Even two-thousand years hence, the stories are difficult to hear, but they are of course why we’re here - the suddenness of the eruption, the thickness of the smothering ash, and the horrible heat are what preserved these objects and made the exhibition - and much of what we know about Roman life - possible. Roberts told a moving story of a little girl's body found carrying a large number of good luck charms, which she must have hoped would lead her to safety.

In Herculaneum, hundreds fled to the shore hoping to escape by sea, only to die unsheltered on the beach. He told of people taking refuge in their homes when the eruption started only to later discovered they were sealed inside by the weight of volcanic stone and ash piled against their doors. Roberts gave a nightmarish account of the cities’ final hours. The eruption of Vesuvius was fast and violent, and both towns were completely destroyed in the space of a day. Having made a good study of the Roman home, Roberts and the exhibition move on to examine the horrific destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Cornelia est puella qui in Italia habitat. My teacher spent so long on the first chapter that twenty-three years later I can still recite the insipid first paragraph. Finally, Roberts tells us that Lucius is the star of the Cambridge Latin Course, so you may already know him quite well if that was your introduction to Latin. Second, the depiction of Lucius is unflinchingly realistic right down to the enormous growth on his right cheek, which I imagine tells us something about the beauty attitudes of the day. First, though the sculpture was found in Lucius's home, the dedication chiseled into the podium indicates that the work was commissioned by one of his former slaves, perhaps as thanks for being granted his freedom, thus vividly illustrating the upward mobility of freedmen at this time. The bust is interesting for at least three reasons (that’s three reasons in addition to the penis and the Daniel Craig thing, so I guess it’s actually interesting for at least five reasons).

British library monkey