Walk a day in a Roman's sandals. What was it like to live in one of the ancient world's most powerful and bustling cities - one that was eight times more densely populated than modern day New York?

During the course of a day we meet 24 ancient Athenians from all levels of society - from the slave-girl to the councilman, the fish-seller to the naval commander, the housewife to the hoplite - and get to know what the real Athens was like by spending an hour in their company.

This voyage of exploration chronicles twenty-four hours in the life of a Roman patrician, beginning at dawn on an ordinary day in the year 115 A.D., with Imperial Rome at the height of its power.

Spend 24 hours with the ancient Chinese. Travel back to AD 17, during the fourth year of the reign of Wang Mang of the Han dynasty, a vibrant and innovative era full of conflicts and contradictions. But as different as the Han culture might have been to other great ancient civilizations, the inhabitants of ancient China faced the same problems as people have for time immemorial: earning enough money, coping with workplace dramas and keeping your home in order . although the equivalent in this era was more about bribing inspectors, avoiding bullying from abusive watchmen and trying to keep your house from being looted by Huns. In each chapter we meet one of 24 citizens of this ancient culture, from the midwife to the soldier, the priest to the performer and the bronze worker to the tomb looter, and see what an average day in ancient China was really like.

Describes the people, places, and events of Ancient Rome, describing travel, trade, language, religion, economy, industry and more, from the days of the Republic through the High Empire period and beyond.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 This book takes us through one day in the life of Hadrian’s Rome, with the city seen from the different perspectives of twenty-four of its inhabitants. The people are the city: the buildings and monuments that tourists admire are secondary, important only as the physical echo of the people who built and lived among them. #2 The city of Rome was more than just a collection of buildings and a society of interlocked communities. It was an attitude, and an entrepreneurial spirit that allowed the Romans to believe that, no matter how bad things were, they could always be better. #3 The Roman fire department, the Vigiles, had a special duty to maintain law and order on the streets after dark, but their main function was fire prevention. The city was divided into seven districts for fire prevention purposes, and Brevis and his colleagues were well aware that it was in the district they covered that the worst fire in Roman history began. #4 The Roman watch has the power to break into any premises where they suspect a fire might get out of control. They are not above handing out some basic physical chastisement, and they have long-established protocols for attacking the fire.

“This book will be of the greatest service . . . a scholarly and convenient presentation of a vast array of facts.” –Times Literary Supplement In this well-written and well-researched social history, F. R. Cowell succeeds in making Life in Ancient Rome alive and dynamic. The combination of acute historical detail and supplementary illustrations makes this book perfectly suited for the student preparing to explore classics, as well as the tourist preparing to explore twentieth-century Rome. Lucid and engaging, Life in Ancient Rome is for anyone seeking familiarity with the greatness that was Rome.