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Pompeii: ̽��ֱ��Life of a Roman Town, was launched at Heffers bookshop last night by its author Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��book offers not only an engaging history of the town but sheds light on life for an ordinary Roman outside the capital.

Professor Beard picks out some intriguing finds from the city. A glirarium, or holder for dormice (complete with feeding trough and internal runs) shows that – occasionally at least – Roman did really eat dormice. ̽��ֱ��skeleton of a monkey probably points to the kind of entertainment you might have seen on the Pompeian streets. An ivory statue of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi is an indication of the multi-culturalism of the Roman empire.

Her book challenges prevailing wisdom on subjects ranging from the date of the eruption that buried Pompeii to its number of brothels. We learn of the discovery of a coin that suggests that the eruption of Vesuvius happened in the autumn of 79 AD (not August) – and why there was more likely only one brothel in the town (rather than the 35 suggested by some scholars, one for every 75 free male inhabitants, in other words!). “This is book,” she says, “for anyone curious about what life was like in the Roman empire, and what the ruins of Pompeii can tell us.”

Professor Beard, a Fellow of Newnham College, has had a Chair of Classics at the ̽��ֱ�� in 2004. She has written numerous books on Greek and Roman history, including Rome in the Late Republic, Religions of Rome, and ̽��ֱ��Parthenon.

She writes regularly for the national press and in 1992 became Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement. She is currently giving the Sather Lectures at the ̽��ֱ�� of California, Berkeley, lecturing on ‘Laughter in Rome’.

Pompeii: ̽��ֱ��Life of a Roman Town is published by Profile Books.
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