Rome à l'apogée de l'empire: La vie quotidienne

by Jérôme Carcopino

Rom under kejsartiden - medelpunkt i ett rike som omfattade "huvudparten av jorden och den mest civiliserade delen av människosläktet" - är en värld så avlägsen vår egen i tid och rum, och ändå så nära inpå oss när den tvärs igenom två årtusenden träder oss till mötes i denna berömda tidsskildring. Carcopino förenar historikerns beläsenhet och vetenskapliga noggrannhet med kulturreporterns öga för måleriska detaljer och tidstypiska drag, och som ciceron i det gamla Rom söker han sin like. Stadsplanen, trafikproblemen och gatulivet ägnas ett kapitel, och de sociala klasserna, umgängessederna och levnadsättet belyses, liksom religionen, undervisningen, familjelivet och kvinnans ställning. Vi får en inblick i rättskipningen och det politiska livet, och vi möter olika yrkesutövare: vinhandlaren, bagaren, barberaren, färgaren, timmermannen, elfenbenssnidaren, ja till och med barnmorskan och stenografen. På fritiden träffar vi samma människor vid idrottsarenorna, i de berömda badhusen eller på tavernorna. Och i skuggan av kolonnaderna ser vi Roms unga dagdrivare samlas för att med kännarmin studera den kvinnliga fägringen - alldeles som på Via Veneto 2000 år senare.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Roman History, Italy, Roman, Classical Studies

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Jérôme Carcopino was a French historian, academic and government official. In 1955, he became the fifteenth member elected to occupy seat 3 of the Académie Française.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this one up at my favorite resale shop in San Francisco, carrying it back to Chicago to read, the only book purchased there held on to. The rest were given away to various hosts.

Although translated from the French and although old, dating from 1940, Carcopino's reconstruction of late Republican and early Imperial Rome reads well, evincing excellent work by translator Lorimer. Some of the data derives from archaeology, most from classical sources. From this the author gives his take on daily life in the ancient city, frequently interjecting his own opinions and occasionally (as, f.i., in making population estimates) representing the disagreements between himself and other scholars.

The only complaint I have about the text has to do with my ignorance of modern Rome, never having been there myself. The author makes many geographical references to modern sites and structures but the text lacks maps of either the antique or the contemporary city.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
fantastically richly detailed and lyrical prose bringing you closer than ever to the life of Romans but some really antiquated and bigoted chapters about women and slavery in Rome spoil it. Also I looked up the author and he was a Vichy government minister 💀 L.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plentiful, overbrimming account that I read to understand Roman and 14C Florentine life, and re-read parts when visiting Pompei and Herculaneum--the latter actually has corner food stalls which like the taverns, "tabernae," spread into the street, as did the barber, cutting hair in the middle of the via.
Originally written in French, my translation has occasional odd words, like "footpads" for thieves, "raptores"(48). These were among the many criminals to be feared at night, and famously, a wealthy landowner Sextus Roscius was murdered in Sulla's time, and Cicero defended the son against the accusation of being "sicarii"/assassin.
Rome was so famous for crime at night that Juvenal says going out to dine without having made your will is to leave yourself open to accusations of carelessness.
And Roman education was so bad that rather than improving students morals, the teachers undermined them [often with pederasty, my speculation]. "Instead of happy memories, school children carried away with them ...years wasted in senseless, stumbling repetitions punctuated by savage punishments"(107). May I footnote this by my Milanese grandson's experience in a modern Italian classical HS: His English, spending every summer in the US, was superior to his professoressa's, so she flunked him. You do NOT surpass an Italian teacher. (And in grammar school, he "stayed back" because he had crumbs in his backpack, his Mom too busy to whisk them out. The principal reprimanded the teacher, but could do nothing because of the strength of Italian unions--I add as a lifetime union professor.)

