The most recommended books on Pompeii

Who picked these books? Meet our 19 experts.

19 authors created a book list connected to Pompeii, and here are their favorite Pompeii books.
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Book cover of The Traffic Systems of Pompeii

Ray Laurence Author Of The Roads of Roman Italy: Mobility and Cultural Change

From my list on the archaeology of Roman Italy.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in London and became interested in history from multiple visits to the British Museum and the Museum of London, but it was on an undergraduate trip to Pompeii that I realized that I was capable of explaining archaeological remains. That realization led me back to Pompeii and then Rome, but also to tracking down the archaeology of Roman roads. Writing has become important to me, perhaps, because I’m dyslexic and I’ve had some struggles to write in the past. Yet, as a dyslexic professor, working at Macquarie University (Sydney), I think I can offer students and readers explanations of history that reflect my ongoing passion for studying the past.  

Ray's book list on the archaeology of Roman Italy

Ray Laurence Why did Ray love this book?

Pompeii is such a wonderful archaeological site and one that allows archaeologists to develop new ways to investigate how that ancient city functioned. This book, through meticulous study of paving, carts, and curbstones even, prods the surviving pieces from antiquity to create a full understanding of how traffic was enabled and hindered by the inhabitants of Pompeii. Plenty of streets blocked to traffic here and lots of detailed archaeological evidence to get to grips with, but coming through the book to the reader is the passion of the author and his need to discover and reveal new facts about Pompeii to his readers.

By Eric E. Poehler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Traffic Systems of Pompeii as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Traffic Systems of Pompeii is the first sustained examination of the development of road infrastructure in Pompeii-from the archaic age to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE-and its implications for urbanism in the Roman empire. Eric E. Poehler, an authority on Pompeii's uniquely preserved urban structure, distills over five hundred instances of street-level "wear and tear" to reveal for the first time the rules of the ancient road. Through a
thorough, yet lively, investigation of every facet of the infrastructure, from the city's urban grid and the shape of the streets to the treatment of their surfaces…


Book cover of Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa

Mark Weston Author Of The Ringtone and the Drum: Travels in the World's Poorest Countries

From my list on travel in Africa.

Why am I passionate about this?

Since I first visited Africa in 2004 I’ve found it difficult to tear myself away. I’ve lived in South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, and Sudan and travelled in all corners of the continent. I’ve participated in a revolution, hung out with the illegal fishermen of Lake Victoria, been cursed—and protectedby witch doctors, and learned Swahili. I’ve also read extensively about the place, written three books about it, and broadcast from it for the BBC World Service. In my other life I research and write about international development for universities and global organisations. This too has a focus on Africa.

Mark's book list on travel in Africa

Mark Weston Why did Mark love this book?

Mungo Park’s journeys into West Africa at the end of the 18th century were probably the toughest undertaken by any of the Europeans who explored the continent.

The trials he underwent, from disease to hunger to attacks by local leaders make modern-day travellers like myself look pampered.

As I recount in my book, I was eventually worn down by travelling in West Africa and succumbed to what was known by the region’s French colonisers as “soudanité”, so I could relate to the depressions Park suffered in much more gruelling circumstances. His account of his travels manages to be both epic and full of humility at the same time.

By Mungo Park,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
The eighteenth-century fascination with Greek and Roman antiquity followed the systematic excavation of the ruins…


Book cover of Incredible History: Lost Worlds Brought Back to Life

Michael Hoffen Author Of Be a Scribe!: Working for a Better Life in Ancient Egypt

From my list on amazing history for readers young and old.

Why am I passionate about this?

My love of history began at a young age, when I first read The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History, one of the books featured below. Reading that book, I felt a deep appreciation for the past that has lasted ever since. When I visited the Temple of Dendur at the Met Museum, I felt mesmerized by the mysterious symbols covering its walls, sparking a fascination with ancient Egypt.

Michael's book list on amazing history for readers young and old

Michael Hoffen Why did Michael love this book?

If The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History is a time machine, then this book does not just bring you to the past; it allows you to interact with it. Arranged in alternating couplets are modern photographs of what a place looks like today, followed by highly realistic three-dimensional illustrations of what the spot must have looked like at its prime (on the next page).

Given this royal treatment includes sites ranging from Egypt’s pyramids, Greece’s Olympic Games, Pompeii moments before its destruction, the Great Wall of China defending an attack, and even a Western frontier town.

By DK,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Incredible History as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

Imagine if you could travel back in time and walk the streets of the past. Where would you go first?

Incredible History turns back time to reveal realistic reconstructions of the most incredible locations and exciting moments in history. You'll feel the roar of the crowd at the ancient Olympic Games, walk the ramparts of the Great Wall of China and sail on the Titanic.

Each story begins with an archaeological site. You'll learn when and how it was discovered, and what it teaches us about how the people who lived at the site might have spent their days. Then,…


Book cover of The House With the Golden Door

Sharon E. Cathcart Author Of Pompeii Fire

From Sharon's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Historian Linguist Traveler Foodie Disneyphile

Sharon's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Sharon E. Cathcart Why did Sharon love this book?

