Pompeii

(Paperback, 2nd edition)

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This second edition of Alison E. Cooley's accessible introduction to Pompeii takes into account the major new theories and discoveries that have emerged since the first edition was published 20 years ago. Italy's third most popular tourist destination, Pompeii attracts millions of visitors each year, and images of the town are familiar all around the world. However, even today our picture of the site is being impacted by new archaeological discoveries. This book focuses particularly on the date of the eruption, the natural environment of Pompeii, the recovery of skeletal remains and plaster casts, and Pompeii in the popular imagination. In addition, three new chapters look at the popularization of Pompeii, archaeological reconstruction of the Roman town, and how we know what we know about the people who lived there. The technological advances of the 20th and 21st centuries have transformed our understanding of the urban environment of Pompeii, raising new questions even as they dig ever deeper into the surviving material evidence. This volume offers a succinct and insightful exploration of the impact of these scientific and archaeological innovations, as well as that of contemporary politics, upon interpretations of Pompeii over the last 250 years, including the ways in which advances in volcanology have transformed our picture of its last moments.

Reviews

Cooleys is the first comprehensive overview of the history of the Pompeii excavations, and the discussion of the casual explorations of the site that seem to have occurred prior to the official beginning in the mid-18th century presents material that few of us have ever examined. -- New England Classical Journal
This book is a thought-provoking addition to the growing number of books on Pompeii and will be of great interest to professionals and amateurs alike, and especially invaluable to historians, who rely in great part upon the archaeological record. -- Bryn Mawr Classical Review
A valuable and timely consideration of the often overlooked history of the excavations and an examination of the factors that influence modern perceptions of the site. -- The Journal of Roman Studies
A book that provides an important summary of key periods of excavation, and will prove a very useful addition for the teaching of Pompeii in schools and at university. -- The Classical Review

Author Bio

Alison E. Cooley is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick, UK. Her many publications include Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook (with M. G. L. Cooley; 2nd edn, 2014) and, as editor, A Companion to Roman Italy (2016).