Interesting on Roman money, and the hours of the day, which varied in winter and summer, and they varied in length, 44 minutes per daylight hour around the Winter Solstice (when I write this), since the twelve "hours" divided about 9 hours of sunlight; while the night-time hours, also twelve, divided 15 hours, so each night hour was 1 hr 15 minutes. While at the Summer Solstice, the twelve "oris" divided 15 hours, so bout 1 hr 15 minutes each.
Hours became standardized, of equal length, in the Middle Ages, when each hour was ruled by a "planet" just as the days of the week are: "Monday"/ Lunedi for the influence of the Moon, Tuesday /Mardi for the Norse God of War, etc. Our weekdays depend on the geocentric order of Five planets plus the Sun and Moon. (So 24 hours are divided by 7 dominances.) For instance, the Moon rules the first hour of Monday, 6 AM, and also 1 PM and 8 PM. The next day's first hour is dominated by Mars, which is 3 "planets" (24 hours-21= 3) further in the geocentric order: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. [See Walter Clyde Curry, Chaucer and the Medieval Sciences.]
If there were 8 "planets"or as the Beatles say, Eight Days a Week, 24 ÷ 8= 3, so the day would never change! Or we might also risk a planet called "Ur Anus," for which the polite pronunciation is no better: "Urine-us."

I must admit, I cannot conceive a day or night in which the hours vary. No wonder Romans feared night-time crime. In winter, the Ladri had longer hours to steal--and of course, poor lighting to do it in. But Carcopino points out that the main threat of Roman night was losing your way home, arriving at dawn.

[Rossdavidh]

This book, written in 1940 by a Frenchman and translated into English soon thereafter, is meant to give us a glimpse into ancient Rome as lived by people who were neither emperors nor military leaders, in the conduct of their daily and yearly life rather than on the battlefield or in political intrigue. It mostly succeeds. Of course, not being an expert in the field, I cannot say to what extent learning on the topic has advanced in the 80 years since it was written; I have to assume that at least some of it has been revised or overturned entirely since then. But it does succeed at least in reminding us that there was, beneath every king of the hill who we see in marble statue form, a vast pyramidal society of human beings below.

We hear about things like what furniture they had, how they lit their homes, when they slept and what the streets were like at night. The city is revealed to have been an entirely too noisy place, full of a riot of smells and sounds that would probably overwhelm most residents of a modern western city. We see just how nasty, brutal, and epic in scale the mass entertainments were. We learn some nuances to how the institution of slavery worked in ancient Rome, for example that the slaves of the emperor (and others among the very high ranking) were much more powerful than most free citizens.

We also learn something about the biases and attitudes of Carcopino (the author). For example, he does not seem to have approved entirely of the Roman trend towards more and more freedom of action for women as the generations went by. It's a reminder that every work of history is a reflection not only of the topic studied, but of the perspective from which it is studied. Carcopino appears to be one of those, numerous throughout western history ever since the fall of Rome, for whom Rome forms the Great Lesson of History. In his case, while he is not unbearably preachy about it, he seems to see a tale of moral degeneracy, of wealth leading to decadence leading to corruption.

Which, to be fair, is not a difficult impression to get from the history of Rome. The tales of orgiastic excesses of food, wine, violent entertainment, and public spectacle are literally impossible to imagine occurring in any society not being propped up by rivers of tribute flowing in from other, less wealthy societies. He represents the education systems of the day as being primarily focused on cultivating rhetorical prowess among the ruling elite, rather than any practical skill, either military or civilian. When the best educations of the day are all focused on the art of convincing others, there is a general assumption built into that: we don't need to do, we just need to command that it be done.

But, by and large, this is not a book about the people who were using those rhetorical flourishes to further their byzantine (pun intended) schemes; this is a book about the way the masses of Rome slept, ate, bathed, gambled, traded, traveled, worked, worshipped, and lived their lives from day to day.

[Fred Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking at other reviews, I'm not sure we all read the same book! Quot homines, tot sententiae. I first read this long ago as an undergraduate. I no longer have that copy, but the newer second edition with an introduction and bibliographical update by Mary Beard. Definitely get this one if you are reading it. Carcopino covers the basics of everyday life in imperial Rome of the second century AD, a time of which Gibbon said “If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus.” The first part covers various theories on the population of Rome, the physical characteristics of the city (streets, public buildings, housing), social organization, family, education, and religion. The second covers the Roman day: morning, occupations, public entertainments, and afternoon and evening. While some oof the content is dated, most is still quite accurate. Carcopino had a thorough command of the literary and epigraphic sources, and knew well the archaeological remains of Rome and Ostia. If you want to know about everyday life in Rome, this is still the best single volume. I especially appreciate the many Latin terms for everyday items that Carcopino provides (you won't run across a lot of them in a typical college Latin curriculum). The biggest drawback is lack of maps and illustrations.

