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Title: Cities of Vesuvius: Pompeii & Herculaneum by Michael Grant ISBN: 1-84212-219-3 Publisher: Phoenix Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Best on Subject
Comment: Easily the best book on the subject. In typical Grant style he brings yet another ancient history topic to the masses. This book is easy to read and has a pretty good black and white photo insert. The outlines and graphs of the various homes in Pompeii and Ercolano are very well done. Grant goes into detail about the history of the region around southern Italy (not just Pompeii) which is helpful in understanding the urban development of ancient cities like Pompeii. He sheds light on every day life in Pompeii including chapters on the layouts of homes, the importance of gardening in ancient Italy, religious life, political life, and sports. He mixes primary and secondary sources very well. Primary sources include letters written by witnesses of the great eruption including a very important one written by someone witnessing everything from a ship on the sea. A great book by a great historian.
Rating: 4
Summary: Concise and highly informative!
Comment: This book still leaves something to be desired (colour illustrations, for example), but overall, it's a must for anyone interested in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Michael Grant has built up a well-deserved reputation as a popular historian, chiefly on his excellent use of the English language as a medium for communicating with a wide audience; by this I mean that his writing is as close to colloquial as possible without sounding unprofessional. "Cities of Vesuvius" benefits from this as much as from his expertise as a classical historian.
The book is shorter than one might expect (barely 170 pages from cover to cover), but it packs a lot of information about Roman life in 79 AD as explained within the context of the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the subsequent destruction of surrounding communities. Detailed maps of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as floor plans of major buildings, make it easier to put everything in its proper place. What makes the text even more interesting is the inclusion of quotations from the graffiti scrawled all over the walls of both cities (including a brief but scathing remark from a customer about his inn-keeper's wine). Unfortunately, the material in this book is vintage 1971 -- the copies for sale are of a 2001 reprint -- and I could only hope that a new edition, incorporating the latest discoveries and scholarship, will come out soon.
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Title: Herculaneum: Italy's Buried Treasure by Joseph Jay Deiss ISBN: 0892361646 Publisher: J. Paul Getty Trust Publications Pub. Date: 01 December, 1989 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Lost World of Pompeii by Colin Amery, Brian, Jr. Curran ISBN: 0892366877 Publisher: J. Paul Getty Trust Publications Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill ISBN: 0691029091 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 08 July, 1996 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Pompeii: Public and Private Life by Paul Zanker, Deborah Lucas Schneider ISBN: 0674689674 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Pompeii: The Day a City Died by Robert Etienne ISBN: 0810928558 Publisher: Harry N Abrams Pub. Date: 30 March, 1992 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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