رواية رومانسية شيقة من الأدب الكلاسيكي ، كتبت عام 1834م ، جرت أحداثها في مدينة بومبي الإيطالية قبيل ثوران بركان فيزوف المدمر سنة 79 للميلاد ، للرواية قيمة أخلاقية و دينية كذلك ، فهي تسلط الضوء على درجة الفساد و الإنحلال الأخلاقي التي تردى إليها سكان المدينة و أيضا تفشي عبادتهم للآلهة الوثنية المتعددة في ذلك العصر ، وموقفهم السلبي و المناهض للديانة المسيحية التي كانت تخطو خطواتها الأولى نحو الإنتشار، و كل هذه المظاهر كانت السبب في أن تطمر هذه المدينة تحت أطنان من الحمم و الرماد البركاني ، ليتم اكتشافها بعد مئات السنين و يكون فيها عبرة للمتوسمين ،

Nisam preterano oduševljena pričom. Čini mi se da je mogla da se ispriča na malo bolji način jer su Pompeja i erupcija Vezuva koja ju je uništila večiti izvor inspiracije. Stil mi se činio nekako suv i teško mi je držao pažnju. Ipak sam knjigu završila za jedan dan jer ima samo 140 stranica. Ne bih je preporučila.

Certainly for most of the readers they will be biased to shelve the book in Historical Fiction. In my case I would like to differ. In fact the story is featured upon AD 79. To me that world was more full of fantasy than history. It was the time when history was being written newly after the era was going through so many changes. Fall of Greek empire, Rise of the Romans being threatened by the introduction of the powerful religious belief of christianity, beliefs in Greek gods , Greek gods with Roman names as well as that of the Egyptian versions.
When the parts of history make one bored, there comes a romantic story about a generous Greek highborn and an astounding beauty named Ione. At some stage when you think that everything is going to be flowery, the plots of the vile Egyptian priest Arbaces who lusts for Ione, come to play. And of course Mt. Vesuvius takes part in the story with fuming debris and fiery liquidous outbursts of its own.

Interesting, but very dated. A lot of insights into Ancient Roman society, but beware of the outdated language. One laughable bit was where bloodletting by leeches was mentioned as a modern medical practice. Ewww!

Hard to get into but worth the effort. Of course the values of the book are anachronistic, but the creative storyline created from the ruins of Pompeii is an entertaining read. I did not expect to like this one as much as I did.

A book I read more from seeing it referenced in other 19th century novels than for its own sake. I gave it four stars rather than three for the picture it indirectly reveals of educated British morals and tastes.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton visitó Pompeya en 1834 y tanto le impresionó la ciudad, que fue arrasada por un volcán diecisiete siglos antes y que conserva intactos los cuerpos de sus desdichados habitantes, que le dedicó una preciosa y entrañable novela.

El escritor imaginó una historia para cada uno de los vecinos de Pompeya y recreó sus vidas en la bulliciosa ciudad del siglo I d.C. días antes de la erupción del Vesubio : unos jóvenes extranjeros que se encuentran y se enamoran, un pérfido sacerdote del culto egipcio que pretende a la joven, unos cristianos que son temidos y rechazados por sus creencias, una bruja que presiente las tinieblas que acechan, una esclava ciega enamorada de su amo... Sus vidas se entrelazan en una trama perfectamente construida.

La visión que Bulwer-Lytton imprime a su imaginada Pompeya es romántica y moralista pero no por ello menos dotada de fuerza, valor histórico e innegable encanto.

Ich kann mich gar nicht erinnern, dass das Buch streckenweise so langatmig war. Ich habe es zugegebenermaßen das erste Mal aus Übersetzung aus den 1920er Jahren gelesen und da hat man möglicherweise die langatmigen Stellen gestrafft.
Erstaunlich wie wenig Handlung man in so viel Text unterbringen kann.
Ein klassischer Fall von educative Literature. Genau wie in Hugos "Glöckner von Notre Dame" ist die Handlung eigentlich nur ein Mittel zum Zweck, die neusten Archeologischen Ausgrabungen und Entdeckungen in Pompeij zu vermarkten. Teilweise wird sogar gesagt, wo man die Gegenstände besichtigen kann, die die Protagonisten gerade geschenkt bekommen oder benutzen.
Zum Schluss hin ist das aber sehr effektvoll. Der Roman beschreibt, wie die Toten da hin kommen, wo die Archeologen sie gefunden haben. Aus namenlosen, archeologischen Funden werden so plötzlich Personen mit einer Geschichte, auch wenn diese Erfunden ist. Sie ist immerhin gut erfunden.
Klar, frühes Christentum musste zu der Zeit auch sein, das wollten die Leser. Starke, muskulöse Frühkristen war ein gängiges Motiv, dessen ableben von einigen vitkorianischen Lesern sehr betrauert wurde.
Man fragt sich aber schon streckenweise, ob die Darstellung der Frühchristen wirklich ironisch gemeint war, oder das heutzutage nur so rüberkommt.
Insgesamt ein frühes Werk des Infotainment. Die Fakten aus der romischen Literatur und damals neueste Ausgrabungsergebnisse werden zu einer spannenden Geschichte verwoben.
Hat schon seinen Grund, warum die Geschichte auch heute noch gedruckt wird und ein Klassiker geworden ist. Pompeij fasziniert bis heute.

First published in 1834, Lytton’s book is a 19th century melodrama set in the city of Pompeii in the days leading up to the devastating eruption on Vesuvius in 79 AD. By this, I mean that the style of writing is overly dramatic, everybody talks in a kind of pseudo Elizabethan English, and regular use is made of capital letters to emphasise phrases. This means that the style, very popular when it was first published, has dated rather badly – I would anticipate that many people will find it difficult to get on with, but it has the virtue of helping you to appreciate 19th century fiction on its own terms if you persevere. The story itself is a very basic romance, with facts about Pompeii being dropped into the narrative in a clumsy name-dropping style, as if to remind you of the period in which it is set… Historical accuracy, always a difficult issue with historical novels, is, I suspect, on par with ‘Meet the Spartans’. Initially hard work to read, this does eventually pay off and is quite enjoyable.

Romance histórico ambientado, conforme o título assim nos refere, em Pompeia. A erupção do Vesúvio serve de pano de fundo ao clímax, mas a narrativa centra-se nas paixões das personagens, cuja caracterização redonda é pontuada pela avareza de Arbaces e pela devoção de Glauco a Ione.

Good novel. The author portrays the social-economic environment and the miscellaneous group of people that would have filled Pompey's day-to-day life. I enjoyed the descriptions and actions scenes, which are very easy to read.
Overall, it was a nice book and storyline, and the way the author composed the religious shift within the social outline was interesting.
A note for those who think that they are reading about the actual fall of Pompey, it's not really about that, the natural cause that took place only occupies the last 20 pages of the book.

Honestly, a disappointment. It's not badly written, but it wasn't really about what I thought it would be about. I liked the beginning and the ending was a improvement over the middle, but the middle drags on about love triangles that left me wondering when the hell the volcano would erupt. It might have been my own fault for walking into this book so cold, but there nothing here that warmed me up to it. Not even the fires that burnt down Pompeii.