[Freca - Narrazioni da Divano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continua il mio approfondimento sulla vita quotidiana nella capitale, con grande sfizio. Questo è curatissimo, ricco anzi strabordare di dettagli: mostra l' evoluzione dei costumi e tanti aspetti minori della vita di tutti i giorni. L' ho trovato più approfondito e corposo del volume sulla Roma Repubblicana che pure aveva molti spunti, e con una impostazione prettamente classica che personalmente apprezzo sempre: una chiara divisione per argomento, infine, che permette di orientarsi e di consultarlo a necessità.
Personalmente ho apprezzato in particolare l'excursus sulla legislazione dello stato di famiglia, i divertimenti, la cultura, la religione, soprattutto come questa si sia evoluta e sia stata influenzata dall'oriente e dal cristianesimo poi, e infine la divisione del tempo: i momenti dell'anno e come fosse organizzata una giornata tipo.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author was a Vichy minister and it’s pretty obvious at some points — he’s obsessed with Rome’s intellectual “decline” and can’t find a bad word to say about classical slavery. Still, the writing is very evocative and transporting.

[Daniel Gonçalves · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazingly detailed account of what it was like to be alive during the zenith of the roman empire. The author describes the lifestyle of a roman citizen in an entertaining and informative way. A book targeted to people who enjoy history, and who show ravenous apetite for genral knowledge.

[Moonglum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this immediately after Mary Beard's SPQR, and in that context the authori seems too gushing in his love for Ancient Rome and not questioning enough. Where Mary Beard is a scientist, Carcopino is a gushing gossip. None the less, the gossip is quite fun and interesting.

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

FULL NERD DISCLOSURE: I picked this up to give myself a decent research backbone for a piece of fan fiction I was writing (wow, that is - pretty nerdy). I didn't need an excess of details but wanted to start somewhere and find some interesting facts about ancient Rome without, you know, going back to college and getting another major. The book feels dated (writing style, research methodologies) but it's a decent place to start, especially if you were reading it just to dip your toe in the waters of the history of Rome, perhaps to write your own 'AU' version of your favorite video game or movie characters.

PS I ordered 'The Secrets of Rome: Love and Death in the Eternal City' - a newer book by Corrado Augias but it's been out of stock on Amazon for months now!

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic study, but occasionally chauvinistic. The author tends to rely on a small number of literary sources (Juvenal, Petronius, and Martial) rather than using contemporary letters and other documents as much as I would have preferred.

[Giulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really enjoyable read! It was lively and discursive while telling a lovely tale. It wasn't too long-winded or too academic, save the portions where they assume you know the Latin. Otherwise, I would really recommend this to get a good understanding about Roman history.

[Vladimiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un po' vecchiotto e ogni tanto moraleggiante, ma imprescindibile per precisione e per ricorso alle fonti.

[Francesca]

Written in the 1930's and it shows. Bye bye for now.

[candela]

no sé si lo sabíais pero “César no se afeitó el día en que los eburones masacraron a sus lugartenientes; […]”

