Ancient Rome

DK Eyewitness Books

by Simon James

Full-color photos. "An excellent glossy catalogue of entertaining information about a civilization of antiquity. Family life, household effects, cosmetics, sports, children's dress and games--all these and more are on display in eye-filling spreads. Either read chronologically or browsed through, each page offers up a sterling visual feast guaranteed to spur discussion and provoke thinking about the early Romans."-- Kirkus.  

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference, Childrens, Picture Books, Ancient History, Italy

72 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Simon^^^^^^^^^^^James

Reviews

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Vistazo general pero bonito de contemplar.-

Género. Historia.

Lo que nos cuenta. Breve aproximación gráfica y visual a la Antigua Roma pero dejando bastante de lado lo propiamente histórico y acercándose a lo más religioso, familiar, social y lúdico.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unusual book in that it's accompanied by a cd of clip art that really only complements it rather than taking from it. What i mean is that the book is a typical DK Eyewitness book, heavy on pictures to go with the informative text. The disk that goes with it is organized according to the same sections, but the pictures in the book are rarely on the cd-rom and the cd images are rarely in the book, at least not in the same sections. I looked and looked.

I love this series because it makes history and science interesting to kids who don't like to read by coming across as a picture book. Plus, it's a lot easier to understand and enjoy a concept if there's something visual to go along with it. This book is a nice addition to the others with interesting information presented with interesting photos and drawings. I haven't seen my childhood in many decades but even with a graduate degree under my hair, I still love reading these books.

The clip art (both photos and drawn illustrations) are suitable for a wide number of things from kid crafts to corporate presentations (well if you had a meeting where you needed a picture from ancient rome...I can totally see it). If you access the images from the index (an html file), then there is information about the picture when you click on it. If you just go straight in from Windows Explorer (I can't tell if the CD works on a Mac, but I assume you could use it with both a Mac and Linux with a Windows shell) you will just get the image.

4.5 rounded down because I think the book but especially the CD-ROM could be organized better or even explained better. For example, one image in the emperors section is of a Murex shell because Murex snails were used to make the purple dye used in emperors clothing. It was also used for senator's clothing as well, which is a different chapter. The image in the book is different than the one on the CD, which is fine, but not clear.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really like DK books for kids- very informative and detailed, Very simple, each section explains the basics you need to know about ways of life. Very short book if you want to get more detailed information I would recommend something else. Overall it's great would recommend to older kids +.

[Lucija]

Idc what anyone says, I love this book. It is absolutely superficial but it is so easy to understand and I spent most of my Childhood reading this over and over again. It's always such a nice experience to read it again purrrrrrrrr 👺😌😎

[Julesmarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the DK Eyewitness books, but still a good resource. I mostly use this with my students for the pages on Ancient Roman food, nice images there.

[Anne]

In the short time I've been reading these books on ancient Rome (two days), I've discovered that no matter what I report as delightfully new information to me is considered old hat to, like, the rest of the universe. What can I say? This Roman shit has never, ever even begun to intrigue me as it has so many others. [Just ask me how many times I've had the opportunity to see that Pompeii exhibit making its rounds in museums worldwide to which I've said NOPE! each time (three)].

So, I'm saying that for me reading the info in this book about Romans not using soap verifies what I read in yesterday's ancient Roman book (whew! I found that so hard to believe and was happy to get secondary corroboration) and I'm still finding that incredibly informative and new. Just as I did about the information on blowing glass into molds (!! awesome!!). And seeing that woman depicted in a Roman mosaic playing castanets? Whoa? Really? They had castenets before Spain? Just zip it if you knew that already; I'm still reveling in the delight of new to me discoveries.

[Rebekah Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose to read this informational text because my brother would read Eyewitness Books when we were kids, and I never really understood why he liked them so much, so I decided to push myself to read them. I will admit, they are still not a genre or style of book that speaks to me, yet I valued the information in this book, and that the images and text represent and describe things that actually existed, events that actually happened, and people that actually lived. I found myself wanting to just look at the pictures, but I did learn a lot from the words, and I think that is something that a student can relate to. Maybe I will have a student who prefers informational books over fiction, and this will be the ticket to get them into reading.

[Dan Castrigano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stuff I learned: "Pontifex" - like for the Pope - actually comes from the Latin word pons, which means bridge. Like a bridge-builder to god; Bath, England is where the Romans build lots of baths because of the hot springs; Another name for a brooch is a fibular (there are lots of those in the Met); Augustus Caesar's wife, the empress, was named Livia; The "PX" for Jesus is the chi and rho - the first two letters (chi and rho) for Khristos; the retiarius is the trident and net man gladiator guy; bigae and quadrigae = chariots pulled by two and four horses, respectively; The Circus Maximus seated up to 250,000 people; the Vestal Virgins were priestesses who guarded the holy flame of Vesta in Rome

[Chejo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta línea de la editorial sigue siendo increíble en su trabajo con las ilustraciones y con la presentación del libro.

