Summary of the impact

Alison Cooley's research has changed how Pompeii is taught in schools: her sourcebook allowed inscriptions to become embedded in GCSE- and AS-Level Roman history modules and in Continuing Education courses. She contributed to the exhibition audio-guide for `A day in Pompeii', which enriched the experience of around a million museum visitors in 8 US cities and contributed to museum revenue. Scholastic publishers used her research expertise to make a popular children's book more historically accurate. Through public talks, popular writing, and media consultancy, she has connected public audiences with Roman history. Beneficiaries of her work include teachers and students, museum visitors, the general public, and young readers.

Underpinning research

Cooley's research focuses on Roman history and on developing new perspectives on social, cultural, and political history by detailed analysis of Latin epigraphy. Since joining Warwick in 2000 (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer 2006, Reader 2010), her publications include two books on Pompeii, a manual of Latin Epigraphy, and articles that insert Pompeii into a broad historical context.

• Pompeii: A Sourcebook (2004) offers new translations of a wide selection of surviving sources; overall thematic analyses for each chapter; comments on individual sources; contextualisation of inscriptions within their spatial contexts. It combines linguistic expertise in translating inscriptions from Latin, Greek, and Oscan, with detailed knowledge of their topographical and social contexts. Pompeii's destruction preserved an unparalleled quantity and variety of inscriptions, offering an exceptional glimpse into the life of an ordinary Roman town. The sourcebook makes the documents accessible to an English-speaking readership for the first time: most of them were published only in specialist epigraphic corpora without translation and with commentary only in Latin. A second edition (2013c) includes similar sources from Herculaneum, which tend to be even less accessible than the Pompeian material.
• Pompeii (2003) explores the history of the site, selecting periods in the history of the excavations which were significant for the influence upon them of contemporary political, social, or cultural factors, and explaining the impact of modern scientific research upon our interpretation of the site.
• `Survival of Oscan' (2002) explored the socio-linguistic changes which occurred in Pompeii following its conquest by Rome by tracking the spatial context of Oscan inscriptions.
• `Women beyond Rome' (2013a) set the women of Pompeii into the wider context of Roman Italy, exploring the extent to which local elites rather than imperial women took the initiative in developing new roles as public benefactors.
• `Looking at inscriptions in Roman baths' (2013b) examined the role of monumental writing in bath buildings, placing Pompeii within the wider urban framework of the Roman West.
• The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy (2012) consolidated Cooley's standing as a leading Latin epigrapher. Alongside a technical guide to Latin inscriptions, it explored epigraphic culture in the Roman world; Part One offered a case-study of the Bay of Naples.

References to the research

Grants: AHRC Leave, `The Cambridge Handbook to Latin Epigraphy', Jan-Mar 2010, £22,168.

Research Quality:
Reviews of Pompeii: A Sourcebook (2004) Classical Review 55:1 (2005), 271-73; Journal of Roman Archaeology 18 (2005), 583-86; C. Gregg, Oxford Bibliographies Online, `Pompeii' - `An indispensable work for its examination of the textual material from Pompeii ... goes beyond the literary sources and offers good English translations of public and private inscriptions as well as graffiti: all of this is well documented and explained so that the reader gains a much clearer picture of life in Pompeii.'

Reviews of Pompeii (2003) American Journal of Archaeology 109:2 (2005), 322-23; Classical Review 54:2 (2004), 499-501; Journal of Roman Studies 95 (2005), 315-16; Classics Ireland 12 (2005) - `warmly recommended... as much for the way it reveals how intertwined the ancient world has been and still is with the history and politics of Europe as for how it deepens our understanding of Pompeii itself'; Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.3.35 - `a thought-provoking addition to the growing number of books on Pompeii and will be of great interest to professionals and amateurs alike, and especially invaluable to historians'.

Details of the impact

The research benefited learners and teachers in secondary level and adult continuing education; activities building upon the research brought economic benefits to museums in the USA, and changed the way in which Pompeian social life was perceived by children and the general public.

Impact on Education
Cooley's research (2003) and (2004) has influenced the design and delivery of Roman social history courses in schools, universities, and Continuing Education departments.

