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The Eternal City: A History of Rome in Maps Hardcover – November 4, 2020

by Jessica Maier (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 82 ratings
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One of the most visited places in the world, Rome attracts millions of tourists each year to walk its storied streets and see famous sites like the Colosseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Trevi Fountain. Yet this ancient city’s allure is due as much to its rich, unbroken history as to its extraordinary array of landmarks. Countless incarnations and eras merge in the Roman cityscape. With a history spanning nearly three millennia, no other place can quite match the resilience and reinventions of the aptly nicknamed Eternal City.

In this unique and visually engaging book, Jessica Maier considers Rome through the eyes of mapmakers and artists who have managed to capture something of its essence over the centuries. Viewing the city as not one but ten “Romes,” she explores how the varying maps and art reflect each era’s key themes. Ranging from modest to magnificent, the images comprise singular aesthetic monuments like paintings and grand prints as well as more popular and practical items like mass-produced tourist plans, archaeological surveys, and digitizations. The most iconic and important images of the city appear alongside relatively obscure, unassuming items that have just as much to teach us about Rome’s past. Through 140 full-color images and thoughtful overviews of each era, Maier provides an accessible, comprehensive look at Rome’s many overlapping layers of history in this landmark volume.

The first English-language book to tell Rome’s rich story through its maps, The Eternal City beautifully captures the past, present, and future of one of the most famous and enduring places on the planet.
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  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of Chicago Press
  4. Publication date
    November 4, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    8.5 x 0.9 x 11 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    022659145X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0226591452
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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"The Ruins Lesson makes one point above all: there was no single dominant way of observing ancient ruins and portraying what remained. Jessica Maier’s The Eternal City: A History of Rome in Maps provides a rich complementary account. . . . For centuries, as she shows, mapmakers and miniaturists, antiquarians and cartographers set out to do exactly what he thought impossible: to represent at least in part not only the city of Rome, but some of the ways in which it had changed over time." ― London Review of Books

“No other city has maintained the story of its past in its present quite like Rome, creating an intentional palimpsest through incessant acts of preservation, reconstruction, and cartographic visualization. Maier’s lively, imaginatively organized, and accessible book displays how centuries of maps not only tell stories about the city’s physical development but also show how Rome’s narratives of itself—conflating eras, resituating buildings, compressing waterways—unfurled in self-mapping from antiquity to the Metro.” ― Evelyn Lincoln, Brown University

"Jessica Maier’s The Eternal City: A History of Rome in Maps is a luxurious volume, elegantly and enthusiastically written, and richly illustrated with 140 well-curated color images of artwork, including maps of Rome across the ages. Maier’s primary aim is to explore the history of Rome through its cartography, and she contextualizes the maps within their historical, socio-cultural, religious, and political backdrops. . . . her volume invites the reader on an imaginary journey through the complex topographical, monumental, and historical layers of the Eternal City." ― The Portolan

"Beautifully produced." ― The Classical Review

“The history of Rome comes to life in this erudite, beautifully written book. Organized chronologically from Rome’s early beginnings to the present, this richly detailed history of Rome is focused through the lens of maps and cartographic images. Maier has written a fascinating account for both armchair and actual travelers. The Eternal City also has much to offer to seasoned scholars who will appreciate its coherent and fluid synthesis.” ― Pamela O. Long, author of Engineering the Eternal City

“The Eternal City offers the reader a vivid panorama of Rome’s changing form and image over the course of more than two millennia. A rich selection of city plans and views reveals crucial shifts in representational strategies, function, and symbolic intent. The dynamic tension between Rome’s complex, three-dimensional urban reality and the city’s image as projected by successive generations of artists and cartographers is certain to engage a wide audience.” ― John Pinto, emeritus, Princeton University

"The Eternal City is a brilliant history of Rome, focusing on how we have responded to and represented this ever-changing city. Digging down into both Rome's history and our own desires for this city, Maier has written a fascinating book that has changed the way I consider maps and history." ― A Universe in Words blog

"Each chapter combines history, urban development, and the history of mapping to assess in each period how the city changed and how contemporaries represented it—demonstrating how Rome has been constantly reimagined, reconstructed, and represented over the course of the past three millennia, both on the ground and on paper (or other media)... Highly Recommended." ― Choice

"Done very well, both in the selection and discussion of visual images and in [Maier's] considerate and humane prose style. A delight of a book." ― New York Military Affairs Symposium Review

About the Author

Jessica Maier is associate professor of art history at Mount Holyoke College. She is the author of Rome Measured and Imagined: Early Modern Maps of the Eternal City, also published by University of Chicago Press.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; First Edition (November 4, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 022659145X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226591452
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.5 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.9 x 11 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 82 ratings

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
82 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

