The Last Days of Pompeii

Last updated

The Last Days of Pompeii
The Last Days of Pompeii 1834 1st ed.jpg
First edition title page
Author Edward Bulwer-Lytton
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Richard Bentley
Publication date
1834

The Last Days of Pompeii is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting The Last Day of Pompeii by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. [1] It culminates in the cataclysmic destruction of the city of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Contents

The Last Day of Pompeii, Karl Bryullov Karl Brullov - The Last Day of Pompeii - Google Art Project.jpg
The Last Day of Pompeii, Karl Bryullov

The novel uses its characters to contrast the decadent culture of 1st-century Rome with both older cultures and coming trends. The protagonist, Glaucus, represents the Greeks who have been subordinated by Rome, and his nemesis Arbaces the still older culture of Egypt. Olinthus is the chief representative of the nascent Christian religion, which is presented favourably but not uncritically. The Witch of Vesuvius, though she has no supernatural powers, shows Bulwer-Lytton's interest in the occult—a theme which would emerge in his later writing, particularly The Coming Race .

A popular sculpture by American sculptor Randolph Rogers, Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii (1856), was based on a character from the book. [2]

Main characters

Plot summary

Pompeii, A.D. 79. Athenian nobleman Glaucus arrives in the bustling and gaudy Roman town and quickly falls in love with the beautiful Greek Ione. Ione's former guardian, the malevolent Egyptian sorcerer Arbaces, has designs on Ione and sets out to destroy their budding happiness. Arbaces has already ruined Ione's sensitive brother Apaecides by luring him to join the vice-ridden priesthood of Isis. The blind slave Nydia is rescued from her abusive owners, Burbo and Stratonice, by Glaucus, for whom she secretly pines. Arbaces horrifies Ione by declaring his love for her, and flying into a rage when she refuses him. Glaucus and Apaecides rescue her from his grip, but Arbaces is struck down by an earthquake, a sign of Vesuvius' coming eruption.

Glaucus and Ione exult in their love, much to Nydia's torment, while Apaecides finds a new religion in Christianity. Nydia unwittingly helps Julia, a rich young woman who has eyes for Glaucus, obtain a love potion from Arbaces to win Glaucus's love. But the love potion is really a poison that will turn Glaucus mad. Nydia steals the potion and administers it; Glaucus drinks only a small amount and begins raving wildly. Apaecides and Olinthus, an early Christian, determine to publicly reveal the deception of the cult of Isis. Arbaces, recovered from his wounds, overhears and stabs Apaecides to death; he then pins the crime on Glaucus, who has stumbled onto the scene. Arbaces has himself declared the legal guardian of Ione, who is convinced that Arbaces is her brother's murderer, and imprisons her at his mansion. He also imprisons Nydia, who discovers that there is an eyewitness to the murder who can prove Glaucus's innocence—the priest Calenus, who is yet a third prisoner of Arbaces. She smuggles a letter to Glaucus's friend Sallust, begging him to rescue them.

Glaucus is convicted of the murder of Apaecides, Olinthus of heresy, and their sentence is to be fed to wild cats in the amphitheatre. All Pompeii gathers in the amphitheatre for the bloody gladiatorial games. Just as Glaucus is led into the arena with the lion—who, distressed by awareness of the coming eruption, spares his life and returns to his cage—Sallust bursts into the arena and reveals Arbaces's plot. [lower-alpha 1] The crowd demands that Arbaces be thrown to the lion, but it is too late: Vesuvius begins to erupt. Ash and stone rain down, causing mass panic. Glaucus rescues Ione from the house of Arbaces, but in the chaotic streets they meet Arbaces, who tries to seize Ione but is killed by a lightning strike. Nydia leads Glaucus and Ione to safety on a ship in the Bay of Naples, as because of her blindness she is used to going about in utter darkness while sighted people are made helpless in the cloud of volcanic dust. The next morning she commits suicide by quietly slipping into the sea; death is preferable to the agony of her unrequited love for Glaucus.

Ten years pass, and Glaucus writes to Sallust, now living in Rome, of his and Ione's happiness in Athens. They have built Nydia a tomb and adopted Christianity.

Theatrical, film and television adaptations

Theatre and Concert

Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl by Randolph Rogers Nydia-3, Randolph Rogers.jpg
Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl by Randolph Rogers

Cinema

Television

Notes

  1. In the 1913 film adaptation and the 1984 miniseries, it is Clodius who does this.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Vesuvius</span> Active stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy

Mount Vesuvius is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera, resulting from the collapse of an earlier, much higher structure.

<i>Pompeii: The Last Day</i> British TV series or programme

Pompeii: The Last Day is a 2003 dramatized documentary that tells of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius towards the end of August, 79 AD. This eruption covered the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in ash and pumice, killing a large number of people trapped between the volcano and the sea. The documentary, which portrays the different phases of the eruption, was directed by Peter Nicholson and written by Edward Canfor-Dumas.

Jone, ossia L'ultimo giorno di Pompei is an opera in four acts by Errico Petrella. The Italian-language libretto was by Giovanni Peruzzini, after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's famous novel The Last Days of Pompeii.

