Simulacrum and Re-enactments: the experience of Pompeii in the nineteeth century

Abstract

This lecture traces the changing experience of visiting Pompeii through the nineteenth century. It argues against the standard idea that there was a shift over the century from a Romantic view of the site to a more archaeological approach (which stressed the reconstruction of Roman daily life). It suggests instead that two conflicting visions of the city (“city of the dead”/”city of the living”) were always held in tension.