Magnificent if it works....

[Minimalist]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25106956

On the eve of the catastrophe in 79 AD, Herculaneum was a chic resort town on the Bay of Naples, where many of Rome's top families went to rest and recuperate during the hot Italian summers.

It was also a place where Rome's richest engaged in a bit of cultural one-upmanship - none more so than Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a politician and father-in-law of Julius Caesar.

Despite being found in Italy, most of the recovered material is in Greek. Perhaps the major discovery is a third of On Nature, a previously lost work by the philosopher Epicurus.

But many of the texts that have emerged so far are written by a follower of Epicurus, the philosopher and poet Philodemus of Gadara (c.110-c.40/35BC). In fact, so many of his works are present, and in duplicate copies, that David Sider, a classics professor at New York University, believes that what has been found so far was in fact Philodemus's own working library. Piso was Philodemus's patron.

Due to the annoying tendency to re-cycle names within the family the Piso they refer to could not have been the owner at the time of the explosion. There were several members of the Calpurnian gens named Lucius who served as consul with the likely candidate for owning the villa at the time of the eruption being the one who served with Nero in 57 or his son.

The family remained influential throughout the second century with a number of them attaining the rank of consul.

All of which makes it unlikely that 100 years after Philodemus' death there would have been a special library just for him but it is interesting speculation. More likely they just broke into the "P" section.

[Anomalocaris]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25106956

On the eve of the catastrophe in 79 AD, Herculaneum was a chic resort town on the Bay of Naples, where many of Rome's top families went to rest and recuperate during the hot Italian summers.

It was also a place where Rome's richest engaged in a bit of cultural one-upmanship - none more so than Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a politician and father-in-law of Julius Caesar.

Despite being found in Italy, most of the recovered material is in Greek. Perhaps the major discovery is a third of On Nature, a previously lost work by the philosopher Epicurus.

But many of the texts that have emerged so far are written by a follower of Epicurus, the philosopher and poet Philodemus of Gadara (c.110-c.40/35BC). In fact, so many of his works are present, and in duplicate copies, that David Sider, a classics professor at New York University, believes that what has been found so far was in fact Philodemus's own working library. Piso was Philodemus's patron.

Due to the annoying tendency to re-cycle names within the family the Piso they refer to could not have been the owner at the time of the explosion. There were several members of the Calpurnian gens named Lucius who served as consul with the likely candidate for owning the villa at the time of the eruption being the one who served with Nero in 57 or his son.

The family remained influential throughout the second century with a number of them attaining the rank of consul.

All of which makes it unlikely that 100 years after Philodemus' death there would have been a special library just for him but it is interesting speculation. More likely they just broke into the "P" section.

The Piso they refer to would have to be at least 140 years old at the time of the eruption.

[Minimalist]

Right...plus he is estimated to have died in 43 BC which would make him really ripe by 79 AD, as well.