The City Research Guide

Rome is 'the eternal city' and was a stopping-off place on the Grand Tour long before the days of photography.  Despite the preservation of so many classic ruins across the city, there has been significant change. Over hundreds of years of flooding, the river Tiber deposited silt across the Forum and low-lying sites. Many archive images show a completely different ground level to the 21st century view, after excavation revealed their true height. When Mussoilini came to the power in 1922 he set about creating wider avenues and removing some of the older buildings, as can been from the changes to via della Conciliazione. Rome Then and Now visits all the major tourist locations in the city and shows pictures of how they once were, sometimes unfenced with goats grazing amongst the ruins!

This informative study captures the beauty and the many-layered past of the Eternal City. From its quasi-mythical origins, through the opulent glory of classical Rome, the decadence and decay of the Middle Ages and the beauty and corruption of the Renaissance, to its time at the heart of Mussolini's fascist Italy, Christopher Hibbert details the turbulent and dramatic history of this extraordinary place.

At its peak, Roman civilization influenced a vast empire. In all corners of that enormous area, archaeologists have searched for years, looking for clues to the history of the Imperial Romans. Learn about the writing tablets excavated from a Roman fort. Wonder at the fabulous mosaic recently discovered beneath the streets of Italy's capital city. See how ancient artifacts help scientists today piece together the puzzle of Ancient Rome's past.

Drawing on art, artifacts, and literature that was left behind, these richly illustrated volumes recount captivating tales of everyday life in long-ago vanished worlds.

For centuries Rome controlled the entire Mediterranean world. This volume examines various aspects of Roman life in the words of both modern and ancient writers. Covered in a series of informative essays are houses and apartments, slaves, religious worship, marriage, roads and travel, and chariot races and other sports and games.

This is an epic, kaleidoscopic history of a city indelibly associated with republicanism and dictatorship, Christian orthodoxy and its rivals, high art and low life in all its forms.