The Last Days of Pompeii
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The Last Days of Pompeii was written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. One of the most widely read books of all time, it culminates in the cataclysmic destruction of the city of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The novel uses its characters to contrast the decadent culture of first-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 favorably 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. There were a few film adaptations of this novel, as a movie [link] in 1935 (starring Basil Rathbone and Alan Hale), and in 1959 and as a BBC TV miniseries in 1984 which counted amongs its stars, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Duncan Regehr, Nicholas Clay, Olivia Hussey, Linda Purl, Leslie Anne Down, Ernest Borgnine, Ned Beatty, and Siobhan McKenna.
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