriving community.This is a very interesting book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in how ordinary Romans lived.

A brilliant history of the town of Pompeii made up of what we know about daily life. Beard excels in explaining what we know, what we can induce and what we need to guess about the ancient Pompeians based on the nature of the information the archaeologists uncovered and what supporting sources were needed. It's interesting, for example, that at least some of the bodies discovered in the city were probably later tomb raiders who dug tunnels into the site rather than people who died in the original destruction of the town, so finding a body in a kitchen with heavy digging tools doesn't automatically tell you about Roman food preparation techniques. None of this is dry information though, it's a highly readable, amusing and entertaining book covering the full range of Pompeian life, from high art to low pleasures.Highly recommended, especially if you've visited, or are about to visit, Pompeii itself.

Beard opens by challenging the notion that Pompeii was simply a normal city simply 'frozen in time'. Pompeii itself had a long history and was recovering from an earthquake when the eruption in 79 occurred. Most of the city was evacuated during the catastrophe, its contents largely removed by the fleeing inhabitants. Some came back later to retrieve their remaining possessions and a fair bit was robbed subsequent looters. Moreover the early excavations were crude and what was uncovered has since deteriorated. Constructing the history of the town seems therefore like a jigsaw with most of the pieces missing; there is much speculation and controversy over even some of the most basic 'facts'.Beard therefore manages to give an impression of the historiography of the city, drawing on changing ideas from archaeology and forensics, and circumstantial evidence from the (also fragmentary) contemporary literature. Anyone with an interest in how history works as a discipline will enjoy this 'CSI Pompeii ' approach as Beard builds up the picture of what we know or can reasonably surmise of various aspects of Roman life.I read this in preparation for a trip to Pompeii this summer and it hugely enhanced my enjoyment of the visit. It is dense but very readable though I felt the detail of the competing claims sometimes interfered with the broader story, leaving me with as many questions as answers. But then that is probably the sign of a good history book.

The TV Series of this book was great and I loved Mary Beard's previous 'Meet the Romans,' and I can honestly say that she reads exactly like she sounds. There are times when she's trying to describe or explain things that you think, oh no this is starting to sound a little textbook but she normally turns it around by putting a funny story or joke in. The illustrations/photos are great because they are placed throughout the text rather than at the end, although it does make for clunky reading on a kindle sometimes.Overall I really felt like I could imagine Pompeii, and even though I've been I had forgotten half the places Mary was talking about but she did a great job of describing the streets in their own time. We are reminded of the filth, dirt and general horribleness that a Roman town can be but I thought it was interesting that the author tried to tell us about the ordinary Romans as well as the rich ones with their fancy, ocean view villas.Mary Beard's realistic, down to earth tone made this book, she writes off half the tourist guide stories and refutes a lot of the claims archaeologist's try to make. There are lots of buildings around Pompeii whose uses are still unknown and it's been made clear that on so little evidence Mary doesn't believe what a lot of people have decided they were for. Pompeii was really lit up from an ancient perspective, Beard rips away our modern view and makes her reader look at the disaster of what happened to Pompeii for the horrific, terrifying event it was rather than the spectacle modern cinema and tv have made it into.Great book for someone who likes a bit of historical, interesting reading but nothing to heavy or dry.

Why do we have to find out all the interesting stuff after we leave education? Thankfully Mary Beard and others fill the knowledge gap in the style and language of understanding rather than entertainment. I like the explained thought processes to illustrate why an interpretation is arrived at, and the context into which it can be placed. A good writer makes for a good read and Mary Beard does this for Pompeii.