The legacy of Pompeii fascinates us. But is it because it's a reflection on the past or a mirror of the present?

Kenneth Lapatin is an antiquities curator at the J. Paul Getty Villa in Malibu. He holds graduate degrees from Oxford University and the University of California, Berkeley. A Fulbright Scholar at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and a fellow of both the American Academy in Rome and the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts in Washington, D.C., he was a professor at Boston University before joining the Getty in 2002. He is the author of "Chryselephantine Statuary in the Ancient Mediterranean World" and "Mysteries of the Snake Goddess: Art, Desire, and the Forging of History," as well as the guide to the Getty Villa and other books, articles, and reviews.

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