Pompeis Difficile Est

"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.