HSAR 252: Roman Architecture

Lecture 4 - Civic Life Interrupted: Nightmare and Destiny
on August 24, A.D. 79
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Overview:

Professor Kleiner explores the civic, commercial, and religious buildings of Pompeii, an overview made possible only because of an historical happenstance--the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, which buried the city at the height of its development. While the lecture features the resort town's public architecture--its forum, basilica, temples, amphitheater, theater, and bath complexes--Professor Kleiner also describes such fixtures of daily life as a bakery and a fast food restaurant. The lecture culminates with a brief overview of tomb architecture in Pompeii and a moving account of what happened to the inhabitants of the city of Pompeii when disaster struck.

Reading assignment:

Claridge, Amanda. Rome, pp. 53-58 (glossary of building types)

Ward-Perkins, John B. Roman Imperial Architecture, pp. 157-166

Class lecture:

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Credits:

The lectures in HSAR 252 are illustrated with over 1,500 images, many from Professor Kleiner's personal collection, along with others from a variety of sources, especially Wikimedia Commons, Google Earth, and Yale University Press. Some plans and views have been redrawn for this project. For specific acknowledgments, see:
Image Credits - Lecture 4 [PDF]