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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent reference,
By Stephen M. Bainbridge "www.professorbainbridg... (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome (Paperback)
Anyone serious about Roman history ought to own this book. Be warned...it is not a narrative text. Don't expect to linger over it at a coffee shop. Instead, it is more in the nature of an encyclopedia. Organized thematically, there are 9 chapters covering all aspects of Roman life: A brief historical overview; military affairs; geography; town life; trade; language; religion; economy; everyday life. Within each chapter one finds a series of short essays, numerous very helpful illustrations and maps, chronologies, and the like. I have been reading a lot of Roman law lately, as well as history of the early church, and have kept this handbook by my side. It has answered almost every question my reading raised about Rome. If it has any failing, it is that it covers only the historical period up to the fall of the Western Empire. Information about the later Eastern Empire is sparse, at best. Having said that, it is highly recommended.
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Informative one-volume encyclopedia of Rome,
By A Customer
This review is from: Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome (Paperback)
One of the first things the serious student of Roman history learns is how complicated the subject is. The neat, orderly account in the freshman history text quickly proves to be misleading (while at the same time a testimony to the painstaking efforts of scholars). When the minutiae become overwhelming, and you have trouble relating or remembering all the parts, that's a good time to refer to this handbook--whether you need to know something basic, like who was emperor in 192 or what the offices were in the cursus honorum, or want to know something more specialized, like which legions Caesar commanded. Its articles have the right balance of detail and brevity to make them useful for both beginning and advanced students. The authors, being archaeologists, devote a lot of space to material culture. Students should appreciate this; classroom study of ancient Rome usually emphasizes literary monuments, and it's the things, the "stuff," the common objects of daily life, which by their sheer ordinariness are least likely to be described by authors. Unfortunately, this does mean that certain other topics are given short shrift. There is virtually no material on Roman law--its content, its development, and its institutions--unless you're content with a few paragraphs and references. There's a great section on arms and armor, but almost nothing on the specific rights of citizenship. The perfect guide to ancient Rome probably hasn't been written yet, but until it appears, I'm using this one and do give it my recommendation. Great for filling in the background of your picture of Roman life.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extremely useful and concise,
This review is from: Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome (Paperback)
Overall a very handy book that should have a place in every classicists library, or anyone who has even a slight interest in ancient Rome for that matter. Only a few complaints. One may come across minor errors and contradictions, for example: At one point it says that the historian Tacitus was the father-in-law of Agricola, but later in the book corrects itself and says that Agricola was the father-in-law. On page 122 on the map of Egypt the Nile river is missing (a rather significant omission that should have been caught). Bio's of the emperors are extremely brief, so buy a copy of Michael Grant's The Roman Emperors. But then again the purpose of this book seems to be to touch on as many subjects as possible in a limited space. The section on abbreviations is particularly useful. Overall, very much worth its price.
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