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Robert Harris's Pompeii: Fact Or Fiction?

1312 Words6 Pages

Sometimes while writing a historical fiction, events become more factual than fictional. A perfect example of this happening in a historical fiction, is the book Pompeii by Robert Harris. Pompeii takes place in 79 AD during the days prior to the destructive eruption of Mount Vesuvius which destroyed all of the Roman town Pompeii. The location of the book are the cities or towns that surround the Aqua Augusta, such as Misenum and Pompeii. Harris’s exceptionally descriptive anecdote of the events leading to the volcanic eruptions implores readers to wonder if some of the events in this fictional story could have actually happened. This book isn’t limited to only events that could be closer to facts then fiction, it also encompasses culture, ideas, and more. Throughout this essay, pieces of the book will be analyzed to see if they are closer to fact than fiction or fiction than fact, thus the ability to conclude if Pompeii is closer to fact or fiction or a mix of both will be presented. The aquarius …show more content…

Pliny was an author and philosopher among many other professions. In the book he his described by being quite large and in need of help to walk because of his size. Although, there is no way of proving that he was large with the information we have today. But, at the end of the book he requests that his nephew finish his recall of the eruption and in real life he does and that Pliny dies in Pompeii (Harris 272). Pliny was a very popular and influential writer in his day and continued to be one even after his death as carried out by Pliny the Younger. This book did a great job of getting him involved with the story as it was already written. The books account is probably somewhat based off Pliny and Pliny the Younger’s account. After all, eruptions such as the one at Mount Vesuvius, got to be called “Plinian” eruptions (Harris 273, Keenan-Jones

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