The World of Rome: An Introduction to Roman Culture [Paperback]

Peter V. Jones (Author), Keith C. Sidwell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521386004 | ISBN-13: 978-0521386005 | Publication Date: May 28, 1997

The World of Rome is an introduction to the history and culture of Rome for anyone seriously interested in the ancient world. It covers all aspects of the city--its rise to power, what made it great and why it still engages and challenges us today. Frequent quotations from ancient writers and numerous illustrations make this a stimulating and accessible introduction to ancient Rome. The book is particularly designed to serve as a background to Reading Latin (CUP 1986).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...thoughtful and well written....The book's great strength is its use of concrete historical, artistic, and literary examples to illustrate the complex ideas under discussion....A suitable companion for a beginning student." Religious Studies Review

Book Description

The World of Rome is an introduction to the history and culture of Rome for students at university and at school as well as for anyone seriously interested in the ancient world. It covers all aspects of the city SH its rise to power, what made it great and why it still engages and challenges us today. Frequent quotations from ancient writers and numerous illustrations make this a stimulating and accessible introduction to ancient Rome. The book is particularly designed to serve as a background to Reading Latin (CUP 1986).

Product Details

• Paperback: 399 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521386004
• ISBN-13: 978-0521386005
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #428,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Joy of the World of Rome!, April 1, 2000

By 

C Titman (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World of Rome: An Introduction to Roman Culture (Paperback)

Most Roman reference books seem to present the information in a very muddling way. The World of Rome is a must-have for all those who want to learn about Rome in a progressive, easy to use way. The book is divided into sections on life, religion and is particularly helpful in understanding the poltical systems and leaders. The book covers the period from 1000Bc to 476Ad making it an essential item for the ancient historian who is looking for reference without wanting to spend hours looking through waffle.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as The World of Athens, July 15, 2010

By 

J. Fh "JC" (Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The World of Rome: An Introduction to Roman Culture (Paperback)

Initially, I was a bit afraid to buy this book. I had read "The World of Athens" and thought this book "The World of Rome" would not be able to match it. I was wrong. "The World of Rome" is absolutely incredible, just like its counterpart about Ancient Greek History.

This book concentrates on a lot of important and accurate information. If you want a very good book on the subject, one that really unites both in depth descriptions of some very relevant matters and conciseness, I think you should buy this book and I don't think you will regret it.

Mostly, I was very afraid to buy this book because of its table of contents, which doesn't tell that much about the book and can be misleading. If that's your case also, don't trust the table of contents. The book is much better than the table of contents may suggest.

I also recommend this book if you already know a lot about Roman History and want to read a relatively short book that helps you organize many different ideas, one that enables you to remember things that we naturally forget after time. If that's what you are looking for, I believe this is a great book for that also.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable read, especially for social history, March 8, 2008

By 

Gabriel H. Rossman "sociologist" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The World of Rome: An Introduction to Roman Culture (Paperback)

I bought this book while traveling and finished the better half of it before arriving home two days later.
The core of the book provides an excellent overview of Roman culture in Geertz's sense of culture as what one would need to know to exist in everyday life as a member of the society. Despite the ambition of such a scope, I found the book to be extremely well organized with minimal repetition. There are very interesting discussions of such things as the economy, family, class, and slaves/freedmen. Each is a very solid introduction to the topic and interesting enough to provoke further inquiry through specialty works -- though unfortunately the lack of bibliographic or footnote references to secondary scholarship means the reader must discover such expansions independently. On the other hand the multiple indices (Latin concordance, general subjects, proper names) are excellent.
In contrast to the core of the book on Roman culture, the beginning few chapters on chronological history are rushed and muddled with debates about whether the Gracchi were good or bad that may be lost on a new reader. The historical aspect of the book is good to provide context to the discussion of culture but someone primarily interested in, say, the dictatorship of Sulla would be disappointed by the abbreviated treatment.