ROMAN POMPEII, Space and society
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loginThis book is about Pompeii—a city much studied by others. However, the social meaning of Pompeii has seldom been addressed. Pompeii is an archaeological artefact of immense complexity: after all, it was a city. At times it may appear that I explain aspects of this artefact in historical terms, at others in a more archaeological framework. As a result this book might be seen by some (e.g. Klejn 1993) as an academic heresy. However, the past should be approached from both perspectives. After all, both subjects seek to explain the same object—the past. The division between these two disciplines is hard to conceptualise. Archaeology confronts history, and history confronts archaeology. By archaeology, I do not mean the narrow perspectives of classical archaeology. The influence of the debates in theoretical archaeology, conducted principally by prehistorians, can be identified in what follows. Too often, ancient historians and classical archaeologists have isolated themselves from the main debates in archaeology and history. Therefore, I have sought to interpret the Pompeian evidence in the light of developments in archaeology and history. I have also drawn upon the methods and preoccupations of architects, geographers and social scientists. The object has been to explain the ancient city of Pompeii in its social and spatial context; and above all to interpret the evidence. The book contains both my own research and a synthesis of the work of others. The latter is included to make Pompeii more accessible to a wider audience. It will be noted that I have concentrated upon public space and social interaction, at the expense of the private or domestic context. There is a reason for this. Domesticity in Pompeii is being approached from a number of new angles, and much of this work has yet to be published. In fact, in the near future, we may look forward to a revolution in the way the Pompeian house is studied. Until this work is published, it will not be possible to account for domestic space in Pompeii adequately. Thus, I leave it to one side and examine primarily public space and the social interaction that took place within it.
