An assessment of the Bay of Naples as a popular vacation spot in ancient Rome evaluates the picturesque area as a villa site for numerous emperors and a retreat of choice for the artistic community, in a lavishly illustrated volume that features reproductions of period artwork.

This volume offers a comprehensive survey of Roman villas in Italy and the Mediterranean provinces of the Roman Empire, from their origins to the collapse of the Empire. The architecture of villas could be humble or grand, and sometimes luxurious. Villas were most often farms where wine, olive oil, cereals, and manufactured goods, among other products, were produced. They were also venues for hospitality, conversation, and thinking on pagan, and ultimately Christian, themes. Villas spread as the Empire grew. Like towns and cities, they became the means of power and assimilation, just as infrastructure, such as aqueducts and bridges, was transforming the Mediterranean into a Roman sea. The distinctive Roman/Italian villa type was transferred to the provinces, resulting in Mediterranean-wide culture of rural dwelling and work that further unified the Empire.

When Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, the force of the explosion blew the top right off the mountain, burying nearby Pompeii in a shower of volcanic ash. Ironically, the calamity that proved so lethal for Pompeii's inhabitants preserved the city for centuries, leaving behind a snapshot of Roman daily life that has captured the imagination of generations. The experience of Pompeii always reflects a particular time and sensibility, says Ingrid Rowland. From Pompeii: The Afterlife of a Roman Town explores the fascinating variety of these different experiences, as described by the artists, writers, actors, and others who have toured the excavated site. The city's houses, temples, gardens--and traces of Vesuvius's human victims--have elicited responses ranging from awe to embarrassment, with shifting cultural tastes playing an important role. The erotic frescoes that appalled eighteenth-century viewers inspired Renoir to change the way he painted. For Freud, visiting Pompeii was as therapeutic as a session of psychoanalysis. Crown Prince Hirohito, arriving in the Bay of Naples by battleship, found Pompeii interesting, but Vesuvius, to his eyes, was just an ugly version of Mount Fuji. Rowland treats readers to the distinctive, often quirky responses of visitors ranging from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain to Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman. Interwoven throughout a narrative lush with detail and insight is the thread of Rowland's own impressions of Pompeii, where she has returned many times since first visiting in 1962.

This edited volume, based on the first Williams Symposium on Classical Architecture, held at the University of Pennsylvania in April 1990, focuses on the theme of the well-appointed Roman country house. Using archaeological and textual evidence, the chapters address issues of villa composition, economy, and society. The volume also explores the possible reasons that Greeks did not embrace the villa lifestyle as the Romans so eagerly did. Finally, this book provides a promising foundation for future studies of the nature of the villa phenomenon. Contributors: Lisa Fentress, Chrystina Häuber, Adolf Hoffmann, Ann Kuttner, Hans Lauter, Guy Metraux, Richard Neudecker, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill. Symposium Series 9 University Museum Monograph, 101

La 4e de couverture indique : Parmi les tout premiers bâtiments fouillés sur le site de Pompéi, entre 1771 et 1775, la Villa de Diomède constitue l'un des édifices les plus décrits et représentés par les voyageurs du Grand Tour. Engagé en 2012, un programme pluridisciplinaire a eu pour objectif de restituer toute son évolution, conjuguant la fabrique matérielle d'une villa romaine et sa fabrique imaginaire contemporaine. Il s'agissait d'identifier et de modéliser les différents chantiers de construction qui en ont transformé le bâtiment, de la fin du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours. Pour ce faire, différentes compétences se sont associées : histoire des fouilles et des restaurations, archéologie de la construction, bases de données, systèmes d'information géographique, géophysique, ingénierie des structures, imagerie scientifique et modélisation 3D. Les trente-trois contributions réunies rendent compte de ces regards croisés sur l'entière fabrique de cette villa singulière, envisagée sur la longue durée.

In Gardens of the Roman Empire, the pioneering archaeologist Wilhelmina F. Jashemski sets out to examine the role of ancient Roman gardens in daily life throughout the empire. This study, therefore, includes for the first time, archaeological, literary, and artistic evidence about ancient Roman gardens across the entire Roman Empire from Britain to Arabia. Through well-illustrated essays by leading scholars in the field, various types of gardens are examined, from how Romans actually created their gardens to the experience of gardens as revealed in literature and art. Demonstrating the central role and value of gardens in Roman civilization, Jashemski and a distinguished, international team of contributors have created a landmark reference work that will serve as the foundation for future scholarship on this topic. An accompanying digital catalogue will be made available at: www.gardensoftheromanempire.org.

It is AD 79 and Mount Vesuvius has erupted, destroying Pompeii. Among the thousands of people huddled in refugee camps along the bay of Naples are Flavia Gemina and her friends, Jonathan the Jewish boy, Nubia the African slave-girl, and Lupus the mute beggar boy. When the friends discover that children are being kidnapped from the camps, they start to investigate and soon solve the mystery of the pirates of Pompeii. A terrifically exciting and dramatic story packed with superb historical detail.