Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town by Mary Beard (PDF)

Description

WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2008’The world’s most controversial classicist debunks our movie-style myths about the Roman town with meticulous scholarship and propulsive energy’ Laura Silverman, Daily MailThe ruins of Pompeii, buried by an explosion of Vesuvius in 79 CE, offer the best evidence we have of everyday life in the Roman empire. This remarkable book rises to the challenge of making sense of those remains, as well as exploding many myths: the very date of the eruption, probably a few months later than usually thought; or the hygiene of the baths which must have been hotbeds of germs; or the legendary number of brothels, most likely only one; or the massive death count, maybe less than ten per cent of the population.An extraordinary and involving portrait of an ancient town, its life and its continuing re-discovery, by Britain’s favourite classicist.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Great to learn about these people off the past.

⭐Book arrived on time in good condition.

⭐I am a; almost through reading the book. It has many interesting and some very fascinating ideas..I put “teaching books” on a shelf, at times. and absord what I have read…. it retrains my brain, from my previous beliefs… Them, I pick the book up again and finish it…. I have done this all my life and found it a perfect way to remember everything new that I have learned…. This book should be the bible on Pompeii until they actually finish the excavation, which I do not think will ever happen…. Vesuvius is still there……

⭐Interesting tour of what survives in old Pompeii. Apparently, the city was mostly evacuated before the disaster so people had time to pack. Looters later dug down to loot what ever was left. People actually left animals chained or penned up and a few hapless slaves to guard the houses. This author totally contradicts a PBS special that had great fun pointing out the obscene graffiti and the brothels. This author maintains that Pompeii was a sleep country town while the TV version maintains that it was a wild resort town on the beach. On a Kindle, the maps are simply too small to read.

⭐As many reviewers have pointed out. This is a very good book about Pompeii. People, religions, building, … are all introduced. The content may sound academic, but the writing is so good that it is not boring. However, those who want to know what happened during the eruption should look elsewhere, because the eruption is not described.A star is reduced because the color illusts are not linked to their captions in Kindle version so it is very hard to find the illusts that the text refers to,

⭐Very readable, makes you think you’re back in that time of history.

⭐Instead of concentrating on the actual eruption and disastrous changes to Pompeiian lives, this book gives you a more day by day description of how peoples lived in Pompeii, including foods, how they got water, politics, houses, etc. Almost like a text book – but one that is very easy, informative, and even fun to read. There are wonderful pictures that aren’t very well duplicated in the paperback – so get the biggest book you can, for greatest enjoyment

⭐I had read about Mary Beard’s books and TV shows so I was curious to pick this one. A very enjoyable read combining academic expertise/thorough research with a pleasant writing style. No dumbing down but nothing stuffy or pretentious either: in my experience it is quite rare.The city really came alive through the book and Mary Beard is careful to avoid oversimplification and explains the various theories made over the years about Pompeii. It really makes me want to revisit the city !

⭐Mary Beard is always an entertaining and informative historian. The fact that I have read this in just over five days since first opening on my Kindle speaks volumes. Her style is somehow relaxed, as though she is delivering a much loved story to a group of enthralled students, enthralled because she is a consummate raconteur. The detail is impressive but carefully assembled and presented in a readily digestible manner. She rarely forgets that her readers are not always well versed in the history or fluent in Latin.Her annoyance at the readiness of even modern archaeologists to take one fact and make a story shines through, but her debunking is forensic in the true sense of the word. She follows a careful, thoughtful, logical process of testing and setting aside. Nor does she completely replace the hypothesis unless she has solid evidence for so doing.The one annoyance in this book, as in any literature, fact or fiction, is the use of the modern time references of BCE and CE. When does the “era” begin or end ? Oddly enough at the same notional date as BC and AD. Is the reason one of lack of belief or her self proclaimed socialist views ? Or as an attempt not to cause offence ? Mary Beard is not one to worry about that, as her blunt almost joyous use of what the Beeb coyly calls “strong language” clearly demonstrates. I’m not a Christian, nor follower of any belief system, political or religious, but it seems inconsistent to change the time reference that has existed for two millennia for no sound reason.Moan over. This is a damn good read. I have been an avid reader of anything about Rome for over half a century but Mary Beard never fails to bring new nuggets of knowledge for me to enjoy. And she makes it highly enjoyable.

⭐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.

⭐I bought this having recently visited Pompeii. I found the book rather turgid and disappointing. A great deal of conjecture, which wasn’t surprising, but the author doesn’t explain her reasoning well. Basically, I thought, it took a long time to say comparatively little. I actually gained more information and was less irritated by a couple of guidebooks. I did plough through to the end but more from grim determination, and a vague hope that it would improve, rather than enjoyment. It hasn’t spoilt my fascination with the subject, but I don’t think it has added much to it, either.

⭐I have to put it out there and say that I’ve just read a book about Rome by Mary Beard, loved it, and therefore rushed straight to another of her works. I’ve been to Pompeii, a good while ago, so figured it would be good to read about things again. This really is a great book. Written in a very accessible way and yet based on evidence rather than, ‘Well, it was probably like this’. Discussion was about the way that the Pompeians lived and died. I had always thought that Pompeii was a classic example of Roman life. In actuality, Pompeii had been affected by a significant earthquake a number of years prior to its complete destruction by Vesuvius so it may have been very poorly populated and not in the best of shape. The evidence is though still there such that Ms Beard helps us understand the way people lived, died, worked and much more. A wonderful informative, accessible, interesting book. Highly recommended.

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