“Life in a Medieval City” and “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” by Roger Ling: Comparison Essay

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Introduction

In the current essay, I am going to compare and contrast two books “Life in a Medieval City” by Joseph and Frances Gies and “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” by Roger Ling. The authors of both books describe the history of European cities; the customs and traditions of the cities, inhabitants and their occupations,

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Life in a Medieval City

Thus Joseph and Frances Gies tell the readers about the life in the city of Troyes that is situated on the territory of the Aube region, the capital of the Champagne region in France on the same river as Paris (the Seine). Instead of relying on the common sources of historical records of different people and events living in the time of the city’s prosperity, the book analyzes the life of the city and its inhabitants from the point of view of “everyday” life.

Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife

And the book by Roger Ling tells the readers a story of the city of Pompeii, which was ruined after the volcanic explosion. The city existed in 79 AD near the modern Italian city of Naples in the region of Campania. The book describes the life of the city’s inhabitants, the volcanic explosion, and the results of this very tragedy. It represents the archeological approach to the research of the ruins of the ancient city.

Comparison

From the point of view of the historical aspect both books talk about the history of ancient cities; though the book “Life in a Medieval City” by Joseph and Frances Gies concerns the city which can be found and visited in the present moment, and the results of the activity of its citizens can be observed in the historical museums or different private collections. This book describes the city which preserved its location till our days, though the approach to the study is not purely historical; it represents the everyday life of common inhabitants of the city, the most of them are merchants called burghers.

The second book is “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” written by Roger Ling. The approach to the study is more historical than in the first book, because it tells the readers about the ancient city of Pompeii, analyzes the information acquired during the excavations of the city ruined during the volcanic explosion. The city was discovered in the second part of the sixteenth century by archeologists during the excavations.

The history of the city of Troyes is rooted in the Middle Ages in the middle of the thirteenth century, to be exact in the year 1250. The population was about fifteen thousand people; the most part was engaged in the trade, as the city was situated in the middle of the trade roots. The book tells about the everyday life, customs, traditions, and social hierarchy of the society. Thus the men were engaged in the trade business, they had the right to participate in the political life of the city and make specific decisions, whereas women were responsible for the house maintenance, for making provisions during the daily shopping, forgiving certain instructions to servants, and other trifling duties performed by the contemporary housewives.

The book telling the story of the city of Pompeii is based on historical knowledge, whereas the book about Troyes gives specific information about the life of the inhabitants including the ceremonies, rituals, ways of taxation, different institutions, a great number of professions represented in the city by craftsmen. As the information about the city of Pompeii represents the historical basis, it can rely on the knowledge about the city acquired from different scientific sources; some data received during the excavations, literary sources (though only a few of them can be of historical importance).

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The book “Life in a Medieval City” by Joseph and Frances Gies has features of structure possessed by the novel and the other features are characteristic of the dictionary article or encyclopedia; because the most number of the notions are explained very accurately and in detail. Thus the important people of the city are considered burghers (the merchants), the mason (a highly qualified craftsman), the housewife (responsible for maintenance of the house), and the midwife, jongleur, craftsmen, Jews, doctors, Albigensian, Goliards, and others.

The book “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” written by Roger Ling tells about the impossibility of the reconstruction of the city and its history to the extent that the scientists could easily write a book with the information similar to the data stated in the “Life in a Medieval City”. The author of the book Pompeii tells about the eruption and the life of the inhabitants before the moment of eruption, the results, and attempts to reconstruct the city. Nowadays only ruins indicate the size of the city, its beauty, and the level of development.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, I would like to say that there is a great number of books describing the history of different ancient cities, the life of their inhabitants and the stages of development. The book “Life in a Medieval City” by Joseph and Frances Gies and “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” by Roger Ling are some of the brightest ones in the sphere of historical representation of information about ancient cities. The first one tells more about the social issues and aspects of the life of the inhabitants; the second one gives the analysis of the excavations and reconstruction of the great ancient city to the extent that it is possible to talk about the life of inhabitants.

Works Cited

Gies, Joseph, and Frances Gies. Life in a Medieval City. New York: Harper Perennial, 1981.

Ling, Roger. Pompeii: History, Life & Afterlife. United Kingdom: Tempus, 2005.

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"“Life in a Medieval City” and “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” by Roger Ling: Comparison." IvyPanda, 28 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/life-in-a-medieval-city-and-pompeii-history-life-amp-afterlife-by-roger-ling-copmparison/.

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IvyPanda. (2021) '“Life in a Medieval City” and “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” by Roger Ling: Comparison'. 28 November.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "“Life in a Medieval City” and “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” by Roger Ling: Comparison." November 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-in-a-medieval-city-and-pompeii-history-life-amp-afterlife-by-roger-ling-copmparison/.

1. IvyPanda. "“Life in a Medieval City” and “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” by Roger Ling: Comparison." November 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-in-a-medieval-city-and-pompeii-history-life-amp-afterlife-by-roger-ling-copmparison/.


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IvyPanda. "“Life in a Medieval City” and “Pompeii History, Life, & Afterlife” by Roger Ling: Comparison." November 28, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-in-a-medieval-city-and-pompeii-history-life-amp-afterlife-by-roger-ling-copmparison/.

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