Roman Pompeii Research Articles

Networks of Inequality: Access to Water in Roman Pompeii

Networks of Inequality: Access to Water in Roman Pompeii

Harbour of Venus? Sub-elite identities, multisensorial adornment, and Pompeian bars

From the bars and inns (thermopolia, cauponae, and hospitia) of Roman Pompeii, destroyed in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, a variety of different types of jewellery has been found. The bars have been excavated both inside the perimeter of the ancient city and in its harbour suburb. In particular, the complete gold parure found in a river-side caupona at Moregine (building B), featuring body-chains, bracelets, and anklets, gives rise to the hypothesis that this kind of outfit of abundant gold jewellery, plausibly worn on the nude body, may have been less typically owned by elite matrons and more distinctive of sub-elite women working in bars, perhaps even connect-ed with sex work. This hypothesis is tested by questioning the multiple multi-sensorial ways in which jewellery could attract attention to the wearer’s body and signal non-elite status. Among the more ephemeral and rarely considered features are the visibility of the jewellery, based on its dimensions, material, placement on intimate areas of the body, its mobility, and perhaps also the tinkling sounds produced by its movement. As a conclusion, there seems to be a connection between the abundant use of jewellery of high visual impact, acoustic qualities referring to dance and the hospitality business in the inns of Pompeii. On cover:Late Roman wall, the portion immediately south of the West Gate (Porta Oea) with re-used blocks from first-century mausolea (Drawing by Francesca Bigi) and Tombstone of Regina from South Shields (Arbeia) (Tyne and WearArchives and Museums/ Bridgeman Images). E-ISSN (online version) 2611-3686 ISSN (print version) 0065-0900

The discharge of the pipelines supplying public fountains in Roman Pompeii

The public fountains of the ancient Roman town of Pompeii were supplied through pipelines descending from the nearby water towers. The water discharge was determined by the height of the water towers as well as the hydraulic features of the pipes, including the average diameter and the internal surface roughness. In the present study the possible connections between each fountain and the nearby water towers are assessed. Based on available elevation data and measurements taken in various survey campaigns, a range is defined for the pipeline hydraulic slope. The discharge of the pipelines is estimated through a graphical method, which can conveniently be applied by scholars of non-technical background; values of the diameter between those of the ancient Roman digitus and denaria, and values of the hydraulic absolute roughness ks between 0.1 and 0.5 mm are considered. For 47 connections of fountains to water towers, the discharge is calculated to be between 0.1 and 2.5 l/s. The original height of the towers 12 and 13, not reconstructed after the 62–63 CE earthquake, is estimated as close to 6 m. The values of discharge in the pipelines generally confirm the figures obtained in 2021 by Monteleone et al., in a study on the discharge of the Pompeian fountains overflow channels.

:Etruscan Literacy in Its Social Context

:<i>Etruscan Literacy in Its Social Context</i>

White Light —White Heat: The use of Fire as a Light and Heat Source in an Atrium House in Roman Pompeii

This article concerns the distribution of fire as light and heat source within the insula investigated by the ongoing Swedish Pompeii Project. Here the author suggests that fire installations as kitchens, ovens and baths were clustered in specific areas within this insula, and the installations were not efficiently used to heat the dwelling areas of the house. It is also proposed that the surfaces of the interior walls and floors of the Roman atrium house were polished in purpose to reflect and distribute light and, which is emphasised in the article, to soften the transition between brightly lit areas and areas in dark shadow. This contrast had to be eliminated for the human eye to adopt to the light conditions in the room and by that, to make the light as efficient as possible.

The Ruler’s House: Contesting Power and Privacy in Julio-Claudian Rome by Harriet Fertik

