The Lost Voices of Pompeii: Life and Death on Pompeii’s Final Day

Classicist Venner debuts with a worthwhile account of Pompeii on the day leading up to the devastating eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, a catastrophe that left the city of some 20,000 inhabitants buried under a thick layer of ash and pumice. In “an effort to bridge the silences of the historical record,” she offers speculative reconstructions, rooted in archeological evidence, of the lives of seven individuals from different social classes: newly freed slave Petrinus; wealthy businesswoman and property lessor Julia Felix; “the garum ‘fish sauce’ magnate” Aulus Umbricius Scaurus; formerly enslaved shop owner Umbricia Fortunata; innkeeper Euxinus; Amisusius, a priest in the cult of Isis; and politician Gaius Cuspius Pansa. Venner packs her narrative with fascinating details of everyday life and lovingly describes the homes of her protagonists, from the statues and elaborate frescos that graced the walls of the wealthy, to the cramped, shared sleeping quarters designated for the enslaved. Each chapter, labeled with the hour of the day, begins with references to the changes in atmosphere that grow increasingly unsettling as the eruption nears. Venner’s chronicle builds to the chaotic flight from the city by the fortunate few and the varying fates of those who waited too long to leave. Roman history buffs will want to check this out. (Apr.)