A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome: Daily Life, Mysteries, and Curiosities

The wondrous extravagance of banquets where flamingos are roasted whole and wine flows like rivers. The roar of frenzied spectators inside the Colosseum during a battle between gladiators. A crowd of onlookers gathered at a slave auction. The silent baths and the boisterous taverns...Many books have dealt with the history of ancient Rome, but none has been able to so engage its readers in the daily life of the Imperial capital.

This extraordinary armchair tour, guided by Alberto Angela with the charm of a born storyteller, lasts twenty-four hours, beginning at dawn on an ordinary day in the year 115 CE, with Imperial Rome at the height of its power. The reader wakes in a rich patrician home and discovers frescoes, opulent furnishings and richly appointed boudoirs. Strolling though the splendors of the Roman Forum, one overhears both erudite opinions from learned orators and local ribaldry floating out from the public latrines. One meets the intense gazes of Roman matriarchs strolling the streets, looks on as a banquet is prepared, and is afforded a peek into the sexual habits and fetishes of Roman patricians and plebs. For all those who have ever dreamed of traveling back in time, Alberto Angela's narrative style will prove thoroughly satisfying. Rich in atmosphere and historical information, A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome is a voyage into a world both distant to us in time and surprisingly near in its habits, mores, and passions.

Alberto Angela hosts two of Italy's most popular science television programs, Superquake and Ulisse. He is the author of Life-sized Museums (1988) and, with his father Piero Angela, The Extraordinary Story of a Growing Life (1996), Sharks (1997), and Voyage in the Cosmos (1998).

Gregory Conti teaches at the University of Perugia and the University of Rochester. His published translations include works by Rosetta Loy, Mario Rigoni Stern, and Tiziano Scarpa. Most recently, he translated Capital and Language by Christian Marazzi and The Templars by Barbara Frale.