Rome: (Oxford Archaeological Guides)

The city of Rome is the largest archaeological site in the world, capital and showcase of the Roman Empire and the centre of Christian Europe.This guide provides: · Coverage of all the important sites in the city from 800 BC to AD 600 and the start of the early middle ages, drawing on the latest discoveries and the best of recent scholarship · Over 220 high-quality maps, site plans, diagrams and photographs· Sites divided into fourteen main areas, with star ratings to help you plan and prioritize your visit: Roman Forum; Upper Via Sacra; Palatine; Imperial Forums; Campus Martius; Capitoline Hill; Circus Flaminius to Circus Maximus; Colosseum and Esquiline hill; Caelian hill and the inner via Appia; Lateran to Porta Maggiore; Viminal hill; Pyramid to Testaccio; the outer via Appia; other outlying sites; Museums and Catacombs.· Introduction offering essential background to the history and culture of ancient Rome, placing the city in the context of the development of the empire, highlighting the nature of Roman achievement, and explaining how Rome came to be the largest city in the ancient world.· Comprehensive glossaries of Rome's building materials, techniques and building types, a chronological table of kings, emperors, and the early popes, information about opening times, references and suggestions for further reading and a detailed user-friendly index. For this new edition the original text has been extensively revised, adding over 20 more sites and illustrations, the itineraries have been re-organized and expanded to suit the many changes that have taken place in the past decade, and the practical information and references have been fully updated.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Historical Overview Documentary Sources Glossary The Roman Forum The Upper Via Sacra The Palatine Imperial Forums Field of Mars (Campus Martius) Capitoline Hill Circus Flaminius to Circus Maximus Colosseum Valley and Esquiline Hill Caelian Hill and the inner Via Appia Lateran-Porta Maggiore The Viminal Pyramid-Testaccio Across the Tiber Parks of the Appia Antica Other Sites outside the Walls Museums Catacombs Chronological Table Opening Times and Charges References and Further Reading Index

About the Author :
Amanda Claridge is Reader in Classical Archaeology, Royal Holloway, University of London, and was formerly Lecturer in Archaeology at St John's College, Oxford. Assistant Director of the British School in Rome from 1980 to 1994, she is the author of numerous publications on Roman archaeology. Her wider archaeological activities include fieldwork in Italy, North Africa, and Turkey, and the study of Roman marbles and sculptural techniques, on which she is a noted authority.

Review :
"We have long needed what no one before Claridge has provided: a synthesis, balanced and user-friendly, of all [the] recent scholarship, one that sets Roman monuments in their proper urban and historical contexts, and accurately describes what is currently known or thought about them. . . . [T]ravellers . . .will welcome a synthesis so balanced, intelligent and well informed, and will find Amanda Claridge a fine companion on their archaeological walks in Rome."--Times Literary Supplement