Despite being the second book in a series, it stands beautifully on its own. Amara, the main character, is a freedwoman living in Pompeii.

She has seen her freedom bought from the brothel and has been set up in the titular house. However, she also wants her best friend to be free, so she purchases Victoria from the pimp. The twist, however, is that Amara discovers she can run a lucrative business by renting out her slaves and immediately returns on her word to free Victoria.

This book is rich in historical detail. Again, it deals with politics and women’s roles in a completely different milieu. The characters are all complex and believable, given that no one questions the way their lives are dictated by Roman law. 

Book cover of Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age

Steve Wiegenstein Author Of Land of Joys

From Steve's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Novelist Knowledge fiend Outdoors enthusiast Missourian Ozarker

Steve's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Steve Wiegenstein Why did Steve love this book?

I’ve been on an archaeology kick this year, and this book (a Christmas gift) was right in my sweet spot – detailed but accessible, with a personal viewpoint that brought the four “lost cities” to light.

It helped that one of those cities was near my home – Cahokia, in Illinois, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that I have visited. Two of the others (Angkor and Pompeii) are cities I had only a superficial knowledge of, but now feel much better informed about. And the fourth, Catalhoyuk in Turkey, was unknown to me. An insightful book with a fresh perspective on ancient urbanism.

By Annalee Newitz,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Four Lost Cities as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes readers on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life. Investigating across the centuries and around the world, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the centre of a sophisticated civilisation: the Neolithic site of Catalhoeyuk in Central Turkey, the Roman town of Pompeii on Italy's southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia and the indigenous American metropolis Cahokia, which stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. Louis is today.

Newitz travels to all four sites and investigates the…


Book cover of The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found

Josiah Osgood Author Of Rome and the Making of a World State, 150 BCE–20 CE

From my list on the grit and glamor of Ancient Rome.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a historian of ancient Rome. My interest was sparked in my high school Latin classes. On my first trip to Rome, several years later, I truly fell in love. I could see the famed orator delivering his fierce attacks against Catiline amid the grand temples of the Forum and its surrounding hills. I could imagine myself standing in a crowd, listening. In Washington DC, where I now live and teach at Georgetown University, there are classical buildings all around to keep me inspired. I have written a number of books about Roman political history and have also translated the biographer Suetonius and the historian Sallust.

Josiah's book list on the grit and glamor of Ancient Rome

Josiah Osgood Why did Josiah love this book?

No city of the Roman world survives more fully than Pompeii in southern Italy. Baths, bars, houses, and temples have been recovered, along with pots and pans, foodstuffs, medical instruments, and skeletons with evidence of an appallingly high rate of disease. For a knowledgeable and witty guide to the city you can’t beat Mary Beard, who helps us see it was not all marble columns and pretty paintings. I especially love her description of the House of the Tragic Poet, in which Edward Bulwer-Lytton set an early scene of his novel The Last Days of Pompeii, a dinner party hosted by the character Glaucus. Beard reveals that just behind this house was a cloth-processing workshop in which the main agent used would have been human urine. “In the background to Glaucus’ elegant dinner party,” writes Beard, “there must have been a distinctly nasty odor.”        

By Mary Beard,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Fires of Vesuvius as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Pompeii is the most famous archaeological site in the world, visited by more than two million people each year. Yet it is also one of the most puzzling, with an intriguing and sometimes violent history, from the sixth century BCE to the present day.

Destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 CE, the ruins of Pompeii offer the best evidence we have of life in the Roman Empire. But the eruptions are only part of the story. In The Fires of Vesuvius, acclaimed historian Mary Beard makes sense of the remains. She explores what kind of town it was-more like Calcutta or…


Book cover of The Brothel of Pompeii: Sex, Class, and Gender at the Margins of Roman Society

Eve D'Ambra Author Of Roman Women

From my list on women in Ancient Rome that cut the clichés.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a professor of ancient art at Vassar College where I teach Roman art and archaeology. I have published widely in the field and traveled extensively in the Mediterranean. My first encounters with Roman art occurred as a child in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC where I would stand before Roman portrait heads because their faces seemed stern and grim, yet ordinary and matter-of-fact. I have continued to observe Roman portraits over the years, but admit that I still sometimes find them daunting.

Eve's book list on women in Ancient Rome that cut the clichés

Eve D'Ambra Why did Eve love this book?

Tourists, who are marched through the only designated, purposely-built brothel in Pompeii, stare at the cubicles with built-in masonry beds and wall paintings depicting sexual acts. Richardson pieces together an array of evidence, from various finds and graffiti to the early excavation reports, to assess the experiences of both the male clients and the female prostitutes. According to Richardson, more than sex was provided by the women of the brothel. This book imaginatively reconstructs the activities of the brothel in an intriguing way.

