Pompeii by Richard Engelmann
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"Pompeii" by Richard Engelmann is a travel and art-historical guidebook written in the early 20th century. It offers a clear, engaging tour of the buried Roman city, blending history, archaeology, and art to orient culturally inclined travelers to the ruins. The focus spans the city’s destruction and rediscovery, its streets and forums, temples and theatres, baths and houses, and the paintings, mosaics, and objects that illuminate daily life. The opening of this
guide sets the scene with Naples and Vesuvius, recounts the A.D. 79 catastrophe via Pliny the Younger, and explains how plaster casts captured victims’ final forms. It then traces the site’s post-eruption fate and rediscovery, the evolution from treasure-hunting digs to Fiorelli’s scientific methods and in-situ preservation, and the complementary role of the Naples museum. Next comes a brisk portrait of the city’s growth and plan—Oscan and Samnite origins, walls and gates, narrow paved streets with stepping-stones and drains, public fountains, shops, painted notices, and graffiti. The narrative surveys key public spaces and buildings (Triangular Forum, Forum with the temples of Jupiter and Vespasian, Macellum, Eumachia’s hall, Basilica, Apollo, Isis, Fortune), entertainment venues (theatres, amphitheatre, gladiators’ barracks), and the Forum and Stabian baths with their rooms and heating. It introduces the Roman house (atrium, tablinum, peristyle, lararia), wall-painting styles and mosaics (notably the Alexander mosaic), notable artworks and portraits, garden fountains and bronzes, household furniture, and lighting—closing this beginning with a glimpse of luxury silver and bronzes from nearby Bosco Reale that enrich the picture of Pompeian life. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Engelmann, Richard, 1844-1909 |
|---|---|
| Translator | Ely, Talfourd, 1838-1923 |
| LoC No. | 04007317 |
| Title | Pompeii |
| Original Publication | London: H. Grevel & Co, 1904. |
| Series Title | Famous art cities; no. 1 |
| Credits | deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | DG: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Italy, Vatican City, Malta |
| LoC Class | N: Fine Arts |
| Subject | Pompeii (Extinct city) |
| Subject | Art, Greco-Roman |
| Subject | Pompeii (Extinct city) -- Guidebooks |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78658 |
| Release Date | May 12, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 1750 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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