• GCSE: The sourcebook features on reading lists for GCSE courses Roman Life and Latin offered by OCR, and the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC)'s Level 2 certificate in Roman Civilisation. According to OCR, from 2008 to 2013 there were 10,621 AS Level entries, and 10,244 A Level entries both of which use the sourcebook. It is recommended in the Teacher Resource Pack for GCSE Classical Civilisation (4020) Unit 3 offered by AQA (1263 students June 2011; 1579 June 2012) and for OCR GCSE Classical Civilisation (J280; 18,913 entries 2008-13).
  AS level: The sourcebook formed the basis for the OCR AS unit 6 for Classical Civilisation `City Life in Roman Italy' (entry code F386) designed in 2008. Using the sourcebook, the course developer compensated for the previous over-emphasis on elite houses and villas, adjusting the course towards a `more rounded view of life in Pompeii, in full confidence that students and teachers would have easy access to the relevant texts and building plans, and to very helpful contextual commentary which would guide them in using and interpreting the material....For example, part of the reason that the temple of Isis now appears on the list of prescribed material is because the building itself, its dedicatory inscription and the dedications from within the precinct were all presented in detail in the sourcebook.' The course designer also `took the opportunity to embed explicit references to the sourcebook into the existing prescribed materials, and selected new items partly on the basis of their coverage in the sourcebook.' The sourcebook is the main resource for inscriptions in the unit (12 out of 15) and is prescribed reading for the building and tomb of Eumachia, the tomb of Munatius Faustus and Naevoleia Tyche, the Amphitheatre, the Painting of the amphitheatre riot, and the Temple of Isis.
• Higher School Certificate: in New South Wales, Australia, Stage 6 (ages 17-18): since 2005, Cooley's books have supported the Ancient History core unit `The Cities of Vesuvius - Pompeii and Herculaneum'. Topics supported by the sourcebook include the archaeological and historical methods used to investigate the site (ch. 1-3); the city plan and streetscape; how to use archaeological evidence to learn about the social hierarchy and local political life (ch. 6); and the architectural features and uses of public buildings (sourcebook and textbook). In the annotated resource list, Cooley (2003) is considered `An excellent reference particularly on new research and interpretations over time. Political influences and volcanology dealt with well. Very good for Section 3 of the syllabus.' The sourcebook was described as having an `Excellent section of primary sources for a wide range of aspects of Pompeian life.' (both p. 70)
• Continuing Education courses: the sourcebook formed the basis for online Continuing Education courses at the University of Oxford (twice yearly since 2009, enrolment typically 15- 20) and Royal Holloway, University of London (since 2007, enrolment 3-4 annually). According to Jo Berry, former course coordinator for `Pompeii and the Cities of the Roman World':
  `The Oxford course was completely designed around your sourcebook...[it] helped to keep the students grounded in the evidence...I really felt that by the end of each course the students were better at using evidence to explain or justify their answers to questions.'

Other educational activities include writing an article `Social climbers at Herculaneum' for the magazine Omnibus (2013), produced by the Joint Association of Classics Teachers (JACT). Targeted at sixth-formers interested in the Classical World, this magazine has a circulation of 1,500-1,600 per issue. Cooley has delivered talks to students taking subjects in Roman social history at Abingdon College (09.2010, 30 audience); Bancroft's Classical Society (03.2012, 20 audience); to the general public at `Pompeii: Excavations Past and Present', Dept. of Continuing Education, Oxford University (02.2008; 118 audience); and to teachers at an OCR Inset day, British Museum (04.2013, 100+ audience). 98% of the audience said that the lecture made them think about the inscriptions in a new way (`Inscriptions are something I normally shy away from so the lecture was fascinating and I hadn't even considered wax tablets!'), and the same number said that the lecture would enhance their visit to the exhibition.

Impact on museum visitors
Cooley was invited by the multi-national company Acoustiguide to contribute to the audio-guide for the exhibition `A day in Pompeii' organised by the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei, and offered her expertise, speaking on 11 of the 26 stops on the guide (nos. 102, 104, 106, 112, 116, 118-22, 124), presenting information on the city's social, cultural and economic composition, Roman gods and goddesses, frescoes, furniture, and jewellery. Cooley was one of four international academic experts who appear on the English guide for adults. It toured 8 cities in the USA (2007-8; 2011-13) where the audio guide was used:

• The Gulf Coast Exploreum Center, Mobile, Alabama (Mar-Jun 2007; 134,790 visitors)
• The Science Museum of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul (Jun 2007-Jan 2008; 297,883 visitors)
• Discovery Place, Charlotte, NC (Jul 2008-Jan 2009; 122,818 visitors)
• San Diego Natural History Museum (Feb-Jun 2008; 131,000 visitors).
• Discovery Times Square, New York (Mar-Sep 2011)
• Museum of Science, Boston (Oct 2011-Feb 2012; 250,000 visitors)
• Cincinnati Museum Center (Mar-Aug 2012; 132,000 visitors)
• Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Sep 2012-Jan 2013; 171,980 visitors).

