Pompeii and Classical Antiquity as a Modernizing Resource for the Elites in Latin America

Abstract

This article will show how the remains found in the Roman city of Pompeii, in particular, and Classical Antiquity, in general, became, through different means, a modernising resource used by Latin American elites, which was adapted and moulded according to various interests and needs. The expansion of neoclassicism, promoted through the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico, will be observed as a varied process with similarities and differences across different countries, as well as the influence of a Pompeian style that adhered to the more classical European tradition as both an aesthetic fashion and an expression of a new identity. The aim is to approach this study as a longue durée process that extends to the present day. Therefore, a special section will be dedicated to analysing the use of Antiquity as a modernising resource for a new elite, enriched by arms trafficking, corruption, and drugs in the 20th century, through a very specific case: the Parthenon of Negro Durazo in Zihuatanejo (Mexico).