Pompeii
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
Pompeii
by Robert Harris
Review by Jonny Zetterström
Marcus Attilius, an aqueduct engineer and widower, is sent from Rome to Misenum to replace the old aquarius, the man responsible for the aqueduct, who disappered.
Although aqueducts are fascinating they’re hardly exciting; but this story takes place in Campania in A.D. 79 and the vulcano Mt Vesuvius is about to erupt.
The story begins as Marcus Attilius returns from a failed nightly mission to find a new source of water. He barely gets back before a beautiful girl, Corelia, accompanied by an old woman urges him to go to the fish breeding.
Ampliatus, the father of Corelia, has just thrown a slave to the eels. The slave was the care taker of the fish breeding, and the most expensive fishes has just died. The water reeks of sulfur. This discovery leads Attilius to Misenum’s water reservoir where he shokingly discovers that the aqueduct is running dry. The aqueduct must be broken somewhere.
Since the water is still running in Pompeii, Marcus Attilius heads off to repair the aqueduct. In Pompeii he gains a powerful adversary in Ampilatus. The former slave is secretly controlling the city and he intends to mary off beautiful Corelia to one of the men controlling the city.
Corelia discover her father’s plot to kill Attilius and sneaks off to warn him. Meanwhile the earth is stirring and the slaves are afraid of the
giants they believe is causing it all. The people of Pompeii make sacrifice to Volcanus.
This thrilling novel is a great adventure and also a terrific way of learning a lot about ancient Rome. I believe it is historically accurate and a few great Romans are involved in the story.
