Pompeii

the earth itself at dusk on the day the eruption ended. They had tunnelled underground like moles, it was said, for several miles, all the way from Pompeii, and had come up where the ground was clear, drenched in the life-giving waters of a subterranean river, which had given them its sacred protection. They were reported to have been seen walking together in the direction of the coast, even as the sun fell over the shattered outline of Vesuvius and the familiar evening breeze from Capri stirred the rolling dunes of ash.
    But this particular story was generally considered far-fetched and was dismissed as a superstition by all sensible people.

Acknowledgements

'I have prefaced these volumes with the names of my authorities. I have done so because it is, in my opinion, a pleasant thing and one that shows an honourable modesty, to own up to those who were the means of one's achievements...'
Pliny, Natural History, Preface.

    I'm afraid I cannot claim, as Pliny did, to have consulted 2,000 volumes in the course of my researches. Nevertheless, this novel could not have been written without the scholarship of many others and, like Pliny, I believe it would be 'a pleasant thing' – for me, at least, if not necessarily for them – to list some of my sources.
    In addition to those works on volcanology cited in the text, I would like to acknowledge my debt to Jean-Pierre Adam (Roman Building), Carlin A. Barton (Roman Honor), Mary Beagon (Roman Nature), Marcel Brion (Pompeii and Herculaneum) , Lionel Casson (The Ancient Mariners), John D'Arms (Romans on the Bay of Naples), Joseph Jay Deiss {Herculaneum), George Hauck (The Aqueduct of Nemausus), John F. Healy (Pliny the Elder on Science and Technology), James Higginbotham (Piscinae), A. Trevor Hodge (Roman Aqueducts & Water Supply), Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski (The Gardens of Pompeii), Willem Jongman (The Economy and Society of Pompeii), Ray Laurence (Roman Pompeii), Amedeo Maiuri (Pompeii), August Mau (Pompeii: Its Life and Art), David Moore (The Roman Pantheon), Salvatore Nappo (Pompeii: Guide to the Lost City), L. Richardson, Jr (Pompeii: An Architectural History), Chester G. Starr (The Roman Imperial Navy) , Antonio Varone (Pompei, i misteri di una città sepolta), Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum) and Paul Zanker (Pompeii: Public and Private Life).
    The translations of Pliny, Seneca and Strabo are mostly drawn from the editions of their work published by the Loeb Classical Library. I made much use of the edition of Vitruvius's Ten Books on Architecture edited by Ingrid D. Rowland and Thomas Noble Howe. The Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, edited by Richard J. A. Talbert, helped bring Campania to life. The volcanological analysis of the eruption by Haraldur Sigurdsson, Stanford Cashdollar and Stephen R. J. Sparks in The American Journal of Archaeology (86: 39-51) was invaluable.
    I had the great pleasure of discussing the Romans on the Bay of Naples with John D'Arms, over dinner with his family in a suitably sweltering English garden, just before his death; I shall always remember his kindness and encouragement. Professor A. Trevor Hodge, whose pioneering work on the Roman aqueducts was crucial in visualising the Aqua Augusta, helpfully answered my inquiries. Professor Jasper Griffin's support enabled me to use the library of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Dr Mary Beard, Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge, read the manuscript before publication, and made many invaluable suggestions.
    To all these scholars, I offer my thanks, and also the protection offered by that familiar rubric: the errors, misinterpretations and sheer liberties with the facts contained in the text are solely the responsibility of the author.

    Robert Harris,
    Kintbury, June 2003