Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town

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Marcus Attilius Primus arrives in the Bay of Naples from Rome to take charge as aquarius ( hydraulic engineer) of the Aqua Augusta, the aqueduct that supplies water to the towns in the region encompassing the Bay of Naples and Mount Vesuvius. Featuring a fascinating introduction by Val McDermid and new illustrations by Juan Esteban Rodríguez, each copy has been signed by both the introducer and the illustrator. Attilius's concerns about the water are heightened when he is summoned by a young, wealthy woman, Corelia, to investigate water that apparently killed her father's prized fish. Plenty of streets blocked to traffic here and lots of detailed archaeological evidence to get to grips with, but coming through the book to the reader is the passion of the author and his need to discover and reveal new facts about Pompeii to his readers. It is clear, concise, and well-illustrated, and unlike many such books that appeal to a more general audience, it is authored by an expert who has been working on site and teaching about Pompeii for most of her career.

In a newly commissioned preface, author Ferdinand Mount praises this account of a ’city of gags and graffiti’. Most of the city was evacuated during the catastrophe, its contents largely removed by the fleeing inhabitants. Literary evidence is often silent about the lives of women in antiquity, particularly those from the buried cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. End your visit at the Villa of the Mysteries, and try to interpret its amazing, bizarre frescoes—scholars have debated their meaning for years. Indeed, Pliny acts as the counterpoint to Attilius, who overthrows philosophy for the love of Corelia.Centuries later, echoes of this disaster resonate with profound consequences in the life of classics professor Sophie Chase.

Beard, a professor of classics at Cambridge, always wears her learning lightly, and in this outstanding book she has excelled herself, puncturing preconceptions and exposing a whole layer of myth about the world's best-preserved ancient town.Mary Shelley's darkly disturbing tale is illustrated by Angela Barrett and newly introduced by Richard Holmes. I also loved Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum by Paul Roberts, which was printed to accompany a 2013 exhibition at the British Museum.