<i>The Last Days of Pompeii</i> (1913 film) 1913 Italian film

Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei is a 1913 Italian black and white silent film directed by Eleuterio Rodolfi.

<i>The Last Days of Pompeii</i> (1926 film) 1926 film

The Last Days of Pompei is a 1926 Italian historical silent drama film. The film was directed by Carmine Gallone and Amleto Palermi based on the 1834 novel The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Original release prints of the film were entirely colorized by the Pathechrome stencil color process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">María Corda</span> Hungarian actress (1898–1976)

María Corda was a Hungarian actress and a star of the silent film era in Germany and Austria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pompeii in popular culture</span>

The ancient Roman city of Pompeii has been frequently featured in literature and popular culture since its modern rediscovery. Pompeii was buried under 4 to 6 m of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Carlo Duse was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1916 and 1956. He was born in Udine, Italy and died in Rome, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pompeii</span> Ancient Roman city near modern Naples, Italy

Pompeii was an ancient city located in what is now the comune of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was buried under 4 to 6 m of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amphitheatre of Pompeii</span> Roman amphitheatre in Pompeii, Italy

The Amphitheatre of Pompeii is one of the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatres. It is located in the ancient city of Pompeii, near Naples, and was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, that also buried the city of Pompeii and the neighbouring town of Herculaneum. Six bodies were found during the excavations.

<i>The Last Days of Pompeii</i> (1959 film) 1959 film

The Last Days of Pompeii is a 1959 Eastmancolor sword and sandal action film starring Steve Reeves, Christine Kaufmann, and Fernando Rey and directed by Mario Bonnard and Sergio Leone. Bonnard, the original director, fell ill on the first day of shooting, so Leone and the scriptwriters finished the film.

<i>The Last Days of Pompeii</i> (1950 film) 1950 film directed by Paolo Moffa, Marcel LHerbier

The Last Days of Pompeii (1950) is a black and white French-Italian historical drama, directed by Marcel L'Herbier "in collaboration with" Paolo Moffa, who was also the director of production. It was adapted from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Last Days of Pompeii. The film has also been known as Sins of Pompeii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD</span> Eruption of a stratovolcano in southern Italy during the Roman Empire

Of the many eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, a major stratovolcano in southern Italy, the best-known is its eruption in 79 AD, which was one of the deadliest.

On 5 February AD 62, an earthquake of an estimated magnitude of between 5 and 6 and a maximum intensity of IX or X on the Mercalli scale struck the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, severely damaging them. The earthquake may have been a precursor to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which destroyed the same two towns. The contemporary philosopher and dramatist Seneca the Younger wrote an account of the earthquake in the sixth book of his Naturales quaestiones, entitled De Terrae Motu.

<i>Lultimo giorno di Pompei</i>

L'ultimo giorno di Pompei is an opera in two acts composed by Giovanni Pacini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola. It premiered to great success at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 19 November 1825 followed by productions in the major opera houses of Italy, Austria, France, and Portugal. When Pacini's popularity declined in the mid-19th century, the opera was all but forgotten until 1996 when it received its first performance in modern times at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca. L'ultimo giorno di Pompei influenced either directly or indirectly several other 19th-century works, most notably Karl Bryullov's 1833 painting, The Last Day of Pompeii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luigi Maggi</span> Italian actor and film director

Luigi Maggi was an Italian actor and film director who worked prolifically during the silent era. Working for Ambrosio Film he co-directed the 1908 hit film The Last Days of Pompeii, which launched the historical epic as a popular Italian genre.

<i>The Last Days of Pompeii</i> (1908 film) 1908 Italian film

The Last Days of Pompeii is a 1908 Italian silent historical film directed by Arturo Ambrosio and Luigi Maggi and starring Lydia De Roberti and Umberto Mozzato. It was loosely based on the novel of the same title by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The film was a success on its release, and its popularity is credited with starting a fashion for epic historical films.

Imperium: Pompeii is a 2007 Italian television film and part of the Imperium series. It tells the story of the last days of Pompeii, the city buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. It was shot in the Empire Studios in Hammamet, Tunisia. Mass scenes involved about 3,200 extras. Anthony LaMolinara supervised the special effects of the film.

Based on Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 novel of the same name, the film - one of two different adaptations of the same book in Italy that year - is set during the final days leading up to the Mount Vesuvius eruption in Pompeii in 79 AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garden of the Fugitives</span> Archeological site in Pompeii

The Garden of the Fugitives is an archaeological site located in the ancient destroyed city of Pompeii, in Regio 1 Insula 21. It contains the casts of 13 victims of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

References

  1. Harris, Judith (2007). Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery . I.B. Tauris. p.  166. ISBN   978-1-84511-241-7.
  2. "Exchange: Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii". exchange.umma.umich.edu. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  3. Riemann’s Musik-Lexikon, 7th ed.,1909
  4. Sherson p. 204
  5. "Last days of Pompeii". 1912.
  6. https://herbert-von-krolock.tumblr.com/post/69474149222/pompeji-das-musical%7Ctitle = Pompeji, Das Musical|year = 2008