ancient

Simply the best sourcebook for teaching Roman History. While Ms. Shelton is obsessed with footnotes, she has organized a myriad of helpful documents in the best possible way. This book is a real treasure.

This book is great because it covers various diverse areas in Roman life. It describes how the Romans had orgies, ate, cooked, drank, fought, worshiped, seduced each other, cheated on their partners, attended games, voted, made money, treated their slaves, accused others in court, defended themselves from accusers, cursed their enemies, praised gladiators, respected their ancestors, married, divorced, adopted, wrote, watched plays, studied in school, et cetera, et cetera... This book is by no means another lengthy discussion on the social history of Rome. Instead it's made up of short introductions by the author and numerous original excerpts from ancient time with plenty of footnotes for better understanding. And many of the excerpts are quite juicy and funny. A good toolbook for both serious historians and leisure readers.

An extraordinary book, it alternates concise, cogent discussions of every aspect of Roman life with equally concise, cogent and elegantly translated short selections from Roman sources that illuminate the topic, serving both as a window on the lives of the Romans and as a comprehensive introduction to the wealth of Roman literature and documents that have survived. I was always entertained and often surprised and moved by the insights the book offered into Roman attitudes about government, religion, family life, economic striving, military affairs, and much, much more. Ranging from the laments of dramatists about the short attention spans of their audiences to the complaints of neighbors about the noise of early morning classes for school children, the book is so comprehensive - and Rome has so pervasively influenced our lives today - that a selection even explains why for over two thousand years grooms have traditionally carried their brides across the threshold.