Amid the city’s ruins, the director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park seeks signs of profound religious and cultural transformation to come. 

Recent excavations in Pompeii have unearthed stunning discoveries and a new understanding of how people really lived, revealing a city simmering with tension in an age of great upheaval. From the author of The Buried City comes a riveting account of religious and ritual engagement in and around Pompeii at the time of its destruction in 79 CE, a moment when Christianity was just beginning to gain footing in the Roman world.

Drawing on ancient artifacts and the latest findings from Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, considers how such a momentous transformation might have come to pass. Each chapter takes a different deity as its starting point, exploring the place of the ancient gods in the life of the city and its people. Inviting readers behind the scenes to experience discoveries through the eyes of the excavation team, Zuchtriegel shares insights about Pompeii’s red-light district, where archaeologists have found graffiti that may refer to Christians; excavations in several of the city’s sanctuaries and in nearby Longola, a Bronze and Early Iron Age precursor of Pompeii; a top-secret dig in the House of the Thiasus that has yielded wall paintings as provocative as those of the famous Villa of the Mysteries; and much more. With intimate detail, this book brings to life a raw and often brutal society, capturing beauty and humanity in places both expected and surprising.