Lie and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum

In AD 79, the volcano at Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying and burying the two Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Since the rediscovery of the cities in the 1700s, the cataclysmic event has had a special fascination for many around the world. I have always had a particular interest because my mother was born and raised in Naples which is overlooked by Vesuvius and she was living in the city at the time of the last major eruption in 1944.

Some years ago, I read the novel “Pompeii” by Robert Harris which I have reviewed here. Currently the British Museum in London is hosting an exhibition on Pompeii and Herculaneum which has proved to be one of the most popular in the long history of the institution. This week, I went to see it with my sister Silvia and we were entralled and moved by the exhibits from cabonised furniture to moulds of some of the thousands killed.


Mould of a female victim

Casts of father and mother and two children


 




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