Daily Life In Ancient Rome

Another review has been completed for our Roman Books section, thanks to community member Pertinax.

Originally published in French in 1940 and republished several times in translation since. My initial reaction was that the density of the translated prose and its sonorous and decorous rendition into the English language would be a barrier to the modern reader. This was the case at first , as Carcopino deals with the architectural theme of Trajan

It is a shame that a more modern, English language treatment has not replaced this old warhorse.

I have got a lot out of Carcopino over the years, so I am not knocking him.

But my own wanderings in Rome and Pompeii/Herculaneum makes me challenge some of his views, and i think historical and archaeological studies have moved on somewhat in almost 70 years.

But worth reading by anyone who does not already have a copy.

Phil

Carcopino is , I suggest, very much a product of his time and place. He has the virtues of excellent expression, if of a sonorous nature, but the mindset of what seems to be a remote era. I have to hazard that many of the semi-obssessional gender focused works of recent years will sound just as "bizarre" and arcane to future generations.