Roman Shit.

[quinara]

I think I've mentioned several times that I'm not a very good Museum Classicist, because I find pots and the like extremely dull. This sort of thing, however, I think is pretty much the coolest thing ever:

This particular cess-pit serves a three-storey apartment block in Herculaneum and it is now famous because underneath the settled volcanic deposit Andrew's team discovered loads and loads of the Roman shit remaining -- almost 800 large bags of it to be precise. And in this shit (which I can testify is well and truly composted, as I shoved my hand into one of the bags and found it the constituency of rather fine soil) was found precious traces of what had passed through the digestive tracts of the people living in the block. Not to mention all the other things that they chose to throw down their loos -- which seem to have functioned as waste disposal units/dustbins. A lot of the sieved organic remains are now being studied in Oxford, and they certainly show that the residents were consuming eggs, nuts, figs and sea-urchins.

I hadn't expected to be able to see the chutes coming down from the top storey of the apartment block, nor the smears of calcified Roman shit still clinging to the walls down which it had fallen. Nor had I expected the whole thing to be quite so well built.

Oh yes, we can say, the Romans in the Bay of Naples ate sea-urchins and built very good sewers. BEAT THAT.

Comments

[archersangel]

very interesting

[quinara]

I thought so!

[stultiloquentia]

HAHAHA, the second I saw your title I made a bet with myself that you meant it literally. I was not disappointed!

Sea urchins!

Have you read Pompeii, by Robert Harris? It's about the three days leading up to the eruption of Vesuvius, told from the POV of an aquaduct engineer. It is both geektastic and a ripping yarn. You'd like.

[quinara]

Would I ever let you down? :D

And the great thing is that these people wouldn't be particularly posh. And I imagine urchins were in fairly good supply.

I have - a few years ago now (should probably refresh my memory of it). I loved all the aqueduct bits, but remember feeling like the army bits suffered from what Roman historical writing tends to suffer from: arbitrary levels of swearing and nastiness(? - maybe) pointedly trying to divorce the book's Rome from nicey-posh Hollywood Rome. But I could be remembering it unfairly Have you read his Imperium, though, about Cicero? I really loved that. (It has a newish sequel as well, which I really need to read.)

[stultiloquentia]

Pompeii and Imperium are the only two I've read. You're right about the best parts of Pompeii being the engineering parts. My dad lured me to R.H. with, "Ancient Roman aquaducts!!" but I forgot the title and picked up Imperium at the library first, and then spent the first few chapters whining, "But where are the aquaducts? I was promised aquaducts!" But I wound up loving it and wishing it were five times as long.

I think I remember kyriacarlisle saying that Gillian Bradshaw has recently resumed being interesting, too.

[quinara]

But I wound up loving it and wishing it were five times as long.

So with you there. Thankfully it's supposed to be at least a trilogy, though the second book's taken ages (which is why I didn't realise it was out now...).

Hmm! That's something to consider then. Of course, my current reading plans for the next eight weeks have rather shunted out the possibility of me enjoying English non-fanfic for a while. (The fanfic will remain necessary, however, to stop me going mental.)

[stultiloquentia]

my current reading plans...

Heh. I poked my head above ground after EIGHT YEARS OF UNI and said to myself, "Gosh, I wonder what Stultiloquentias read for fun?" And had the most amazing time finding out the answer was, "EVERYTHING! \o/" Roomie is so boggled by the random stuff I wheelbarrow home.

[quinara]

Roomie is so boggled by the random stuff I wheelbarrow home.

It's like you're a Wikipedia dweller, but actually interested in decent prose...!