By Sarah Levin-Richardson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Brothel of Pompeii as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this book, Sarah Levin-Richardson offers the first authoritative examination of Pompeii's purpose-built brothel, the only verifiable brothel from Greco-Roman antiquity. Taking readers on a tour of all of the structure's evidence, including the rarely seen upper floor, she illuminates the subculture housed within its walls. Here, prostitutes could flout the norms of society and proclaim themselves sexual subjects and agents, while servile clients were allowed to act as 'real men'. Prostitutes and clients also exchanged gifts, greetings, jokes, taunts, and praise. Written in a clear, engaging style, and accompanied by an ample illustration program and translations of humorous and…


Book cover of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language

Eamonn Gearon Author Of The Sahara: A Cultural History

From Eamonn's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Middle East historian Passionate teacher Father & husband Nature-lover Public speaker

Eamonn's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Plus, Eamonn's 10-year-old's favorite books.

Eamonn Gearon Why did Eamonn love this book?

Good books about language - one’s own or a foreign tongue - are a real reading treat for me. In part, this is because there are never enough such books with just the right balance of erudition and entertainment, with miscellaneous tidbits and tales of local culture too.

La Bella Lingua has it all, and I was also fortunate to be able to spend two weeks in Rome this year, and read it in situ. A wonderful read that spurred my new found love of the Italian language.

By Dianne Hales,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked La Bella Lingua as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A celebration of the language and culture of Italy, La Bella Lingua is the story of how a language shaped a nation, told against the backdrop of one woman’s personal quest to speak fluent Italian.

For anyone who has been to Italy, the fantasy of living the Italian life is powerfully seductive. But to truly become Italian, one must learn the language. This is how Dianne Hales began her journey. In La Bella Lingua, she brings the story of her decades-long experience with the “the world’s most loved and lovable language” together with explorations of Italy’ s history, literature, art,…


Book cover of Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii

Virginia Campbell Author Of The Tombs of Pompeii: Organization, Space, and Society

From my list on Pompeii and what we know about this Roman city.

Why am I passionate about this?

I first visited Pompeii on a school trip when I was 17. I have a clear memory of standing in the Forum and thinking it was the most amazing place I had ever been. Decades later, that feeling remains, and the sites destroyed by Vesuvius have become the focus of my research on ancient Rome. I have excavated in Pompeii, conducted epigraphic fieldwork in Herculaneum, and taught students at multiple universities around the UK about the cities, the people who lived there, and their destruction. I am fundamentally interested in the people, how they lived their lives, and have published widely on tombs, epigraphy, and politics in Pompeii.

Virginia's book list on Pompeii and what we know about this Roman city

Virginia Campbell Why did Virginia love this book?

Imagine re-creating the works of Shakespeare or Milton from the graffiti on the walls of Victorian England – impossible you’d say. But it is possible to find lines of the most famous poets of the Roman world scratched into the walls of Pompeii, and Milnor provides a systematic overview of how and why this literary re-production occurred, what it indicates about literacy and learning, and how differently the ancients viewed writing in public spaces.

By Kristina Milnor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this volume, Milnor considers how the fragments of textual graffiti which survive on the walls of the Roman city of Pompeii reflect and refract the literary world from which they emerged. Focusing in particular on the writings which either refer to or quote canonical authors directly, Milnor uncovers the influence- in diction, style, or structure-of elite Latin literature as the Pompeian graffiti show significant connections with familiar authors such as Ovid,
Propertius, and Virgil.

While previous scholarship has described these fragments as popular distortions of well-known texts, Milnor argues that they are important cultural products in their own right,…


Book cover of An Illustrated History of Interior Decoration: From Pompeii to Art Nouveau

Sally Stone Author Of Inside Information: The Defining Concepts of Interior Design

From my list on the future of the interior.

Why am I passionate about this?

For more than thirty years I have been discussing, formulating ideas, and writing about Architecture, Building Reuse, and Interiors. I lead the MA Architecture and Adaptive Reuse programme and direct graduate atelier Continuity in Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture. I am currently the Visiting Professor at the University IUAV of Venice where I am conducting research on the sustainable adaptation of existing buildings with particular emphasis on the environmental concerns within the inherently fragile city of Venice.

Sally's book list on the future of the interior

Sally Stone Why did Sally love this book?

Mario Praz’s Illustrated History of Interior Decoration is a wonderful chatty collection of case studies that explores the history of the subject in a well-informed and erudite manner. Interiors are generally lost to the mists of time, remembered only as the backdrop to other activities in paintings and prints, Praz has searched out the best of these to generously illustrate the book.

By Mario Praz,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked An Illustrated History of Interior Decoration as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is a reference source for anyone with an interest in period styles of furniture and decoration, this book comprises a complete survey of domestic interiors portrayed in art from the ancient world to the late 19th century. A collection of pictures and watercolours from all over Europe, Russia and America record rooms of all periods and their contents; the furniture, fabrics, carpets, pictures and wall-coverings. This text presents a cultural history of man in relation to his domestic surroundings.


Book cover of The Traffic Systems of Pompeii
Book cover of Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa
Book cover of Incredible History: Lost Worlds Brought Back to Life

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