Dr Jess Venner
Oxford Historian, Author, Presenter & Public Speaker.
I’m Dr Jess Venner, an ancient historian, archaeologist, author, and presenter specialising in ancient Rome, Pompeii, and Herculaneum.
Audience & Reach
Through my digital history platform Life in the Past Lane, my content reaches more than 7 million viewers, with a community of over 300,000 followers across social media.
Ancient History Expert
Pompeii and Herculaneum lie at the heart of my academic and public work.
My academic research explores the lives of ordinary people in the Roman world and what archaeology can reveal about how they lived, worked, ate, cultivated the landscape and responded to periods of disruption.
I regularly contribute my expertise on Pompeii, Herculaneum, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Roman archaeology, and everyday life in ancient Rome for documentaries, television, radio, podcasts, publications, and digital media.
My aim is to move beyond the familiar image of Rome as a world of emperors, gladiators, and monuments and recover something much more interesting: what it actually felt like to live there.
Published Author
I am the author of The Lost Voices of Pompeii, published in April 2026 by HarperCollins in the UK and Commonwealth, William Morrow in North America, and Diamond in Japan. It has also been printed in Spanish and Bulgarian.
The book reconstructs the final day of Pompeii through the lives of the people who experienced it, using archaeology and ancient evidence to reveal the city at street level: its homes, businesses, gardens, relationships, communities and extraordinary inhabitants.
