Invisible Romans
Robert Knapp(Author)
Harvard University Press
Published on 24. October 2011
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-674-06199-6 (ISBN)
Description
What survives from the Roman Empire is largely the words and lives of the rich and powerful: emperors, philosophers, senators. Yet the privilege and decadence often associated with the Roman elite was underpinned by the toils and tribulations of the common citizens. Here, the eminent historian Robert Knapp brings those invisible inhabitants of Rome and its vast empire to light. He seeks out the ordinary folk - laboring men, housewives, prostitutes, freedmen, slaves, soldiers, and gladiators - who formed the backbone of the ancient Roman world, and the outlaws and pirates who lay beyond it. He finds their traces in the nooks and crannies of the histories, treatises, plays, and poetry created by the elite. Everyday people come alive through original sources as varied as graffiti, incantations, magical texts, proverbs, fables, astrological writings, and even the New Testament. Knapp offers a glimpse into a world far removed from our own, but one that resonates through history.
"Invisible Romans" allows us to see how Romans sought on a daily basis to survive and thrive under the afflictions of disease, war, and violence, and to control their fates before powers that variously oppressed and ignored them.
"Invisible Romans" allows us to see how Romans sought on a daily basis to survive and thrive under the afflictions of disease, war, and violence, and to control their fates before powers that variously oppressed and ignored them.
Reviews / Votes
A unique view of Roman life on the streets, in the arenas, and in the barracks, roughly from the first three centuries CE, written with an engaging prose. It is Everyman who is on view here, so while there are plenty of surprises, the pleasing overall effect is to realize how similar common lives then were to ours now... It is a pleasure throughout Invisible Romans to see how Knapp has used his obvious expertise and depth of knowledge to bring out facts from many diverse sources. His writing is clear, and often witty... [An] exhilarating show of scholarship at a popular level. -- Rob Hardy Commercial Dispatch 20111005More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With printed dust jacket
Illustrations
30 color illustrations, 32 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-674-06199-6 (9780674061996)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Robert Knapp is Professor Emeritus in the Classics Department at the University of California, Berkeley.