Resurrecting Pompeii provides an in-depth study of a unique site from antiquity with information about a population who all died from the same known cause within a short period of time. Pompeii has been continuously excavated and studied since 1748. Early scholars working in Pompeii and other sites associated with the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius were seduced by the wealth of artefacts and wall paintings yielded by the site. This meant that the less visually attractive evidence, such as human skeletal remains, were largely ignored. Recognizing the important contribution of the human skeletal evidence to the archaeology of Pompeii, Resurrecting Pompeii remedies that misdemeanour, and provides students of archaeology and history with an essential resource in the study of this fascinating historical event.

Recognizing the important contribution of the human skeletal evidence to the archaeology of Pompeii, Lazer presents an in-depth study of the people of pompeii, and gives students an essential resource in the study of this fascinating historical event.

Destroyed yet paradoxically preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, Pompeii and other nearby sites are usually considered places where we can most directly experience the daily lives of ancient Romans. Rather than present these sites as windows to the past, however, the authors of The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection explore Pompeii as a modern obsession, in which the Vesuvian sites function as mirrors of the present. Through cultural appropriation and projection, outstanding visual and literary artists of the last three centuries have made the ancient catastrophe their own, expressing contemporary concerns in diverse media--from paintings, prints, and sculpture, to theatrical performances, photography, and film. This lavishly illustrated volume--featuring the works of artists such as Piranesi, Fragonard, Kaufmann, Ingres, Chass�riau, and Alma-Tadema, as well as Duchamp, Dal�, Rothko, Rauschenberg, and Warhol--surveys the legacy of Pompeii in the modern imagination under the three overarching rubrics of decadence, apocalypse, and resurrection. Decadence investigates the perception of Pompeii as a site of impending and well-deserved doom due to the excesses of the ancient Romans, such as paganism, licentiousness, greed, gluttony, and violence. The catastrophic demise of the Vesuvian sites has become inexorably linked with the understanding of antiquity, turning Pompeii into a fundamental allegory for Apocalypse, to which all subsequent disasters (natural or man-made) are related, from the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. Resurrection examines how Pompeii and the Vesuvian cities have been reincarnated in modern guise through both scientific archaeology and fantasy, as each successive cultural reality superimposed its values and ideas on the distant past. An exhibition of the same name will be on view at the Getty Villa from September 12, 2012, through January 7, 2013; at the Cleveland Museum of Art from February 24 through May 19, 2013; and at the Mus�e national des beaux-arts du Qu�bec from June 13 through November 8, 2013.

Two thousand years ago, a volcanic eruption buried a city in modern Italy. Centuries later, archaeologists discovered Pompeii. Learn what they discovered about life in ancient Rome, including food, homes, gladiator fights, and more!

A collection of essays exploring the different ways in which the ruined city of Pompeii has been a major source of inspiration to Western imaginations. Creative and popular, as well as scholarly approaches are covered, including an interview with the novelist Robert Harris, and the volume is fully illustrated, with several images in full colour.

The calamity that proved lethal for Pompeii inhabitants preserved the city for centuries, leaving behind a snapshot of Roman daily life that has captured the imagination of generations, including Renoir, Freud, Hirohito, Mozart, Dickens, Twain, Rossellini, and Ingrid Bergman. Interwoven is the thread of Ingrid Rowland's own impressions of Pompeii.