On that fateful day in ad 79 the city of Pompeii was lost, and in time its location and its inhabitants were buried and forgotten. Not until 1748 did it emerge from its layer of volcanic dust, and the impact of that discovery was immediate and far-reaching. The evocative story of Pompeii's awakening lies not just in its uniquely preserved classical remains but also in the powerful impact it made on Europe's cultural imagination. Judith Harris brings the doomed city vibrantly to life. In her rich account of those who sifted through its artefacts, to catch a glimpse of themselves in the past, we read of Nelson and Napoleon, fighting for Neapolitan supremacy on sea and land. Of poets who sought melancholy fulfilment from Pompeii's shattered walls. Of tub-thumping Victorian preachers who likened to Sodom and Gomorrah. Of Mussolini, who exploited the ancient site to promote his Fascist region. And of the many others - engineers and architects, artists and dreamers, photographers and filmmakers - whose reconstructions and remembrances of Pompeii have never ceased to resonate. As the sleeping city reawakens, Pompeii casts its spell once more, bewitching those who seek to unearth its burried secrets.
On that fateful day in ad 79 the city of Pompeii was lost, and in time its location and its inhabitants were buried and forgotten. Not until 1748 did it emerge from its layer of volcanic dust, and the impact of that discovery was immediate and far-reaching. The evocative story of Pompeii's awakening lies not just in its uniquely preserved classical remains but also in the powerful impact it made on Europe's cultural imagination. Judith Harris brings the doomed city vibrantly to life. In her rich account of those who sifted through its artefacts, to catch a glimpse of themselves in the past, we read of Nelson and Napoleon, fighting for Neapolitan supremacy on sea and land. Of poets who sought melancholy fulfilment from Pompeii's shattered walls. Of tub-thumping Victorian preachers who likened to Sodom and Gomorrah. Of Mussolini, who exploited the ancient site to promote his Fascist region. And of the many others - engineers and architects, artists and dreamers, photographers and filmmakers - whose reconstructions and remembrances of Pompeii have never ceased to resonate. As the sleeping city reawakens, Pompeii casts its spell once more, bewitching those who seek to unearth its burried secrets.
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