Describes the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in 79 A.D. and the rediscovery and subsequent excavation of this buried city.

Paul Zanker, a noted authority on Roman art and architecture shows us the images that marked Pompeii's development from country town to Roman imperial city. At home or in public, at work or at ease, Pompeians and their world come alive in Zanker's masterly rendering.

The sudden destruction of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the surrounding Campanian countryside following the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 preserved the remarkable evidence that has made possible this reconstruction of the natural history of the local environment. Following the prototype of Pliny the Elder's Natural History, various aspects of the natural history of Pompeii are discussed and analyzed by a team of eminent scientists, many of whom have collaborated with Jashemski during her years of excavation of several gardens in the Vesuvian area. This volume brings together the work of geologists, soil specialists, paleobotanists, botanists, palaeontologists, biologists, chemists, dendrochronologists, ichthyologists, zoologists, ornithologists, mammalogists, herpetologists, entymologists, and archaeologists, affording a thorough picture of the landscape, flora, and fauna of the ancient sites. The detailed and rigorously scientific catalogues, which are copiously illustrated, provide a checklist of the flora and fauna upon which future generations of scholars can continue to build.

As Wallace-Hadrill remarks in his preface, according to the recommendations of the teachers of oratory, the house should serve as a storehouse of memories'.

The ruins of Pompeii reveal more graphically than anywhere else in the Roman world the vital role that gladiators and gladiatorial combat played in society. The Vesuvian eruption not only sealed the oldest amphitheatre to survive from antiquity, but also grafitti, elaborate weaponry, stone monuments and paintings which all testify to the popularity of gladiators, several of which are known to us by name. In addition, the discovery of a training barracks allows us to locate physically the place of gladiators in the city. This book, now available in English translation, presents the evidence from Pompeii in full colour photographs, accompanied by reconstruction drawings and an informative text that takes us through the streets of Pompeii as the gladiators would have known it.

The deities and heroes of the ancient Romans were popular subject matter for the frescoes which decorated the sophisticated villas of Pompeii's wealthy citizens. This richly illustraded volume highlights various depictions of the divine and heroic pantheon of ancient Rome. The text explores both the general characteristics of Pompeian painting and its specific treatment of gods and heroes.

An intriguing look at contemporary views regarding the casts of victims from Mt. Vesuvius' eruption