[No One · Rating 1 out of 5]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Samantha Greenya · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the author completely exhausts his subject in an interesting way, the reader is often confused by conflicting statements mainly pertaining to different time periods. For example, the author states that women had much freedom and will then claim that they did not have much freedom. While this is eventually explained at the end of the chapter/section, it makes fully understand the text difficult.
Because the author wrote this story by subject and not by time period, it is sometimes hard to understand. Carcopino explains several time period at once and they often run into each other. This makes understanding the target time period much more arduous. His attempt to "focus" on one time period is rather weak. He accomplishes this only by stating that "this is the time period we are focusing on" whenever it pertains. While this does give the reader a more complex understanding of ancient Rome as a whole, it negates the author's leading statement that it is crucial to stick to one time period and one class to focus on. If he had not stated this, I would probably be praising him for this same tactic.
The author seems to forget that this book is historical and archaeological which means that it should be unbiased. He seems to be anti-feminist, a Christian, and almost racist. This takes away from the book's meaning but may have gone unnoticed in the 1940's because of the general public's belief system.
Latin is used constantly throughout the book with little to no translation. While sometimes the definition is explicitly stated or easily inferred through context clues, this is often not the case. Occasionally, the translation could be found in the back of the book, but it's position there instead of on the page mentioned forces the reader to constantly flip pages or completely ignore the footnote. This use of Latin, while used properly could have enhanced the story greatly, took more from the story than it gave.
Juvenal, Pliny (the younger and the elder), and Martial are referred to constantly and believed almost immediately as fact. While their works are certainly a great tool for understand the time period and are fantastic for supporting evidence, sometimes Carcopino uses their works as fact without finding other things to support it.
Through all its flaws, this book did do a more than adequate job at capturing and maintaining the reader's attention. Every subject was exhausted thoroughly and the author did not repeat anything that he had already said, unless it was necessary, which is not small task. He used a variety of sources (where possible) and seemed to be genuinely interested and knowledgeable about his subject. The book was well-written and used a higher vocabulary without taking away from the meaning of the story but enhancing the reader's understanding of the English language.

[Aiden O'Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original and best. It's an unsettling experience to read this book.

It is impossible to look at the Roman world in the same manner as one might look at Viking society, or at the Incas. The modern person will maybe disapprove of the Viking adulation of violence, or human sacrifice, etc. But nobody feels a sense of outrage at their moral failings.

But with the Romans an extra level of disgust comes into play. They were steeped in hypocrisy. They are too close (yet far in time) to coolly regard as objects of study. The social progress, sophisticated laws to protect the weak, changes in the status of women, broadening out of rights – all these beg to be seen as progress, as a reaching out towards the enlightened state of our present society.

And there’s the rub. Looking at the Roman world forces us to think of whether progress and enlightment exist at all. And do we all share the same notion of what constitutes progress?

Carcopino seems tuned to perceive decadance and the beginning of decline almost everywhere. And there are some developments in ancient society which he notes but which now – 80 years after he wrote them – will resonate differently with the reader.
“Speculation was the life-blood of an economic system where production was losing ground day by day and mercantalism was invading everything. Work might still earn a modest living, but no longer yielded such fortunes as the chance of imperial favour or a speculative gamble might bestow. Middlemen and entertainers … raked in millions.”

[nettebuecherkiste · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book during my visit to the Forum in Rome last year. I love history, but I have always been more interested in the daily lifes of the people than in the dates of this or that battle. And I wasn't disappointed by this book. It explains the various aspects of a Roman's life in the days of the early emperors, from the housing situation over social classes, the family, education to entertainment. Sometimes, the author elaborates too much on a topic for my taste, for example when calculating the probable population size of Rome or when describing the decline of rhetoric. But all in all, an enjoyable book for everyone interested in Ancient Rome.

[James Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

The judgementalism underpinning Jérôme Carcopino's perspective on ancient Rome is pronounced. This isn't a book about daily life in ancent Rome, it is a mid-20th century, French middle-class, conservative view about daily life in ancient Rome... watch Carcopino squirm on any Roman sex, ethics or religious beliefs that don't match his own. Reading Carcopino you would never know that Romans had neither homosexuality nor morality in their vocabulary, had sex with their slaves and loved an orgy. Say it, Carcopino. Orgy.

[Dennis Littrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The glory, the gore and the grind of daily life, vividly presented

You might want to turn directly to the last chapter in which the gluttony and debauchery of Imperial Rome is most clearly spelled out. Then again you might want to wait for that as one does for a dessert. Then again I shouldn't be such a smart aleck.

