At the Museums: Window on Pompeii	Volume 52 Number 5, September/October 1999
by Angela M.H. Schuster

Panel of cameo glass depicts the initiation of Ariadne into the cult of Dionysus. (Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei) [LARGER IMAGE]

Of all the cities of antiquity, Pompeii is among the best known, its art, architecture, and objects of daily life forever preserved in volcanic ash when Vesuvius erupted just after daybreak August 24, A.D. 79. The world's oldest dig (see "The New Pompeii," November/December 1997), Pompeii has been under nearly continuous excavation since its remains first came to light in 1748. Today one-third of the city has been cleared of ash, providing a window on Roman life two millennia ago. It is this life that is celebrated in Pompeii: Life in a Roman Town, which premiered at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, Italy, and opens at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), its only American venue, October 17, 1999. The exhibition, which is accompanied by an informative and well-illustrated catalog and CD-ROM, can be seen through January 9, 2000.

Angela M.H. Schuster is a senior editor of ARCHAEOLOGY.

Click here for ARCHAEOLOGY's list of current exhibitions.

© 1999 by the Archaeological Institute of America archive.archaeology.org/9909/abstracts/museum.html