Reviewed by: The Ruler’s House: Contesting Power and Privacy in Julio-Claudian Rome by Harriet Fertik Caitlin Gillespie Harriet Fertik. The Ruler’s House: Contesting Power and Privacy in Julio-Claudian Rome. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019. Pp. x, 241. $54.95. ISBN 978-1-4214-3289-2. In The Ruler’s House, Fertik analyzes the ways in which the emperor’s house contributed to questions of power, privacy, and authority in Julio-Claudian Rome. Fertik uses the house to reflect on the interdependence of ruler and ruled, and argues that the emperor’s lack of privacy exposed the contingency of his rule and lay open the vulnerabilities of the community as a whole. Her work builds on Kristina Milnor’s study of gender and domesticity in Augustan culture and furthers its interrogation of the concepts of public and private.1 Through turning her attention to audience, Fertik offers a new lens through which to view the emperor’s house. The first three chapters illustrate Fertik’s range of material and interdisciplinary approach. Chapter 1 dives into Lucan’s Bellum Civile and demonstrates how the intimate relationships between Julius Caesar, Cato, and Pompey and their respective armies echo those of familial bonds of obligation and devotion. Within these armies, everyone becomes a member of the ruler’s house. Chapter 2 turns to the question of membership in the Domus Augusta. Municipal monuments represent different formations of the Domus Augusta that do not always match the image projected by the emperor. The chapter pivots to literary texts and applies feminist standpoint theory to Tacitus’ Annals, in which imperial women serve as interpreters of the new regime who elucidate the fragility of the emperor’s rule. In Agrippina the Younger, Fertik finds a “perceptive reader” whose perspective on politics is the “most reliable” (54). In Tacitus’ text, the emperor’s house emerges as the site where his authority is least secure. Chapter 3 shifts to material evidence: Augustus’ Palatine domus and Nero’s Domus Aurea made the position of the emperor visible and created unique relationships between the emperor and his audience. While Augustus’ home advertised his modesty, Nero’s vast complex promoted otium and was accessible to many. Tiberius’ Villa Iovis on Capri appeared remote but was still designed to accommodate and impress visitors. Chapters 4 through 6 address the idea of mutual vulnerability and the interdependence of ruler and ruled. Chapter 4 exposes the visibility of the ruler in Seneca’s De Clementia, Thyestes, and Agamemnon. This visibility asserts the ruler’s dominance while forcing the community to acknowledge its complicity in sustaining the ruler’s dominance. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of Seneca’s own role in supporting and then attempting to disrupt Nero’s rule. Chapter 5 pivots to images of the theater in elite homes of Roman Pompeii. Frescoes with theatrical imagery and multifunctional spaces advertised the householder’s dominance while also acknowledging an interdependence and intimacy between householder and visitor. Images of the scaenae frons point to the prestige of the householder as well as the role of the visitors who must recognize the householder as worthy of esteem. Fertik returns to standpoint theory to examine the female gaze in Pompeian frescoes as a guide to direct the viewer. Chapter 6 discusses the daily life of the house in Petronius’ Satyricon and Seneca’s De [End Page 106] Ira. Banquets, bathing, and using the toilet at the ruler’s house challenge the hierarchy of ruler and ruled, compelling the ruler to acknowledge an essential equality amongst all members of the community. Through discussing his own bodily functions at his dinner party, Trimalchio portrays himself as a role model. In the De Ira, Seneca’s rulers demonstrate dominance as well as their shared humanity with their subjects through banqueting. Fertik’s conclusion considers the delatores and maiestas trials under Tiberius in Tacitus’ Annals. While the delatores attack the privacy of the elite, maiestas trials suggest one way to mitigate potential risks to the community. Tacitus’ narratives of invasions into private life are comparable to privacy risks in a digital age. Fertik’s discussion of the ruler’s domus is limited neither to Rome...

Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii, written by Milnor, K.

Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii, written by Milnor, K.

WILLIAM GELL ANDPOMPEIANA(1817–19 AND 1832)

This article offers an analysis of the preparation, publication and reception of the two separate versions of William Gell'sPompeiana,texts that exercised a formative influence over Victorian understanding of not just Roman Pompeii, but of domestic Roman life more broadly throughout the nineteenth century, and that highlight a transition from eighteenth-century antiquarianism to a more ‘archaeological’ approach to the past in the nineteenth century. Using unpublished correspondence that has been overlooked by other scholarship on Gell, it argues that the form and content of the volumes responded to both contemporary fascination with the history of domestic life and the need for an affordable volume on Pompeii. But the volumes also reflected many of Gell's more personal interests, developed in a career of travelling in Greece, Asia Minor and Spain, and were a product of his circumstances: they were conceived in order that Gell (and his coadjutor John Peter Gandy in the first edition) might earn much-needed additional income, and were a means through which Gell could consolidate his social position in Naples by establishing his authoritative expertise on Pompeii.

Fallax Imago: Ovid's Narcissus and the seduction of mimesis in Roman wall painting

In the late first century CE, the myth of Narcissus became one of the most frequently represented subjects in Roman wall painting. The well-known, often reproduced images from the House of Octavius...