Jerome Carcopino who had this published in France in 1939 is a Latin and Greek scholar from the old school, from the days when Latin was required in our public schools and any educated person had at least a smattering of the dry stuff. This book presumes some Latin and some knowledge of Roman history. Additionally the Latin is not always translated into English--I presume it is the same in Carcopino's original French. And he refers to personages in Roman history without giving dates or even a sense of temporal order such as an American author might refer to Emerson or the Nixon administration and feel comfortable knowing that his readers would be able to form an approximate time frame. Furthermore, there is a pedant's feel to much of the book with Carcopino giving us again and again the exact Latin terminology in italics following the English expression. Readers interested in learning or brushing up on their Latin will find this most agreeable, and readers like me, who have little Latin and less Greek, will enjoy recognizing the Latin originals in their ancient usage that have given us English cognates. Thus "frigidarium" refers to the cold part of the Roman bath, and a "paedagogus" was a slave who served as a tutor.

Sometimes Carcopino (and I must say his able English translator, E. O. Lorimer) gives us the English translation following the Latin, and often it is a famous Latin phrase that will delight the eyes of the learned. For example on page 336 we find this observation explaining the use of a certain room near the feasting room: "vomunt ut edant, edunt ut vomant (they vomit in order to eat, and eat in order to vomit)."

I found it interesting to notice Carcopino's views on certain subjects and how they differ from today. For example he writes that the Roman players fought for a ball "blown full of air…as in basketball, but with more elegance." (p.320) I doubt that such a line would be written today considering how graceful and elegant basketball has become since those early days of the sport from which Carcopino writes, circa 1939. I also note that as Carcopino was banging the typewriter keys the storm clouds of impending war were once again gatheringover Europe. I kept looking for some indication as to where our author stood vis-à-vis the rise of the Storm Trooper mentality in Germany and elsewhere, but he remained true to the historian's credo of not judging current events.

Interesting too are the occasional references to the modern world as colored by Carcopino's zeitgeist. For example he sometimes compared Roman habits to those of Europeans, Americans and even Arabs. Thus he writes "As among the Arabs still, belching was considered a politeness, justified by philosophers who thought the highest wisdom was to follow the dictates of nature. Pushing this doctrine even further, Claudius had considered an edict authorizing other emissions of wind from which even Arabs refrain…" (p. 335)

My take on the daily life after reading this volume is I would prefer to have lived in the pre-history rather than in Rome during the days of the emperors and I am very glad I live today and not then! As cases in point consider that the wine the Romans drank was blended with resin and pine pitch and drunk diluted with water. (pp. 332-333) Furthermore the glorious baths of Rome were communal without chlorine or the like, while the public bathrooms featured a kind of latrine with holes in the top that citizens could sit on and defecate while talking to their neighbor a few inches away. And the narrow, unpaved streets were filled with refuse of all kinds including the nightly contents of chamber pots.

The book is divided into two parts, "The Physical and Moral Background of Roman Life," and "The Day's Routine." Carcopino goes to great scholarly lengths to get his numbers right on the size and extent of the city and on the likely number of inhabitants, including breakdowns on citizens, freedmen and slaves. He calculates the relative fortunes of the various levels of society and informs us on religion, education, the status of women, arts and leisure and many other aspects of Roman life. From the title we can expect that the political and warfare of the emperors will be glossed over, and in this we are not disappointed. In fact the great success of this volume, which has been in print since it was first published almost seven decades ago, attests to the lively interest that readers have in life apart from what is usually presented.

I should mention that I have the volume from The Folio Society published in 2004. It is beautifully rendered with a number of color plates, a fine introduction by Keith Hopkins and includes an up-to-date (as of 2004) bibliography for further reading. There are several footnotes per page citing such illustrious authors as Pliny, Martial, Petronius, Tacitus, Juvenal etc. By the way, Carcopino's book is not to be confused with a book with the same title written by Florence Dupont which I haven't read.

--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather interesting stuff. But holy hell, the author either hated the Romans, himself or the rest of the world. I don't know; I'm not a psychologist. This could have been a really great book, but instead I kept thinking, "Why would he spend so much time with something he obviously hates?" Rather distracting, and it ruins the book.

[Joe Kelleher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eating habits, education, hygiene, concept of time, social hierarchy, sleeping arrangements, traffic, leisure. Very detailed. Sometimes too detailed. Probably would rate this four stars if the edition were better edited. I haven't read anything else on the subject so I don't know how the author's theories hold up today.

