Author(s): Mary Beard

World History

The ruins of Pompeii destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79 offer the best evidence we have of life in the Roman empire. This book will rise to the challenge of making sense of its remains. What kind of town was it? (More like Calcutta, or the Costa del Sol?) What can it tell us about life then - from sex to politics, food to religion, slavery to literacy? Can we use this extraordinary survival to write not just a history of this one Roman town, but also a history of 'ordinary' Roman life?The headings of Mary Beard's notes give a taste of this astonishing book: Bad Breath, Intestinal Parasites, Performing Monkeys, One-way Streets, Kosher Food, Water Shortages. The Temple of Isis serves to bring in multiculturalism. The House of the Menander tells how a house worked. At the Suburban Baths we go from communal bathing to hygiene to erotica. 154 writing tablets from the House of Caecilius Jucundus detail the accounts of its owner. A fast-food joint on the Via dell' Abbondanza introduces food and drink and diets and street life.