ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD

POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM ERUPT TO LIFE

IN NEW BRITISH MUSEUM EXHIBITION

ANCIENT Rome is set to conquer London nearly 2,000 after the legions first arrived, but this time the Empire comes in peace, with an exhibition at the BRITISH MUSEUM full of artefacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Pompeii and Herculaneum were obliterated when Mount Vesuvius erupted in late summer or perhaps autumn (accounts vary) of the year 79 AD. 

The remains of the two cities have been preserved for eternity by volcanic ash and now many of those remains are to go on display in an exhibition called LIFE AND DEATH IN POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM.

The exhibition, the first major Pompeii show since the benchmark exhibition at major museums during the 1,900th anniversary in 1979, concentrates on the home lives of ordinary Roman citizens on the basis, says curator Paul Roberts, that "domestic life is something we all share".

"We don't all go to the baths. We don't all go to the amphitheater, but we all have a home," said Roberts.

"These are not extraordinary cities. They die in an extraordinary way, but they are ordinary cities in Roman terms. That's why they are so important, because we can look at them and say we have a pretty good idea what was going on in other Roman cities."

Among the household goods on show are jewellery, a rocking baby crib, a linen chest and a loaf of bread.

LIFE AND DEATH IN POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM opens on 28 March and runs until 29 September 2013.