Cultured Travel Guide Books - Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day (5 Denarii) |
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List Price: $22.95
Our Price: $12.52
Your Save: $ 10.43 ( 45% )
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 937
EAN: 9780500051474
ISBN: 050005147X
Label: Thames & Hudson
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 144
Publication Date: 2007-06-11
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Studio: Thames & Hudson |
| Spotlight Customer Reviews: |
Customer Rating:  
Summary: Entertaining, but grossly inaccurate
Comment: While the entertainment value of this book was high, it was, sad to say, riddled with inaccuracies. These ranged from copy editing errors to outright factual nonsense. I was highly disappointed as I have been mightily impressed by Mr. Matyszak's "Chronicle of the Roman Republic" and expected this to be equally accurate. I had hoped to read excerpts to my classes as story/discussion starters. Alas, they can only be used as "what's wrong with this" discussion starters. Read at your own risk.
Customer Rating:
Summary: These Romans are crazy
Comment: A guide for Rome of 200 AD, it is full of history, advice to keep out of trouble, and lots of humor. It really gives you a sense of daily life during the height of the Roman Empire. The chapters really do their best to explain how to get around Rome, from places to eat to sites to see, from the games to the marketplaces, from the brothels to the temples. There is a section that even explains how to change your money. From the page numbers, to the list of useful phrases, you get the sense that this would be a great tour book for a time traveler. If only you knew how to speak Latin and had a Time Machine.
Customer Rating:
Summary: For scholar and layman!
Comment: This text is hysterical! I laughed out loud repeatedly while reading it. There is a wealth of information about everything you could ever want to know about the City of Ancient Rome. Although told as if written for a traveller in 200 C.E., the text makes occasional forays into the distant past as well as ahead to modern times as such excursions become important to understanding what is being said. I wish there had been a bit more detail in some sections, but at least I didn't spot any blatant factual errors. It was particularly useful for figuring out what had and what had not yet been built by the year 200. It is definitely entertaining and well worth a read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Roman Charges
Comment: Five denarii? You've gotta be kidding! Back when I was a kid touring Europe, you could paint Ancient Rome red on a mere two denarii.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Res ipsa loquitur
Comment: I wondered whether this would prove to be too much of a gimmick, but took a chance and am glad I did. The book has just the right mix of facts, impressions, humor, and typical travel information truly geared to an ancient traveler coming to the imperial capital. Both fun and informative from start to finish.
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| Editorial Reviews: |
A time-traveler's guide to sightseeing, shopping, and survival in the city of the Caesars.
Welcome to Rome, city of the Caesars! This informative and entertaining guide provides everything that any tourist needs for a journey back in time to ancient Rome in AD 200. All you need is your imagination and a toothbrush—this book does the rest, describing all the best places to stay and shop, what to do, and what to avoid.
The guide first gives advice on arranging the sea journey to Italy, and then describes the road to Rome and what to see on each of the city's famous seven hills. You learn what to take to a posh dinner party (dining robe, your own napkin, and indoor shoes) and where to find the best markets, public baths, and brothels.
A series of walks covers all the sights of the eternal city, from the opulence of an imperial palace on the Palatine Hill through the bustle of the Forum to the grandeur of temples such as the Pantheon. The largest and most populous city in the ancient world has more than one hundred spectacles to offer, including chariot races and events at the Colosseum where gladiators battle to the death.
Witty and accessible, this book will appeal to history buffs, travelers, and anyone who has ever wondered what it would have been like to visit the greatest city of ancient times.
Advice for the traveler in ancient Rome...
• The best class of overnight accommodation is a hospitium. You will have to share your room with as many people as the landlord can cram in.
• The main course is so smothered in pungent sauce that you may not know what you are eating. Depending on how you feel about delicacies such as snails fattened on milk, this may not be a bad thing.
• If cost is not an issue you can spend over 100,000 denarii a pound for top-quality purple dyed silk, bearing in mind that you can expect to pay the same price for a pet lion.
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