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This entertaining guide provides all the information a tourist needs for a journey back in time to ancient Rome in AD 200. You just have to pack your imagination and a toothbrush! Here is advice on arranging the sea journey to Italy, how to negotiate the road to Rome, and what to see on each of the city's famous seven hills. You'll learn what to take to a fancy dinner party (dining robe, your own napkin, and indoor shoes) and where to find the best markets and public baths.A series of walks takes in all the sights of the eternal city, from the opulence of the imperial palace on the Palatine hill through the bustle of the Forum to the grandeur of the Pantheon and the Temple of Jupiter. The largest and most populous city in the ancient world has over one hundred spectacles to offer, including chariot races and events at the Colosseum where gladiators fight to the death. Philip Matyszak's ingenious book will appeal to anyone who has ever wondered what it would have been like to visit the greatest city of ancient times.… (more)
User reviews
Vinum bellum iucundumque est, sed animo corporeque caret.
(It’s a pleasant little wine but it lacks body and character)
Estne pugio in tunica, an tibi libet me videre?
(Is that a dagger in your tunic or are you glad to see me?)
In hac tunica obesa videbor?
(Does this tunic make me look fat?)
There’s a recipe for glires – stuffed dormice – which doesn’t seem as bad as it initially sounds, it’s basically a dormouse with sausage filling; the going rate for a girl for the night at a rural inn (8 asses) seems rather cheap, considering that was also the price for two loaves of bread; and walking tours of all the sights (ironically, of course, since most are long vanished). There are computer-rendered illustrations of many of the monuments; something of a treat, since the inside of the Pantheon isn’t that spectacular any more.
If there’s a flaw, it’s that the Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day doesn’t include much history – a modern travel guide would include a capsule history of whatever country you were visiting - and that it keeps with the “traveler in the ancient world” theme a little too strictly and doesn’t give the reader much idea of which of the ancient monuments are still visible in modern Rome. Nevertheless, pleasant and entertaining.
It's a fun read and the Useful Latin Phrases in the back of the book are a hoot!