![]() Beard's tour de force takes the study of ancient history to a new level. ![]() Finally, Beard reminds us that everybody except the very poorest went to the baths, which served as a great social leveler. Rather, they ate wherever they could within the home. Focusing on the restored houses, Beard refutes the common notion that most Romans ate their meals while reclining on a triclinium. In this bustling seaside town, makers of garum, a concoction of rotten seafood and salt, did a modest business, but Umbricius Scaurus marketed his product as “premium” garum and became one of Pompeii's nouveaux riches. She examines the full scope of life, from houses, occupations, government, food and wine to sex, and the baths, recreation and religion. Beard splendidly recreates the life and times of Pompeii in a work that is part archeology and part history. In a grand synthesis, one of our most distinguished classicists relates all that we know-and don't know-about ancient Pompeii, devastated by a flood of lava and volcanic ash from Mt.
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