Read Pompeii Online

Authors: Mary Beard

Pompeii (60 page)

Wartime bomb damage is the subject of a fine study (with dramatic photographs) by L. Garcia y Garcia,
Danni di guerra a Pompei: una dolorosa vicenda quasi dimenticata
(Rome, 2006). The Africanus graffito from the brothel is (overconfidently) interpreted by J. L. Franklin, ‘Games and a Lupanar: prosopography of a neighbourhood in ancient Pompeii’,
Classical Journal
81 (1986), 319–28. The children’s doodles are discussed in A. Koloski Ostrow,
The Sarno Bath Complex
(Rome, 1990), 59; and the coin impressions by P. M. Allison and F. B. Sear,
Casa della Caccia Antica
(VII. 4. 48) (Munich, 2002), 83–4. The bed-wetter’s graffito can be found at
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
(
CIL
) IV, 4957. For the intestinal parasites whose eggs were found in house VI. 1. 4, see www.archaeology.org/interactive/pompeii/field/5.html

Chapter 1

Useful archaeological discussion of the pre-Roman history and development of Pompeii, includes: J. Berry (ed.),
Unpeeling Pompeii: studies in Region I of Pompeii
(Milan, 1998), 17–25; M. Bonghi Jovino (ed.),
Ricerche a Pompei: l’insula 5 della Regio VI dalle origini al 79 d.C
(Rome, 1984) (the House of the Etruscan Column as the site of a rural shrine, pp. 357–71); P. Carafa, ‘What was Pompeii before 200 BC? Excavations in the House of Joseph II, etc’, in S. E. Bon and R. Jones (ed.),
Sequence and Space in Pompeii
(Oxford, 1997), 13-31; S. de Caro, ‘Nuove indagini sulle fortificazioni di Pompei’,
Annali dell’Istituto Universitario Orientale [Napoli]. Sezione di Archeologia e Storia Antica
(
AION
) 7 (1985), 75–114; M. Fulford and A. Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Towards a history of pre-Roman Pompeii: excavations beneath the House of Amarantus (I. 9. 11–12), 1995–8’,
Papers of the British School at Rome
67 (1999), 37–144 (stressing the early origins of the street plan); S. C. Nappo, ‘Urban transformation at Pompeii in the late 3rd and early 2nd c. BC’, in R. Laurence and A. Wallace-Hadrill (ed.),
Domestic Space in the Roman World: Pompeii and beyond
(
JRA
suppl., Portsmouth, RI, 1997), 91–120. R. M. Ammerman, ‘New Evidence for the Worship of Athena at the Doric temple in Pompeii’s Triangular Forum’,
Journal of Roman Archaeology
(
JRA
) 17 (2004), 531–6 conveniently summarises recent early finds from the Temple of Minerva and Hercules. The reuse of the terracotta sculptures in the House of the Golden Bracelet (VI. 17 [ins. occ.]. 42) is discussed and illustrated by E. M. Menotti de Lucia, ‘Le terrecotte dell’Insula Occidentalis’ in M. Bonghi Jovino,
Artigiani e botteghe nell’Italia preromana: studi sulla coroplastica di area etrusco-laziale-campana
(Rome, 1990), 179–246.

P. Zanker,
Pompeii
(above) has been particularly influential in the study of the town in the second century BCE (and in the early years of the Roman colony). The impact on Pompeii of the war with Hannibal is suggested by, among others, Nappo, ‘Urban transformation’ (above). The Alexander Mosaic in the House of the Faun (VI.12.2) is the subject of A Cohen,
Alexander Mosaic: stories of victory and defeat
(Cambridge, 1996); F. Zevi, ‘Die Casa del Fauno in Pompeji und das Alexandermosaik’,
Römische
Mitteilungen
105 (1998) 21–65 considers the house as a whole. For the identification of the spoils of Mummius, see A. Martelli, ‘Per una nuova lettura dell’iscrizione Vetter 61 nel contesto del santuario di Apollo a Pompei’,
Eutopia
2 (2002), 71–81. Wider issues of ‘Romanisation’ in Italy throughout this period are the theme of A. Wallace-Hadrill,
Rome’s Cultural Revolution
(Cambridge, 2008).

The siege of Pompeii is documented in F(lavio) and F(erruccio) Russo, 89 A.C.
Assedio a Pompei: La dinamica e le tecnologie belliche della conquista sillana di Pompei
(Pompeii, 2005). Cicero’s service in the war under Sulla is mentioned by Plutarch,
Life of Cicero
3 (though he himself suggests in a speech –
Philippic
XII, 11, 27 – that he served under the rival general Pompey). The place of the veterans within the physical layout of the city is discussed by J. Andreau, ‘: mais où sont les vétérans de Sylla?’,
Revue des Etudes Anciennes
82 (1980), 183–99. F. Zevi, ‘Pompei dalla città sannitica alla colonia sillana: Per un’ interpretazione dei dati archeologici’, in
Les élites municipales de l’ Italie péninsulaire des Gracques à Néron
(Rome 1996), 125–38. The dating of the Temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva to the early years of the colony is suggested by the Pompeii Forum Project (see J. J. Dobbins, ‘The Forum and its dependencies’, in
The World of Pompeii
(above), 150–83).

