Last Supper in Pompeii, Ashmolean Museum

The story of Pompeii is well known. In 79 AD the thriving town was suddenly and thoroughly destroyed by a cataclysmic volcanic eruption. Such was the extent of the destruction, it wasn't rediscovered until 1748. Archeologists continue to uncover the concealed treasures of Pompeii to this day. From exquisite mosaics to everyday crockery, every discovery provides an insight into the daily lives of the inhabitants of this ill-fated city. Now, a new exhibition at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum puts the appetites of antiquity under the spotlight by delving into Pompeian dining rituals.

This ancient Roman city was something of a southern Italian paradise. Fertile lands and plentiful oceans provided a steady stream of wine, olive oil and seafood in such generous quantities that the city could export its gourmet products across the Roman Empire. Material evidence of this prosperity has been preserved under layers of ash, from the remnants of dining rooms to food carbonised during the eruption. The exhibition will include around 300 artefacts in all – many of them never seen outside of Italy.

Highlights of the exhibition include a reconstruction of a Pompeian dining room with frescoes from one of the city’s most opulent villas. Lavish furnishings will be recreated, along with a four-foot statue of Apollo which functioned as a tray-bearer. One of the most astonishing exhibits will surely be the resin cast of a wealthy woman, who almost certainly would have taken part in sumptuous banquets. Such casts reveal the final postures of people who were encased by the volcano's searing ash.

Dr Xa Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean says that the exhibition will offer ‘a delicious glimpse into the world of Pompeii and Roman Britain', helping us ‘make a connection with the people of the ancient world’.