Summary
Summary of The Last Days of Pompeii
The Last Days of Pompeii at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 9 h 50 min7 h 50 min fast, 11 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 140,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1834by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
Ordinary pleasures hide an approaching disaster
Pompeii carries on shopping, gambling, flirting and dining while a dark cloud rests over Vesuvius. The contrast sets the stakes: people are absorbed in their own desires while danger hangs above the town. Edward Bulwer-Lytton fills the streets with people whose lives will become entangled through love, jealousy, faith and crime.
His aim is to put living people into the empty rooms of the buried city. The town becomes more than a setting: its everyday pleasures make the threat above it feel close.
Key idea 2
Arbaces turns belief into control
Arbaces sees other people as dupes and believes cunning is stronger than force.
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Key idea 3
A lie divides the lovers
Glaucus and Ione find happiness in their shared love of Athens and in the feeling that each has found an answering heart.
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Key idea 4
Nydia protects the woman Glaucus loves
When Glaucus sees Nydia being beaten, he buys her from her cruel owners.
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Key idea 5
Apaecides finds faith beyond temple tricks
Apaecides entered the service of Isis hoping for holiness, but discovered speaking statues, hidden devices and priests who mocked their followers.
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Key idea 6
Jealousy puts poison within reach
Julia wants Glaucus for herself, and the news that he will marry Ione wounds her pride.
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Key idea 7
Arbaces makes Glaucus bear his crime
Nydia gives Glaucus the potion, and his mind breaks.
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Key idea 8
Belief reveals how people use power
Pompeii's religious life ranges from toasts to the gods to trust in the oracle of Isis.
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Key idea 9
Private desires obscure the mountain
Love, envy and crime bind the lives of Glaucus, Ione, Arbaces and Nydia together.
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Who it’s for
You will enjoy this book if you love ancient Rome, lively historical adventure, love triangles, grand villains, and the feeling of walking through a real city.
What this book is
What would you do if the ground shook beneath your feet and the town carried on as usual? In The Last Days of Pompeii, the people of a bright Roman resort do exactly that. They shop, gamble, flirt and dine, while a dark cloud sits on top of Vesuvius.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote this novel in the 1830s, after visiting the ruins near Naples. He wanted to put living people into the empty rooms of the buried city. He fills the streets with a rich Athenian, a blind flower girl, a priest of Isis, a gladiator and an Egyptian sorcerer who rules others through their fears. You get a story of love, jealousy, faith and crime.
In this summary
- 1Ordinary pleasures hide an approaching disasterFree
- 2Arbaces turns belief into control
- 3A lie divides the lovers
- 4Nydia protects the woman Glaucus loves
- 5Apaecides finds faith beyond temple tricks
- 6Jealousy puts poison within reach
- 7Arbaces makes Glaucus bear his crime
- 8Belief reveals how people use power
- 9Private desires obscure the mountain
Two idlers stroll through a summer city
The novel opens in the street, with talk. Clodius, a gambler with noble blood and empty pockets, meets the boastful Diomed, a rich freedman's son. Both are already planning how to profit from their friends. From the first lines, Pompeii is a place where charm and greed walk arm in arm.
Then Glaucus rolls up in a bronze chariot. He is young, handsome and Athenian, and he has lost money at dice to Clodius and does not care. The two men stroll toward the baths and stop to hear a blind girl sing and sell flowers. She is Nydia, a slave who tends Glaucus's garden. When she hears his voice, she blushes deeply, and one strand of the tragedy begins.
On the shore they pass a tall man in dark, flowing robes. He is Arbaces the Egyptian, and everyone makes a small sign against the evil eye as he goes by.
The first chapters show a town full of light and a figure who stands in its shadow.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Check yourself
Why does Ione close her door to Glaucus?
Right. “He tells Ione that Glaucus boasted in the baths that she loved him and laughed about marrying her.”Not quite. “He tells Ione that Glaucus boasted in the baths that she loved him and laughed about marrying her.”
What draws Apaecides toward the Christians?
Right. “Apaecides sees a faith in which teachers and followers agree, which is just what the temple of Isis lacked.”Not quite. “Apaecides sees a faith in which teachers and followers agree, which is just what the temple of Isis lacked.”
Why does Nydia keep the potion?
Right. “She now holds what she believes is a charm that will make Glaucus love her.”Not quite. “She now holds what she believes is a charm that will make Glaucus love her.”
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About 10 h 10 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
Who’s who
- Glaucus
- A rich, charming young Athenian who lives for pleasure in Pompeii until he meets the woman he has dreamed of, and he wants to marry her.
- Ione
- A brilliant Greek poet and singer from Neapolis who lives freely and loves Glaucus, and who worries about her troubled brother.
- Arbaces
- A learned and wealthy Egyptian who rules others through fear and desire, and who is determined to make Ione his own.
- Nydia
- A blind Thessalian flower girl and slave who adores Glaucus and will do almost anything to win his heart.
- Apaecides
- Ione's brother, a young priest of Isis who is sick of the temple's lies and searches for a truer faith.
- Olinthus
- A bold and plainspoken Christian who spreads his faith in secret and urges Apaecides to expose the tricks of the temple.
- Julia
- The vain and wealthy daughter of Diomed, who wants Glaucus at her feet and seeks a magic charm to win him.
- Calenus
- A greedy priest of Isis who writes the oracles, keeps dark secrets and cares most about gold.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 140,400 words
- Reading timeAbout 9 h 50 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about The Last Days of Pompeii
What is The Last Days of Pompeii about?
It follows an Athenian named Glaucus, his love for Ione, a blind slave girl named Nydia and a scheming Egyptian named Arbaces in the Roman town of Pompeii, in the days before Vesuvius erupts.
Is The Last Days of Pompeii a true story?
No, the characters and plot are invented. The setting is real, and the author used what the excavated ruins showed about houses, streets, baths and the amphitheater. He wrote it in the 1830s.
Who is Arbaces in The Last Days of Pompeii?
Arbaces is a rich, learned Egyptian who is rumored to have the evil eye. He is guardian to Ione and her brother Apaecides, and he uses his wealth, charm and knowledge to chase his own desires.
Who is Nydia in The Last Days of Pompeii?
Nydia is a blind flower girl from Thessaly who is a slave in Pompeii. She sings in the street, loves Glaucus in secret and finds her way around the city by sound and touch.
Is The Last Days of Pompeii worth reading today?
It offers a clear, richly detailed picture of daily life in a Roman town, along with a fast-moving plot of love, jealousy and mystery. Short chapters and vivid scenes make it easy to follow.
Cite this edition
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward. The Last Days of Pompeii. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-last-days-of-pompeii.
Bulwer-Lytton, E. (2026). The last days of Pompeii. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-last-days-of-pompeii (Original work published 1834)
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward. The Last Days of Pompeii. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-last-days-of-pompeii.
@book{bulwerlytton2026last,
author = {Bulwer-Lytton, Edward},
title = {The Last Days of Pompeii},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-last-days-of-pompeii},
note = {First published 1834}
}
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