For the political tensions between colonists and the earlier Pompeians, see F. Coarelli, ‘Pompei: il foro, le elezioni, e le circoscrizioni elettorali’,
AION
new series 7 (2000), 87–114; E. Lo Cascio, ‘Pompei dalla città sannitica alla colonia sillana: le vicende istituzionali’, in
Les élites municipales
, 111–23; H. Mouritsen,
Elections, Magistrates and Municipal Elite. Studies in Pompeian Epigraphy
(Rome, 1988), 70–89; T. P. Wiseman, ‘Cicero,
Pro Sulla
60–61’,
Liverpool Classical Monthly
2 (1977), 21–2. The survival of Oscan language is discussed by A. E. Cooley, ‘The survival of Oscan in Roman Pompeii’, in A. E. Cooley (ed.),
Becoming Roman, Writing Latin? Literacy and Epigraphy in the Roman West
(
JRA
suppl., Portsmouth, RI, 2002), 77–86. For the Oscan graffito in the brothel, see
CIL
IV
ad
2200.

Pompeian
garum
reaching Gaul is documented by B. Liou and R. Marichal, ‘Les inscriptions peintes sur l’amphore de l’anse St Gervais à Fos-sur-Mer’,
Archaeonautica
2 (1978), 165. A sceptical view of the image of Spartacus is offered by A. van Hooff, ‘Reading the Spartaks fresco without red eyes’, in S. T. A. M. Mols and E. M. Moormann,
Omni pede stare: Saggi architettonici e circumvesuviani in memoriam Jos de Waele
(Naples, 2005), 251–6. The connections of Nero and Poppaea with the town underlie much of Butterworth and Laurence,
Pompeii
(above). S. de Caro, in ‘La lucerna d’oro di Pompei: un dono di Nerone a Venus Pompeiana’, in
I culti della Campania antica : atti del convegno internazionale di studi in ricordo di Nazarena Valenza Mele
(Rome, 1998), 239–44, identifies the very lamp given by ‘Nero’ to Venus. The satiric graffito about Nero’s ‘accountant’ can be found at
CIL
IV, 8075, and the reference to Suedius Clemens inglorious early career at Tacitus,
Histories
II, 12. The spread and replication of Augustan imagery (such as the images found in Pompeii) is a major theme of P. Zanker,
The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus
(Ann Arbor, 1989).

Chapter 2

A classic (if somewhat lurid) study of Roman filth is A. Scobie, ‘Slums, sanitation and mortality in the Roman world’,
Klio
68 (1986), 399–433. The same topic has been treated more recently in X. D Raventos and V. J. A. Remola,
Sordes Urbis: La eliminición de residuos en la ciudad romana
(Roma, 2000), with discussion of Antioch by W. Liebeschuetz (51–61) (the volume is fully reviewed by A. Wilson, ‘Detritus, disease and death in the city’,
JRA
15 (2002), 478–84). Juvenal’s rant can be found at
Satires
III, 268–77 (trans. P. Green); Suetonius’ anecdotes are from his
Life of Vespasian
5; the admonition to the ‘shitter’ is
CIL
IV, 6641. The papal visit to Pompeii in 1849 was the subject of an exhibition, with catalogue:
Pio IX a Pompei: memorie e testimonianze di un viaggio
(Naples, 1987).

Street signs and finding the way are the subjects of R. Ling, ‘A stranger in town: finding the way in an ancient city’,
Greece and Rome
37 (1990), 204–14. The clusters of bars and the ‘hospitality industry’ is discussed by S. J. R. Ellis, ‘The distribution of bars at Pompeii: archaeological, spatial and viewshed analyses’,
JRA
17 (2004), 371–84. On zoning (or its absence) and deviant behaviour: R. Laurence,
Roman Pompeii: space and society
(2nd ed., London and New York, 2007), esp. 82–101; A. Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Public honour and private shame: the urban texture of Pompeii’, in T. J. Cornell and K. Lomas (ed.),
Urban Society in Roman Italy
(London, 1995), 39–62. Augustus’ quip about going home for lunch is from Quintilian,
Education of the Orator
VI, 3, 63. The ‘privatised’ street runs between city blocks I. 6 and I. 7.

All aspects of the water supply are discussed in N. de Haan and G. Jansen (ed.),
Cura Aquarum in Campania
(
Bulletin Antieke Beschaving – Annual Papers in Classical Archaeology
, Leiden, 1996). The recent detailed revisions of the chronology of the water supply and aqueduct by C. P. J. Ohlig –
De Aquis Pompeio-rum. Das Castellum Aquae in Pompeji: Herkunft, Zuleitung und Verteilung des Wasser
(Nijmegen, 2001) is summarised and reviewed in A. Wilson, ‘Water for the Pompeians’,
JRA
19 (2006), 501–8. R. Ling, ‘Street fountains and house fronts at Pompeii’, in Mols and Moormann,
Omni pede stare
(above), 271–6 discusses the house owner taking advantage of a re-positioned fountain. The interruption of supply on the eve of the eruption is documented by S. C. Nappo, ‘L’impianto idrico a Pompei nel 79 d.C.’, in
Cura Aquarum
, 37–45.

