Customer Reviews

Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide (Joan Palevsky Imprint in Classical Literature)

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This book is an English translation of Filippo Coarelli's three volumes on Roman archaeolgy published between 1985 and 2003. It is a valuable guidebook to the historian or to the experienced traveller, especially one who takes the time to examine in detail both ancient Rome and the City of early Christianity. The text is clearly written and the book contains numerous and excellent maps, drawings, in its recreation of the City's buildings, churches, and other structures that are so often featured in histories. This is not a general tourist guidebook but a scholarly archaeological survey of Rome and is probably best utilized in conjunction with a sound guidebook such as The Eyewitness Guide to Rome. The text is divided into useful sections grouped around the major historical sections of the City, beginning with the original city walls, and then (among others) the Capitoline, the Forum, the Palatine, the Colosseum, and other areas including the Aventine, Trastevere, and the Vatican, to the areas outside the City, including the catacombs and aqueducts. The book is an excellent resource for the Church historian interested in the great basilicas and other religous structures of the City. Coarelli's book will serve as a wonderful and excellent resource for years to come.

If you are interested in the archeology of Rome with a very good (if necessarily brief) narrative of the major events and people associated with it, I would recommend this book. Given the inherent scale of historical comment that can be made on Rome, I think the book may satisfy readers ranging from those with a casual interest in Rome to those with an obsession! A succinct mapping of what, where, when, and who - back to pre-Republic - is something I've long looked for in a book on Rome, and this book does it very well. Having said that, I don't think this book would suit those who wanted to know how Augustus spun his way to the tribunician power, for instance.

The chapters are set out per geographical area. For example, the first chapter covers the city walls, the next chapter the Capitoline, then the Forum, then the Palatine, etc.. I think approaching the archeology of the city this way is a marvellous stylistic device that walks us through the front gate first, so to speak, and guides us further into the archeology and history as we go. Further, 'itineraries' are set out, which gives a reader thinking about visiting Rome a good idea of how to go about touring the ancient parts.

Each chapter has a clear and concise map of the archeological area and/or monuments being treated by the narrative. I have scanned some of these and printed them on A3 size paper (because I'm obsessed...), so I can include my own notes about tribes, rituals, necropoli, shrines etc, with plenty of elbow room. The topographic map has been handy for that. The only thing I would add to the book would be a hydrographic map of early Rome, which would demonstrate how marshy and waterlogged a place it was until the wonderfully named Cloaca Maxima intervened. There is also an appendix which treats of the building methods and materials, and where the materials were sourced, which is a very interesting bonus.

This book is a must for those that are returning to Rome for a second in depth look. First timers would get lost in the details, but for the serious Rome afficianado this book covered a lot of the new things now viewable in the last decade. Nothing stays static here; there is always change with new discovery.

A very full fledged guide to anyone who wishes to really penetrate the older history of Rome. Here you find everything; not only the obvious sites. The book is quite heavy and not so easy to use as a field guide. Excellent buy!