‘The Buried City' Review: Pompeii on Display
After lying inert beneath volcanic ash for nearly 17 centuries, the Roman city of Pompeii, near Naples, is today a site of continuous change. New discoveries emerge constantly, even as conservators struggle to protect what's been found from damage by weather, looters and crowds. Articles and books about these findings have steadily appeared as excavations expand into parts of the town that remain buried.
In 2021 Gabriel Zuchtriegel, a German classicist then in his late 30s, was given the enormous task of directing this dynamic site. His youth and non-Italian origins made him a controversial choice; some scholars signed a petition of protest or resigned from the academic advisory board in an effort to stop the appointment. In 'The Buried City,' a meditation on both the ruins of Pompeii and his life as a pioneering archaeologist, Mr. Zuchtriegel shows that his selection was an inspired choice. Whether exploring the circumstances that led him to choose his career or depicting a bustling town of the high Roman Empire, he speaks with passion, wonder and deep humanity.
'Pompeii is like a rip in the screen, through which we have the opportunity to take a peek behind the official version of history,' writes Mr. Zuchtriegel. He describes in vivid detail his 2021 discovery of a small room containing the remains of three beds and other quotidian objects. Perhaps it was the dwelling, as well as the workspace, of slaves. A newspaper described the discovery as 'the rarity of the everyday,' and Mr. Zuchtriegel takes the phrase as a rallying cry. 'The 'rarity of the everyday' could also be the title for my personal access to archaeology and Pompeii,' he writes.
'What we found here was different, precisely because it wasn't a temple, grave or palace,' says Mr. Zuchtriegel, just some 50 square feet 'of everyday hardship.' He recounts how he noticed a nail on the wall for hanging an oil lamp and, beneath it, a white painted rectangle designed to reflect the lamplight and increase illumination. Moved by this simple effort to lighten a dark existence, he ponders how the room's occupants, who no doubt lacked paint and brushes, got that rectangle made. It's one of many instances where he reimagines the lives of Rome's downtrodden.
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