[Michał Hołda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is describing life in Rome, form Housing, hours of the day(that are different now, and has been defined in winter and in summer, through work and that In ancient Rome there was 132 holiday days and in time of Caesar 150 holiday days in whole year.
So Half of the year you could enjoy life off work.

Evening life, marriage, that before second century A.D to marry in Rome man has to buy his wife. That bed was the best furniture ever for Romans. Also that In ancient Rome abandoning your own child was considered as crime as such as killing it.Although before 1 AD there was recognizable right to for father to kill his own child.

That in City of Rome One owned house for 26 blocks of houses that has been not owned by the residents. And that these rental tenement houses has name, an Islands.

And about εγκύκλιος παιδεία / circular education /edukacja cyrkularna

People learn through a circular process of action, conceptualization and evaluation. It involves referring to previous experiences as well as anticipating outcomes. Learning is in that sense a spiral– reflecting, moving on, turning into a new loop with new experiences and qualitatively new challenges.

liberal arts- circular education but in Roman tongue.

The "liberal arts" were originally those disciplines deemed by the Ancient Greeks to be essential preparation for effective participation in public life. Grammar, logic, and rhetoric were regarded as the core liberal arts, with arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy playing a secondary, if important, role.

It has its origins in Ancient Greece and began with a "desire for a universal understanding". Simply put liberal arts education aimed at holistic education. ... Liberal arts became formalized in the middle ages drawing on its origins in Ancient Greek and Roman culture.

I do love these books, as I tend to grab onto Classical world and hug to it firmly so I can get better life, better quality of life.

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 4 out of 5]

S-a întîmplat să citesc în ultima vreme cîteva cărți despre istoria orașelor (Metropolis, Orașele în mișcare, Orașul în istoria Europei etc.) și asta mi-a amintit de vechea monografie a lui Carcopino. Mi-am cumpărat-o pe cînd eram student - de la anticariatul (astăzi defunct) din Casa Cărții - pentru capitolul despre disprețul față de retorică în Roma lui Seneca. Capitolul e intitulat semnificativ „Retorica ireală”. Și e încă o dovadă că romanii au avut dintotdeauna o atitudine ambivalentă față de cultura greacă, o fascinație amestecată cu teamă și mefiență.

Să mă întorc la cartea lui Jérôme Carcopino. În pofida sutelor de lucrări pe același subiect, ea rămîne încă folositoare. În definitv, cum arăta Cetatea eternă în secolele al II-lea și al III-lea e.n., cam între domnia lui Traian și sfîrșitul domniei lui Marcus Aurelius? Autorul ne oferă o imagine verosimilă. Roma era un oraș foarte populat (cu peste un milion de locuitori), foarte murdar (cf. p.73, despre latrinele publice și gropile de gunoi) și foarte zgomotos, nu doar în timpul zilei, ci și al nopții, un oraș pe care Seneca, Martial, Suetonius nu l-au iubit tocmai din pricina forfotei de pe stăzi, a mizeriei și a zgomotului permanent.

Nobilii se refugiau în locuințele de la țară. În schimb, oamenii de rînd, sclavii erau obligați să respire un aer fetid în căutarea unui libert binevoitor și a unui spectacol de circ (pp.249-300). Cei mai mulți nu aveau nici o meserie. Trăiau din generozitatea senatorilor și a împăratului. Drumurile erau strîmte, rareori pavate, construite fără un plan și fără o noimă, printre edificii de lemn cu mai multe etaje, numite insulae, pline de chiriași. Spre uimirea noastră, Roma nu avea un „serviciu de salubritate”. Pentru locuitori, igiena a constituit mereu o problemă insolubilă. Romanii au simțit oarecum pericolul și au ridicat uriașe băi publice (să ne amintim de băile lui Caracalla...), dar această facilitate nu anula cîtuși de puțin pericolul molimelor.

În timpul zilei, Roma era numai pentru pietoni. Un edict al lui Iulius Caesar (reînnoit adesea de urmașii lui) interzicea deplasarea căruțelor în interiorul Urbei. Existau și excepții. Abia după lăsarea întunericului, după închiderea prăvăliilor, a tavernelor și retragerea mulțimii în insulae, carele cu materiale de construcție intrau în oraș. Uruitul lor era strident, enervant. Pentru cei cu nervii slabi, somnul devenea o problemă...

