Pompeis Difficile Est
Subtitle: Studies in the Political Life of Imperial Pompeii
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: June 14, 2001
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9780472110568
Subjects: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology; European history: BCE to c 500 CE; Political science & theory; Ancient Rome - History; Ancient State; History; History - General History; History: World; Ancient Rome; Ancient - Rome; Political Process - General; History / Ancient / General; Elections; Italy; Political activity; Politics and government; Pompeii (Extinct city); Sources; Upper class families
Description: "Cicero used the phrase Pompeis difficile est to describe the intensity of political life in ancient Pompeii. Drawing on thousands of fragmentary writings - campaign posters, graffiti, inscriptions, and business receipts - recovered in the excavations of lava- and mud-covered Pompeii, James L. Franklin, Jr., assembles evidence from the eras of emperors Augustus through Vespasian to prove the validity of Cicero's statement.".

"By collecting, sifting, and cross-referencing these varied documents, Franklin proves it possible to trace the major political alliances of the times, as well as to explore in the remains of their houses traces of the personalities of the men and families involved. A few families, such as the powerful Holconii, developers of the region's most famous grapevine, prove to have been steady players throughout Pompeii's history; but most families rose and fell within two generations at most.

Each chapter examines the men and families most prominent in a given imperial period, including an analysis of their houses, and concludes with family trees. The documents themselves, elsewhere difficult to access, are prominently featured and translated in the text, making these discussions available and vivid to all readers."--BOOK JACKET.