The ground-breaking study of cart ruts was S. Tsujimura, ‘Ruts in Pompeii: the traffic system in the Roman city’,
Opuscula Pompeiana
1 (1991), 58–86. Elaborate suggestions of the one-way system can be found in E. E. Poehler, ‘The circulation of traffic in Pompeii’s Regio VI’,
JRA
19 (2006), 53–74. Pavements are discussed by C. Saliou, ‘Les trottoirs de Pompéi : une première approche’,
Bulletin Antieke Beschaving,
74 (1999), 161–218. S. C. Nappo, ‘Fregio dipinto dal “praedium” di Giulia Felice con rappresentazione del foro di Pompei’,
RStP
3 (1989), 79–96 is a complete publication of the Forum scenes. The Roman law mentioning the upkeep of roads is the ‘Table of Heraclea’, translated in M. H. Crawford et al. (ed.),
Roman Statutes
(London, 1996) Vol. 1, 355–91. Herodas,
Mime
III describes the ‘over the shoulder’ flogging (a method alluded to also in Cicero,
Letters to Friends
VII, 25, 1). A translation of Augustus’ adjudication of the Cnidian case can be found in M. G. L. Cooley (ed.),
The Age of Augustus
(LACTOR 17, London, 2003), 197–8.

Chapter 3

Almost all recent studies of Pompeian domestic architecture refer back to A. Wallace-Hadrill’s classic book,
Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum
(Princeton, NJ, 1994). Also fundamental, on the use of rooms within the house, is the work of P. M. Allison. Her major study is
Pompeian Households: an analysis of the material culture
(Los Angeles, 2004), supplemented with an excellent ‘online companion’ at www.stoa.org/projects/ph/home. An important collection of essays is Laurence and Wallace-Hadrill (ed.),
Domestic Space in the Roman World
(above).

The House of the Tragic Poet (VI. 8. 5) is beautifully reconstructed by N. Wood,
The House of the Tragic Poet
(London, 1996). The nineteenth-century interested in the house is discussed by S. Hales, ‘Re-casting antiquity: Pompeii and the Crystal Palace’,
Arion
14 (2006), 99–133. The garden of the House of Julius Polybius (IX.13.1–3) is described in W. F. Jashemski,
The Gardens of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the villas destroyed by Vesuvius
, Vol 2 (New York, 1993), 240–52; the garden a few doors away (in what is now usually called the House of the Painters at Work, IX. 12) in A. M. Ciarallo, ‘The Garden of the “Casa dei Casti Amanti” (Pompeii, Italy)’,
Garden History
21 (1993), 110–16. Petronius’ description of the entrance to Trimalchio’s house is at
Satyrica
28–9.

All aspects of The House of the Menander (I. 10. 4) and the neighbouring houses in the block have been exhaustively studied and published by R. Ling and others, in several volumes. Particularly relevant are R. Ling,
The Insula of the Menander at Pompeii, Vol 1, The Structures
(Oxford, 1997) and P. M. Allison,
Vol. 3 The Finds, a contextual study
(Oxford, 2006). G. Stefani (ed.),
Menander: la casa del Menandro di Pompei
(Milan, 2003) is a well illustrated exhibition catalogue, featuring finds from the house. The House of Julius Polybius is the subject of Ciarallo and de Carolis (ed.),
La casa di Giulio Polibio
(above) – which includes an article on the lighting. That house, the House of Venus in a Bikini (I. 11. 6) and the House of the Prince of Naples (VI. 15. 8) are included in Allison’s
Pompeian Households
.

The wooden furniture from Herculaneum is discussed by S. T. A. M. Mols,
Wooden Furniture in Herculaneum: form, technique and function
(Amsterdam, 1999). The toilet specialist is G. Jansen, whose work is usefully summarised in G. Jansen, ‘Private toilets at Pompei: appearance and operation’, in Bon and Jones (ed.),
Sequence and Space
(above), 121–34. Seneca’s anecdote about sponges can be found at
Letters
LXX, 20. The detritus from Herculaneum is being analysed as part of the British School at Rome’s Herculaneum Conservation Project. The architecture of formal dining, at Pompeii and elsewhere, is discussed in K. M. D. Dunbabin,
The Roman Banquet: images of conviviality
(Cambridge, 2003).

A good introduction to recent work on the Roman family (including special reference to Pompeian material) is B. Rawson and P. Weaver (ed.),
The Roman Family in Italy: status, sentiment, space
(Oxford, 1997). The term ‘housefuls’ is advocated by A. Wallace-Hadrill. The instititions of patronage are well discussed in A. Wallace-Hadrill (ed.),
Patronage in Ancient Society
(London, 1989). Temporal zoning is suggested by Laurence,
Roman Pompeii
(above), 154–66. The most relevant section of Vitruvius is
On Architecture
, VI, 5; the moans of Martial are from his
Epigrams
X, 100.

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