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent read. Full of details, I really felt that it offered insight as to how the average Roman citizen spent their time. I thought that the organization of the book was well done. I read a lot of books, but this isn't a topic that I would normally just dive in to, and this book held my attention throughout.

I picked up this book because it's on the 501 Books you Must Read before you die. I have enjoyed Conn Ingguldon's historical fiction "Empire" series, so I thought I'd give it a try. Additionally, it seems like a good book to read before reading "the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", which should lead me right to "Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire", which seems terrifyingly appropriate right now.

As a companion book, I read "The Saytericon" to juxtapose the lavish Roman Play's debauchery and hedonism with a somewhat more mundane interpretation of a 'day in the life'. I'm hoping to read the 2018 novel "Circe" as well as watch the film "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" to go full circle.

Worth the time.

[Niklaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notare che l'edizione originale del libro è del 1939 (traduzione ovviamente moderna).
Da sola l'edizione rende pressoché superfluo ogni altro libro successivo sul tema "vita quotidiana", ivi compreso quello di Alberto Angela (Una giornata nell'antica Roma) che nei fatti ripete in modo semplificato quanto Carcopino aveva scritto: le strade affollate e le notti rumorose, le case, ... .

Molto interessante l'aspetto demografico che, numeri alla mano, contrasta con le idee di un tempo sul numero reale degli abitanti e sulla densità abitativa.

Gli unici punti deboli sono il suo non nascosto anti-paganesimo che plaude al rinnovamento portato dai cristiani che molto probabilmente nasce dalla necessità di contrastare le conclusioni dell'opera di Gibb (del 1780) in cui la decadenza romana venne imputata al rammollimento cristiano.
Poco convincente anche il suo biasimo per le lotte tra gladiatori (etc) non perché credo fossero belle da vedere ma perché uno storico non dovrebbe mai stigmatizzare attitudini del passato.

In sintesi, una opera (quasi) definitiva

[Akileia Krohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Viihdyttävä tietokirja. Tietokirjaksi jo osittain vanhentunut ja osittain alkujaankin aika kevyesti kirjoitettu. Tiettyihin faktoihin kirjailija on takertunut, toiset taas tuntuvat enemmän päästä heitetyiltä. Kuitenkin mielenkiintoinen kattava katsaus roomalaisten elämään.

Oman mielenkiintoisen lisänsä tuovat kirjailijan vertaukset antiikin ja oman aikansa arjen välillä. Kirjailijan omat nykypäivänä vanhentuneilta ja ahdasmielisiltä tuntuvat mielipiteet ovat vahvasti läsnä läpi kirjan. Historiaa ei ole yritettykään kuvata objektiivisesti vaan kirjailija on tarkastellut antiikin ihmisten tapoja omien arvojensa kautta. Mielenkiintoista luettavaa muttei toki tietokirjan kannalta parasta antia. Helppolukuinen käännös, joka sopisi hyvin nuorellekin historiaan tutustuvalle lukijalle, ellei olisi niin arvolatautunut.

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty dry. It’s an older book with plenty of sources and lots of detail, but if you’re looking for something more like a narrative or for something to read leisurely, it would be better to go to a source like William Stearns Davis. There is a wealth of information here, but it is not necessarily organized in an obvious way, and you don’t get to the “daily life” part of the book until about 100 pages in. Nonetheless, very worthwhile if one has an intense interest in the subject. Since this book is old, some of the material may be dated, but my unfamiliarity with the history precludes me saying what.

[Sara Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

È un libro di altri tempi e ciò traspare dalle righe. Racchiude in pillole tutto ciò che vorremmo sapere della giornata di un romano che viveva nel secondo secolo dopo Cristo. L'età imperiale di Roma è stato senz'altro un periodo significativo e con grossi cambiamenti, dai monumenti alle attività quotidiane.
L'interesse verso questo momento della storia di Roma che racconta in particolare le vicende della capitale si sfogliano attraverso le pagine di questo libro. Dalla cena di Trimalchione ai palazzi, dagli appuntamenti dal tonsor ai "maritozzi"senza tralasciare le attività lavorative e amministrative.