The book tells the stories of a Pompeii that is uncharacteristically and unexpectedly Greek. Like all towns on the Mediterranean, Pompeii had well-organised connections with the Greek world, documented since before the founding of the city.
This book follows a non-linear historical narrative, with multiple centres and built on interrelated models, starting from the objects that represent it: ceramics, ornaments and weapons; architectural elements, sculptures from Pompeii, Metapontum, Paestum, Cumae, Capua and Gela, inscriptions in the many spoken languages; funerary objects from various centres across the Mediterranean; documents from the oldest baths, replicas of Greek sculptures, and architectural stone slabs.