Lastimosamente debo hacer mención de algunas cosas que puntualizan como hechos exactos y no ambivalentes, o hacer mención de que no podemos afirmarlo, por lo que me decepciona ya que Roma es una de las culturas más estudiadas.

[Israel Waltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

grade-middle grades
genre- informational non-fiction

I really like this how this book presents facts about the Roman empire. This book makes a boring subject rather interesting. It makes learning fun. I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to learn about Rome.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as detailed as it could have been. Reminded me of teaching Humanities.

[Paul Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Lots of illustrations. Each page spread treated a different topic, but the topics flowed from one to another very nicely.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

706 - 2019

[Belle Meade School]

937

[Jos Deroo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like all Eye Witness excellent for the kids.

[Nishant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

[Lucy Healy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best for elementary/middle schoolers but great images and insight.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The excellent photos of artifacts and artwork in this book, along with simple descriptions that explain without overwhelming, give you some great glimpses into particular aspects of Roman life.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent pictures and text allow for a good oversight of Roman life.

[Halle Bentley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ancient Rome
By: Simon James
63 Pages
Informational/ Non-Fiction

Have you ever wondered about the mysterious Ancient Rome? Have you ever wondered what it was like to live there? It sure was a unique time in our history and we have made many developments based off of their inventions and ideas. For example, in Roman theater, women played the roles of men. Women still act as men today. Rich Romans had an interesting life style that every Roman would want. They usually owned two homes which were probably a little nicer than the typical house today. Rich Romans also attended fancy banquets and ate fancy foods and drank fancy drinks. Sometimes they ate jellyfish and ostrich. Their lives were marvelous though. For an average Roman, life was normal. They ate normal foods and lived in smaller homes. But their was one thing that both Rich and average Romans enjoyed: the entertainment. The most popular form of entertainment was a fight to the death. Most of the time to battle was between two gladiators, but sometimes the fights were between an animal and a gladiator. Every fight contained certain death. Either one gladiator or both gladiators would die. Romans had very interesting food, life-styles and forms of entertainment and they really have shaped the way our world works today.

I gave this book three stars because at times it got boring and some parts of the book were pretty fascinating. I have always been interested in how the Ancient Romans lived, so I thought this book was perfect for me. I learned that sometimes when a woman or man was drinking wine it was considered polite to belch, rich Romans ate at fancy dinner parties and sometimes ate jellyfish and ostrich, a popular form of entertainment was a fight to the death, because their were no advances in medication surgeries were very painful, and so much more. I thought this book was highly interesting and I recommend to it to anyone who is highly interested in social studies. You will learn so much about Rome and many of it's ideas.

[Adam A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ancient Rome is about how the ancient Romans lived, worked, battled, what they believed in, and more. Ancient Rome started out as a little city-state and then went on to take over Italy and then some of Africa. By them taking over more and more land, they eventually became a very strong republic. They became a republic after they drove out the wicked king. Civil Wars broke out and eventually, the republic crumbled and then they had emperors rule them. Rome had one of the best military's of that time because of its legions that were made of about 5,000 foot soldiers. Many people joined the military to get class and enough money to live well. Many people who joined were poorer people because they could get grants of land as soldiers. The Romans were amazing engineers and while adopting styles from the Greeks, the had a trademark of their own, the dome. They also used the arch in many fabulous ways and made great use of it. Romans had some pretty advanced plumbing in some of their cities that helped with a lot of stuff. The Colosseum was an advancement in engineering put was a place to watch prisoners fight to the death for pure enjoyment. These are only some of the things that you will learn about in this novel, Ancient Rome .

I thought that this book was very informative and fit my expectations of what I thought it was going to tell me about. I read this book because I just read a book about Greek and Roman demigods and them fighting with gods. This book was meant to be a way for me to find out more about the Romans and what the did and how the did it. It serve that purpose and went beyond that. This book informed me with all there is to know about Rome, well, almost. It met my expectations and I think that if you want to learn about Rome, then you should read this book.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New York Times said of this volume: "Ancient Rome is another in the superb Eyewitness Books reference series for young people. Interesting, informative text combined with lots of great color photos bring the Roman Empire to life. . . . A great addition to a young historian's bookshelf." And I think that The New York Times has it right. I recently rediscovered a series of these works (published in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it appears) that I had purchased for my son a decade or more ago.

