This sumptuous, innovative recreation of Roman life traces the rise and fall of a great empire. Superb illustrations retell the lost story of Pompeii--the life of its people, its conflicts and disasters, and the changing fortunes of a house at the center of it all. Beginning in the sixth century bce, a simple hut becomes a farmhouse, and gradually the farmhouse is swallowed up by the expanding new city of Pompeii. The house grows as the city and its inhabitants prosper. But finally it also suffers the devastating effects of the natural disaster that swallowed up the city--the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. This is the story of the growth and destruction of a house, a city, and an empire. Further, it is a tale of discovery and revelation that tracks the extraordinary archaeological work involved in unearthing and
interpreting Pompeii's remains.