This is this generation's best book on Pompeii; it's impossible to imagine visiting the site without having read it, and although it's not a guidebook, it does have a helpful appendix called "Making a Visit" that covers what to wear, how best to arrive, and which houses you'll probably be most in...
I've always been fascinated by the Romans. I loved taking Latin as a child and imagining all kinds of exciting adventures in ancient Rome. I'll bet Mary Beard, the author of The Fires of Vesuvius, felt the same way. In this book she displays a healthy skepticism about some of the more common theo...
The reality of the Colosseum is much stranger than legend as explained by two classical historians in an account of ancient Rome's most famous monument, detailing its construction, the gladiatorial games that it housed, and its changing roles as a modern-day concert venue and tourist attraction.
I admit that this was not in the cause of my own political development, but because I was due on the Today programme this morning to sound off about them, and about the ‘Great Debate’ between the party leaders coming up on television. Honestly, I thought that there was not much to choose between ...
But did people in the past laugh differently from us? And if so, how—and, just as important, how can we know? We have already glimpsed in chapter 1 the appeal and the frustrations of trying to understand a couple of outbursts of Roman laughter. In this chapter, I want to look harder at these issu...
It seemed a good moment to leave the city and make a bid for safety. A straggling group of more than twenty fugitives, who had been taking shelter within the walls while the dreadful downpour had been at its worst, took a chance on one of the eastern gates of the city, hoping to find a way out of...