A knowledge of Rome is valuable for our kids today, to give them one important part of the cultural heritage that shapes the world--especially the West--today. There are, of course, many other cultural influences as well, and these need to be appreciated. But understanding the West without knowing something about Rome is a tough challenge.

The book notes many issues, from the city-state of Rome to Empire, to the Emperors, to the role of the military. But the volume also discusses engineering (critical for understanding Rome as it grew), daily life of Romans, medicine of the era, and so on.

None of the segments is discussed in much detail, so this is not a work to explore if you want detailed knowledge of Rome. But for the young, this is an accessible introduction to the subject. All in all, a terrific volume for our youngsters. . . .

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explore Ancient Rome through government, wars, society, homes, jobs, entertainment, academics, religion and much more.

New Mexico Social Studies Standards:

- Strand: History; Content Standard I; 5-8 Benchmark 1-A New Mexico; Grade 6; 1
- Strand: History; Content Standard I; 5-8 Benchmark 1-B United States; Grade 6; 1
- Strand: History; Content Standard I; 5-8 Benchmark 1-C World; Grade 6; 5
- Strand: Geography; Content Standard II; 5-8 Benchmark 2-B; Grade 6
- Strand: Geography; Content Standard II; 5-8 Benchmark 2-C; Grade 6
- Strand: Geography; Content Standard II; 5-8 Benchmark 2-E; Grade 6
- Strand: Geography; Content Standard II; 5-8 Benchmark 2-F; Grade 6
- Strand: Civics and Government; Content Standard III; 5-8 Benchmark 3-A; Grade 6
- Strand: Civics and Government; Content Standard III; 5-8 Benchmark 3-C; Grade 6; 1
- Strand: Civics and Government; Content Standard III; 5-8 Benchmark 3-D; Grade 6
- Strand: Economics; Content Standard IV; 5-8 Benchmark 4-C; Grade 6

*Available at Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Libraries*

[Saul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A put Ancient Rome on the 'Historical book' section.

I decided too read this because I had to do an assignment for Social Studies and I read that too back up my infomation.

I liked this book because there ways in the older days were harder then today and the way the did stuff we do were really cool.

What I didn't really like about this book is that it didn't make much sense for me and I didn't really understand some of the terms used in the book.

I learnt a little bit about the Roman times and how they did stuff in those days like how they made there homes and there food.

Everuthing in this book weird because they live everuday life different from how i see people in these days live everyday life.

Didn't really find an intersting quote.

I would recommend this book tp older people because it has hard words but its still interesting.

[Tanner Mendelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This picture book does an excellent job for the social studies teacher of documenting ancient Rome and the people who lived there. It displays actual pictures of artifacts and a short description of that artifact. For example, if a social studies teacher wanted to discuss "Gladiators," then the teacher could turn to page 30 and show the students a picture of an artifact of a small shield or a bronze helmet. These pictures give interesting descriptions of the artifact and how they may have been used

[Leah Sidell · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the eyewitness books called, Ancient Rome describes the land,people and history of one of the worlds most fascinating civilizations. A fun literacy activity to do that incorporates this book is by having students learn about the myth of Romulus and Remus that is talked about in this book. The students can look the different between a myth and a fact. To learn literacy student can practice their writing skills by creating their own myth of how Rome was founded or they can change the myth around that already exits.

[Timothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative with plenty of pictures. However, I felt that this book wasn't as effective in giving an idea of how the Romans actually lived in their society as other junior history books on the Romans does. I guess an analogy would be a children's history book on our era only having pictures of iPods, TVs, game consoles, without really getting into a general detail as to how they lived with all these items.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

DK Eyewitness books are a treasure themselves. Packed with quality photographs of historical artefacts and information that makes history live, Ancient Rome serves both to whet the appetite and as a valuable research tool for students. In assessing a large number of books for usefulness to year 7 students' research projects, this book was rated highly by the whole teaching team. The glossary and list of suggestions for further relevant books and sites adds to its value for students.

[Lauryn Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book for grade school kids. There are a lot of pictures of real ancient artifacts that help children understand what they are learning about in social studies. It is very informative and gives students a lot of information in a concise way. They don't have to read every word, but just the ones beneath the pictures that intrigue them. They can also relate to many of the ways of life and inventions of Ancient Rome. Many kids find this era fascinating so it is a good book for them.

[Duane · Rating 4 out of 5]

You just can't go wrong with DK books. The kids love the bold photographs and illustrations, and parents love the information they provide. This volume focuses on Ancient Rome. It does a great job of showing everyday things, military items, beliefs, and so much more. A great book to add to your youth nonfiction collection.