John W. Cooke
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Historical Resource on the City of Rome
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book is great, but only if you (1) already have a relatively extensive knowledge of the city of Rome, and (2) love maps. The book is everything it promises to be, and more. You learn about Rome and you learn about the many ways maps were created and used over the centuries. I'm still working my way through it, joyfully, with magnifying glass in hand. (I highly recommend the use of the latter.)
10 people found this helpful
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Tim H.
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book mapping Rome's history
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2021
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this book immensely. I agree with some reviewers who complained that the maps could be larger. Yet I'm still able to read them with my naked eye, and I learned a lot about prehistoric and early Rome that I hadn't learned before.
5 people found this helpful
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Nord Wennerstrom
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2021
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Jessica Maier is a terrific writer and historian who knows how to convey her material in a captivating and compelling way. This book is superb!
2 people found this helpful
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Jack P. D'amico
4.0 out of 5 stars Roma
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2020
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Fascinating boook.
2 people found this helpful
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bighpfan
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful blend of history, art history, and cartography!
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2020
What a fantastic book! This is a beautiful blend of history, art history, and cartography.

I was particularly impressed with the variety of maps chosen for this book. The maps come from all different time periods and artistic styles. It was interesting to see how maps have developed over the centuries, both in looks and functionality. The ebb and flow of Rome’s borders - and power - can clearly be seen through the maps and the corresponding discussions.

At the end of each chapter is a “Further Reading” list, which I appreciated. I wish more history books were organized this way!

Thanks to NetGalley and University of Chicago Press for sending me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
7 people found this helpful
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Jennifer Brooks
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book for anyone who loves Rome
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2020
This is an absolutely fantastic reference book to have on hand! The maps and images are stunningly beautiful and the descriptions of how/why a certain map was done in a certain way were really wonderful to read. The Eternal City: A History of Rome in Maps includes a great deal of information and conveys it in extremely interesting ways. This is a great follow-up to other Roman-themed reading and helps you understand the changing layout of Rome. To be the Eternal City, things have certainly evolved and changed across the centuries and Jessica Maier's book helps contextualize that.

Thank you to University of Chicago Press for sending me a review copy!
3 people found this helpful
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Phip Herrick
1.0 out of 5 stars Get out your magnifying glass
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2021
Verified Purchase
I have a passion for Rome and yet I found the format of this book difficult to look at and not very engaging.
One person found this helpful
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Reader
1.0 out of 5 stars A book about maps where you can't see the maps
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2021
Verified Purchase
Why a publisher would produce a history of Rome in maps only to skimp on the size of the printed maps is a mystery to me. Only one map is shown across a double-page spread. All the rest are nearly impossible to see, even when I use a 10x magnifying glass. True, there are some closer views of interesting map details. But they only make it even more frustrating that the maps as a whole -- many of the originals quite large -- are reduced to featureless blobs. I would get this book only if you can't find any viable alternatives.
9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Szanowni Państwo, myślę, że powinni Państwo zastanowić się nad kwestią wysyłki kupowanych przeze mnie u Państwa lub za Państwa pośrednictwem artykułów. Namysł ten powinienem być ukierunkowany na wnioski, że jednak nie wysyłacie Państwo do mnie ziemniaków czy marchwi, a wrażliwe i często nietanie wydawnictwa (mapy). Praktycznie co druga mapa przychodzi do mnie zagnieciona, ze złamanym lub inaczej naruszonym narożnikiem. Czyżby chcieli się Państwo na dobre pozbyć klienta w mojej skromnej osobie? Z wyrazami szacunku. Michał Dolata
1.0 out of 5 stars Nieodpowiednio zabezpieczona książka została uszkodzona podczas transportu (?)
Reviewed in Poland on April 11, 2024
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Szanowni Państwo, myślę, że powinni Państwo zastanowić się nad kwestią wysyłki kupowanych przeze mnie u Państwa lub za Państwa pośrednictwem artykułów. Namysł ten powinienem być ukierunkowany na wnioski, że jednak nie wysyłacie Państwo do mnie ziemniaków czy marchwi, a wrażliwe i często nietanie wydawnictwa (mapy). Praktycznie co druga mapa przychodzi do mnie zagnieciona, ze złamanym lub inaczej naruszonym narożnikiem. Czyżby chcieli się Państwo na dobre pozbyć klienta w mojej skromnej osobie? Z wyrazami szacunku. Michał Dolata
1.0 out of 5 stars Nieodpowiednio zabezpieczona książka została uszkodzona podczas transportu (?)
Reviewed in Poland on April 11, 2024
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AlanV
4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite as good as I'd hoped.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2021
Verified Purchase
Don't get me wrong, this is a lovely book, but the illustrations, particularly the maps, are so small there's no real value in them other than as space fillers.
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