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This is one of those books where subject matter trumps lesser issues. It's a beautiful coffee-table picture book of the artifacts and buildings in the Roman town buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD. Unlike many coffee table books, though, it has informative articles written by professional archeologists and curators, explaining what we know about the town, its history, and the region.
It is fairly amazing what we can know, since we also have Pliny the Younger's first-hand testimony to the eruption, and can therefore attach specific dates and times to the geological remains, and the archeological remains. We know what certain people were doing on the day of the eruption, can see where a painter spilled lime during an earthquake, and can guess how long the painters were working on that house, that day. We know the plants and trees in their gardens, the food on their pantry shelves, the money they had in their safes, and hidden about their persons.
We've also learned (both from Pompeii/Herculaneum and from Nero's Golden House in Rome) the history of interior painting styles. Should we also mention the literally thousands of graffiti and election posters and advertising billboards??? It's all rather amazing.
I picked this book up at the "A Day in Pompeii" traveling exhibit, which we traveled to Cincinnati to see. It looked to be the main authoritative text of the exhibit, and I had leafed through it before, but finally took the time to read it cover to cover. I am very glad to have it on my shelf. Well, actually it's on the piano.
There are flaws, however. The reproduction of the photographs is NOT one of the flaws. The pictures are lovely, and the variety of subjects is impressive. Of course one wants everything, but the number of artifacts is too huge for that. The problem with the book is the editing of the prose. There are numerous typos. Some of the articles don't have any paragraphing (though it seems clear paragraphs were intended), which makes for awkward reading. Some sentences were clearly mistranslated, some are missing a negative, or have an improper negative. For a book created with such care, this is annoying.
But the book is, after all, wonderful. And the subject is fascinating. So five stars. Five.
It is fairly amazing what we can know, since we also have Pliny the Younger's first-hand testimony to the eruption, and can therefore attach specific dates and times to the geological remains, and the archeological remains. We know what certain people were doing on the day of the eruption, can see where a painter spilled lime during an earthquake, and can guess how long the painters were working on that house, that day. We know the plants and trees in their gardens, the food on their pantry shelves, the money they had in their safes, and hidden about their persons.
We've also learned (both from Pompeii/Herculaneum and from Nero's Golden House in Rome) the history of interior painting styles. Should we also mention the literally thousands of graffiti and election posters and advertising billboards??? It's all rather amazing.
I picked this book up at the "A Day in Pompeii" traveling exhibit, which we traveled to Cincinnati to see. It looked to be the main authoritative text of the exhibit, and I had leafed through it before, but finally took the time to read it cover to cover. I am very glad to have it on my shelf. Well, actually it's on the piano.
There are flaws, however. The reproduction of the photographs is NOT one of the flaws. The pictures are lovely, and the variety of subjects is impressive. Of course one wants everything, but the number of artifacts is too huge for that. The problem with the book is the editing of the prose. There are numerous typos. Some of the articles don't have any paragraphing (though it seems clear paragraphs were intended), which makes for awkward reading. Some sentences were clearly mistranslated, some are missing a negative, or have an improper negative. For a book created with such care, this is annoying.
But the book is, after all, wonderful. And the subject is fascinating. So five stars. Five.
