More Pompeii
A highlight of the Rainy Day holiday last month was the reading of Robert Harris' new novel Pompeii. Faithful visitors may recall the review that appeared here on Saturday 13 September, which began with an account of a wealthy vulgarian's banquet in AD79. Numerius Popidius Ampliatus, whose motto Lucrum gaudium! ("Profit is joy!"), has brought him great riches, treats his guests to a meal that includes mice rolled in honey, wild boar filled with live thrushes, nightingale-liver stew and sow's udder stuffed with kidneys, with its vulva served as a side dish.
The lucky viewers of BBC1 TV were treated to more angry Vesuvius last night with the showing of "Pompeii: The Last Day", a mix of drama and documentary, which recreated the final 24 hours of the city. State-of-the-art effects were employed to display the dramatic eruption of the volcano, which buried both Pompeii and Herculaneum in a thick layer of ash. Although the programme has been broadcast, the "Pompeii: The Last Day" web site created to accompany it remains, and it's well worth visiting. With sections such as "Pompeii: Its Discovery and Preservation" and "Pompeii: Portents of Disaster", this is a demonstration of what can be done on the web when resources are combined with creativity and knowledge.
Diarist of the day: H. D. Thoreau, 21 October 1857"Is not the poet bound to write his own biography? Is there any other work for him but a good journal? We do not wish to know how his imaginary hero, but how he, the actual hero, lived from day to day."