At museums where the audio guide was rented separately, it made considerable contributions to the institution's revenue from the exhibition. For example, at Discovery Times Square, 39,375 audio-guides were rented at $7 each (total $275,625). The audio-guides were available to rent at $2 for adults and $1 for children at Discovery Place Charlotte, contributing to the $8 million economic impact the exhibition created for the region. The audio-guides were offered free to all exhibition visitors at the Science Museum of Minnesota and the San Diego Natural History Museum. In all instances, the audio-guide added value to the visitor experience: it contextualised the exhibition in current academic research presented in a manner accessible to non-experts, giving visitors a richer and more nuanced understanding of the objects on display, and made for a more enjoyable visit. The impact's reach is demonstrated by the nearly 1 million exhibition visitors who had access to academic research on Pompeii.

Impact on children's publishing
Cooley was invited by the children's book publishers Scholastic to act as historical advisor for My Story, Pompeii, part of a popular series for 9-11 year olds. Her report to Scholastic provided the correct date of the eruption of Vesuvius, corrected names, topography, and archaeological details which stem from her research on Pompeii's archaeological history. As a result, the author Sue Reid changed several of the characters' names to suit their family and social situations and employed the new date of the eruption. A historical note at the end of the novel explains that recent research has re-dated the eruption. Since publication in 2008, Scholastic has 15,000 books in print and in the market in the UK and a further 10,000 in print and in the market in Australia and New Zealand.

Media Consultancy
Cooley was contacted by two media outlets developing television programmes about Roman social history. She was consulted by an associate producer from Associated Producers (Toronto, Canada) who produced the series `Secrets of Christianity (Decoding the Ancients)', which aired in the US (History Channel, 2010), Canada (History Television, 2011), and 9 other countries (2011) . Her research about the `inscriptions in Pompeii that indicate a Jewish presence' fed into episode 3, `Vesuvius and the Fear of God'. Cooley was also interviewed by telephone by a producer-director at Lion Television for the series `Meet the Romans' (BBC2, April 2012). She was asked for input into `how we could use funerary monuments and other epigraphic evidence to let us into different areas of the social history of Ancient Rome'. Viewing figures for the programme were 1.97 million (w/e 22 April), 1.8 million (w/e 29 April) and 2.9 million (w/e 6 May).

Public Impact
Cooley has communicated her research to non-academic audiences: her web article for Warwick's Knowledge Centre (June 2013; 154 unique page views) reviewed the British Museum exhibition, `Life and Death at Pompeii and Herculaneum' (Summer 2013). She has given talks to Classical Association branches at Roehampton and South-West London (03.2013; 20 audience) and Southampton (05.2009, 20 audience); Three Counties Ancient History Society (Upton Snodsbury, 04.2008 and 04.2011, 20 audience); and to Friends of Alcester Museum (10.2012, 40 audience).

Further evidence of the research's reach and significance is demonstrated by the number of copies sold: Pompeii (2003) has sold 451 copies (figures from 2009) and the sourcebook 7562 (pbk), 195 (hbk) and 312 (e-book) copies worldwide during the assessment period. Its popularity has prompted the publisher to commission a second edition (2013c), which includes recent finds from Pompeii and source material from Herculaneum. The textbook was featured in The Times Book Club (17.4.2010). It is recommended by the company Andante Travels for tourists on their Campanian tour (http://bit.ly/15v18xT).

Sources to corroborate the impact

Evidence for `A Day in Pompeii' Exhibition Audio Guide

• Discovery Place Press Release (26 Feb 2009) and correspondence with staff
• San Diego Natural history Museum Annual Report 2008-9, pp. 3, 4, 23
• St Paul-Minneapolis Star Tribune 27 Oct 2010
• Museum of Science, Boston, Annual Report 2012
• Transcript of the Audio Guide

Evidence for impacts on Education

• OCR examination and support material papers for GCSE and A Level; correspondence from OCR
• Publishers' data on sales figures contributed by correspondence
• Correspondence from former Course coordinator `Pompeii and the Cities of the Roman World', Oxford Continuing Education
• Correspondence from course designer `City Life in Roman Italy'
• HSC Stage 6 Ancient History Support Material, pp. 44-8, 51

Evidence for impact on My Story, Pompeii

• Publisher's data contributed by correspondence from Scholastic

Evidence of Media impact

• BARB Television viewing figures (cached pages available)
• Email exchanges with television producers

Evidence of Public Impact

• Attendance figures and feedback from public engagement activities