The best books on the ancient city of Rome

This French book is quite simply the best reconstruction of Rome in the age of Constantine you could hope for. If you read French or are happy to translate it, the sections about each area of the city are informative and interesting, accompanied by beautiful photographs, but even if you speak no French and have no intention of reading it, this book is still worthwhile. Between these sections, the book is filled with large, fold-out maps of reconstructed Rome, including every known building and right down to the alleyways, lovingly depicted. I have used it as a source for every book I’ve set in Rome now for the better part of a decade. An invaluable source and lovely work.

Matyszak is one of the most knowledgeable and most entertaining authors on the subject of the Roman world. His guides to legionaries and gladiators and so on are both fun to read and highly educational. He is extremely accurate in his detail, yet provides that detail in such a way as to be highly enjoyable. 24 Hours in Ancient Rome is a unique book. It takes us through everyday life in the ancient city through the eyes of its people, almost like a reality TV show, hour by hour from the bakers in the middle of the night to the tavern owners at lunchtime, twenty-four guides to the city giving you twenty-four wonderful angles of Rome.

There are many books on the remains to be seen of the ancient city of Rome, but this is by far the best. Most such guides concentrate on the major famous locations and ignore the periphery. Sources that do cover them are usually only very dry academic ones. Arranged by region, the Oxford guide covers a plethora of sites, from the most famous to the relatively obscure, accompanied by detailed plans and photographs. The text is easy to read and is the most informative I’ve found. If you want to see the ancient city on a visit to Rome, do not start without this guide.

This is an absolute treasure trove of knowledge. The book is precisely what it says. Arranged roughly by subject, the book is a collection of tidbits and snippets taken directly from ancient sources. What you are learning are fascinating and often amusing or unbelievable facts on ancient Rome, written by the men who lived there at the time, from Pliny regarding medical bills as a “down payment on death” to Roman naming conventions, you will learn more about ancient Rome from simply browsing this book than you would from any single treatise.

This is quite simply the best entry-level guide to the ancient culture, world, and city of Rome I have found. Written in a humorous and engaging manner, it walks the reader through the history of Rome from its legendary founding to the date the book is nominally set (the reign of Domitian), all from the point of view of someone of Domitian’s time. It covers every subject from the dos and don’ts of dinner parties to the importance of gods. A perfect start for someone new to the subject, and equally entertaining for the scholar.