Pompeii offers an unfailing fund of topics for research into Roman life and culture. In recent years, in addition to the usual surveys and monographs, there have been some important collections of essays (eg Ellis Reference Ellis2011 on the history and development of the city). The anthology under review joins the list. Taking its cue from a session at the San Diego meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in 2007, it brings together ten excellent short papers loosely categorized under the heads of art (chapters 1–4), industry (5–7) and infrastructure (8–10).
First comes Jessica Powers on luxury ornaments, such as obsidian mirrors, cameo and gold glass, intarsia panels and painted marble, set in walls. Then Francesca Tronchin deals with the sculpture collection of the House of D Octavius Quartio, never before thoroughly published. Third is Mantha Zarmacoupi, who (in the only paper that is not strictly focused on Pompeii itself) explores the functioning of porticus and cryptoporticus within the circulatory patterns of Campanian villas, with special reference to villa A at Oplontis. Fourthly, Francesco de Angelis looks at the visibility, organization and social relevance of the famous Cupids frieze in the House of the Vettii.
On industry, Michael Anderson, using computer-generated maps of patterns of movement and visibility within Pompeian houses, shows that the work of post-earthquake rebuilding in the last years of the city was generally organized so as to allow households to continue functioning in as normal a manner as possible (ie houses were not, as often claimed, abandoned); Miko Flohr examines the three most notable domestic fulleries and demonstrates (against received opinion) that the properties in which they were installed retained a primarily residential character despite the industrial activity; and Myles McCallum gives an overview of pottery production, focusing on the two known workshops and extrapolating from them to make general deductions on where pots were made and who was involved in the industry.
On infrastructure, Alan Kaiser reviews the Roman vocabulary for streets and applies it to Pompeii, using sophisticated statistical techniques to distinguish important streets from unimportant ones and to examine the relative distributions of commercial, productive and residential properties; Duncan Keenan-Jones, John Hellstrom and Russell Drysdale, in a particularly interesting scientific study, report on analyses of the lead content of lime deposits within Pompeii's water-mains, showing that pipes and fittings within the system produced a high degree of contamination (far higher than in the extra-mural aqueduct); and finally Eric Poehler looks at the effects of the monumental rebuilding of the forum after the earthquake of ad 62, with special reference to the closure of the surrounding streets, which were turned into culs-de-sac and, more practically, exploited for drainage (what Poehler calls ‘suppressed street drainage’).
What all these papers have in common is an emphasis upon context and motives. For example, the Octavius Quartio sculpture collection is studied within the context of the wall paintings, architectural features and garden furnishings, and we are given reasons why particular pieces were chosen. Tronchin rightly argues that ‘variety is valued over consistency of subject’, and much would also have depended on what sculptures were available and affordable. Similarly, Powers demonstrates how luxury wall-ornaments were designed to impress and were located in pivotal, and highly visible, places within the house. On the Vettii Cupids – often linked with the supposed freedman status, if not the actual business interests, of the owners of the house – de Angelis rightly stresses the romantic and whimsical tone of the paintings and shows their relevance to the convivium which would have taken place in the room that they decorate.
This is an important and provocative publication. It is also, mostly, well written and impeccably presented (only Poehler's paper shows signs of inadequate proofreading). All in all, essential reading-matter for any one interested in Pompeii as a source of information on ancient life and the urban environment.