Exploring the sanctuary of Venus and its sacred grove: politics, cult and identity in Roman Pompeii

Sommarii:Indagini archeologiche condotte nel tempio di Venere a Pompei hanno dimostrato che il santuario fu costruito su un triplice portico e che degli alberi furono sistemati nella corte intorno a tre lati del tempio. Questo paesaggio è contemporaneo alia costruzione del tempio romano della metà del I secolo a.C, ed è uno dei boschi consacrati piu antichi nel mondo romano per il quale si abbiano evidenze archeologiche. I risultati del lavoro archeologico gettano luce non solo sul paesaggio del sito, ma anche su vari importanti aspetti correlati con gli sviluppi originari del recinto e dell'uso del suolo nella colonia di Pompei. Una riflessione dell'evidenza archeologica e storica e delle circostanze sociali della città nel I secolo a.C. suggerisce che il tempio e il bosco sacro degli dei tutelari della città simboleggiavano sia l'identità politica sia la divina sanzione della Pompei romana.

Review: The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, c. 300 BC to AD 700, by Judith McKenzie

Book Review| June 01 2010 Review: The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, c. 300 BC to AD 700, by Judith McKenzie Judith McKenzie; The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, c. 300 BC to AD 700. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007, 458 pp., 624 color and b/w illus. $85 (cloth) ISBN 0300115555 Margaret M. Miles Margaret M. Miles American School of Classical Studies at Athens Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2010) 69 (2): 279–280. https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2010.69.2.279 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Margaret M. Miles; Review: The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, c. 300 BC to AD 700, by Judith McKenzie. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 June 2010; 69 (2): 279–280. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2010.69.2.279 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search Study of the architecture of ancient Alexandria presents a special challenge, since the modern city sprawls over the ancient city, and only small areas have been excavated. In this sumptuously illustrated volume, Judith McKenzie carefully pieces together a vast array of archaeological evidence, much of it indirect, to reconstruct the styles and types of architecture that were used in Alexandria during a millennium of its history. She argues, with some success, that the famous capital was a constant leader and innovator in architectural style and ornament for many centuries, and that Alexandrian influence was felt across the Mediterranean in a variety of settings and periods, such as Roman Pompeii and Byzantine Constantinople. McKenzie begins (in part one) with a discussion of the relationship between the topography of ancient and modern Alexandria and the ways in which ancient Alexandria became lost to view. A large factor was the constant robbing of... You do not currently have access to this content.

Colours in Pompeiian cityscape: Adding pieces to the puzzle

AbstractThis article is an extended and revised version of the paper Colour in Pompeiian Cityscape. In Search of a Lost Treasure, which was presented as an invited lecture at the AIC Congress in Granada, May 2005. It presents the preliminary results of a work in progress, carried out by an architect—myself—in close collaboration with the archaeologist Marina Weilguni. The aim is to understand the role of colour in the cityscape of Roman Pompeii. I here present some of our methods, including the study of excavation reports and artistic reproductions as well as reports on technical analyses of pigments and other material remains. For each method I will discuss how it adds to the knowledge and understanding. Finally, I take you for a walk through the streets of Pompeii, trying to see them and their colours as they were when the city was alive. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 31, 331–340, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20228

M. Grahame, Reading Space: Social Interaction and Identity in the Houses of Roman Pompeii (BAR International Series 886). Oxford: Archaeopress, 2000. Pp. viii + 205, 61 figs, 22 tables. ISBN 1-84171-086-5. £32.00.

M. Grahame, Reading Space: Social Interaction and Identity in the Houses of Roman Pompeii (BAR International Series 886). Oxford: Archaeopress, 2000. Pp. viii + 205, 61 figs, 22 tables. ISBN 1-84171-086-5. £32.00. - Volume 92

Social space and the city. The case of Pompeii - R. Laurence, Roman Pompeii: space and society, Routledge, London and New York, 1994, 158 pp.

Social space and the city. The case of Pompeii - R. Laurence, Roman Pompeii: space and society, Routledge, London and New York, 1994, 158 pp.

Roman Pompeii: Space and Society. By Ray Laurence.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsRoman Pompeii: Space and Society. By Ray Laurence.David B. SmallDavid B. Small Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Archaeology Volume 100, Number 2April 1996 The journal of the Archaeological Institute of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/506922 Copyright © 1996 by the Archaeological Institute of America. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Roman Pompeii, Space and Society.

Roman Pompeii, Space and Society.