Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire | 
| Creators: David Stone Potter, D. Mattingly
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Category: Book
List Price: $20.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 442024
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0472085689
Dewey Decimal Number: 937.06
EAN: 9780472085682
ASIN: 0472085689
Publication Date: March 15, 1999
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Product Description
Life, Death, and Entertainment gives those who have a general interest in Roman antiquity a starting point informed by the latest developments in scholarship for understanding the extraordinary range of Roman society. Family structure, gender identity, food supply, religion, and entertainment are all crucial to an understanding of the Roman world. As views of Roman history have broadened in recent decades to encompass a wider range of topics, the need has grown for a single volume that can offer a starting point for these diverse subjects, for readers of all backgrounds.
This collection fills such a need by uniting a series of general introductions on each of these topics for the non-specialist. Each essay brings readers into contact with broadly ranging evidence, as well as with a wide variety of approaches that are needed to study basic questions about the Roman world.
Essays explore the Roman family, gender definition, demography, Roman food supply, Roman religion, and the wide variety of public entertainments throughout the empire. The volume brings together an unparalleled range of methodologies and topics. It will enable the modern reader to understand the Roman world in all its complexity. The general reader will welcome this approachable and timely text.
Contributors to the volume include Greg Aldrete, Hazel Dodge, Bruce W. Frier, Maud Gleason, Ann Hanson, David Mattingly, and David Potter.
D. S. Potter is Professor of Classics and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, University of Michigan. D. J. Mattingly is Reader in Archaeology and Head of the Archaeology Division, University of Leicester.
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| Customer Reviews:
No-Spin Zone September 23, 2003
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Nothing further to add, but wanted to point out that this work is not as slanted politically correct as Encolp in his review above make it seem. The book is much more objective, all the pseudo-intellectual babbling is purely the reviewer's preferred conlcusions using the data in the book as a springboard. I just can't help wonder why he is so disturbed by so-called "manly types" (or what he means by that).
Power, Wealth, Pleasure, and a "Duh" Mentality... March 27, 2002
11 out of 20 found this review helpful
Sound familiar? Does what goes around -- come around
again? Are the malls the 21st century version of
the Roman baths? Are the Nascar racetracks the 21st
century version of the chariot races? Are our
football stadiums the 21st century version of the
Colosseum? This book does not present its themes
in these terms, but one cannot help but think about
these things as one reads it -- in tandem with reading
the Roman writers who satirized or caught in verse the
goings-on in their own times: Catullus, Martial,
Petronius, Juvenal.
Besides the "Introduction" by David S. Porter, there
are 3 large Parts to the division of the book. Part
I is titled: "Social Structures and Demography". Within
this section are informative and highly interesting essays
on "The Roman Family," "Elite Male Identity in the Roman
Empire," and "Roman Demography." Part II is titled:
"Religion." There is only one essay in this Part --
"Roman Religion: Ideas and Action." Part III is titled:
"Bread and Circuses" [the famous phrase used to describe
how the rulers and the "elite" kept the masses under their
control -- by giving them doles of food or by providing
them with mass entertainments to keep their minds off
the fact of their gruelling lives and that they did
not lead the "good life" that the "elites" were leading --
sound familiar?]. In this Part are the essays: "Feeding
the City: The Organization, Operation,and Scale of the
Supply System for Rome," "Amusing the Masses: Buildings
for Entertainment and Leisure in the Roman World," and
"Entertainers in the Roman World." Since our modern
era also seems to be so much into shallow entertainment
and pleasures, perhaps the titles of the subsections of
this last chapter will be intriguing: Actors and Athletes.
Chariot Racing.[the factions and their fans sound like
ancient Roman predecessors to the WWF and Nascar
fanatics...] Gladiators, Beast Hunts, and Executions.
[well, we haven't "progressed" in our tastes and
"sophistication" that far yet...but, who knows? ...]
All in all, this is a very interesting, insightful,
intriguing -- as well as provoking book. The
section that interested me the most was the one
on the Roman emphasis and hang-up on male identity -
what was considered manly, and what was not. It isn't,
as if that is one of the main obsessions in our own
times in the U.S. of A. , of course. And what are
all the "manly" types contributing to the betterment,
stability, and nobility of our present society and culture?
It gives one pause, for reflection.
 Extremely entertaining and informative March 18, 2002
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
First off, this book is a collection of seven very long essays by different experts. The essays deal with the minutest details of Roman life, ranging from religious practice to construction to gladiatorial combat and criminal execution. Not all essays are created equal, and there are two in here that I found rather dry, but perhaps that is because I couldn't care less about the specifics of amphitheater construction. The others were phenomenal, and even the "boring" ones contain excellent and useful information.I read L,D,&E (as I have begun to call it) for an undergraduate class in Roman History and had to write a critical review-type paper about it. I have to say I actually enjoyed the assignment. The book was, overall, excellent. It features real-life "snapshots" of different aspects of Roman life, and unlike many books about Ancient Rome, it doesn't focus solely on the upper classes. It also doesn't spend any time discussing politics or history or "great men" of the times, so if you're looking for that, go elsewhere. This book is NOT an introduction to imperial Rome -- you'll need to have one of those under your belt already -- but it IS the most wonderful, complete, and readable supplementary material available. It really fills in the gaps and answers questions you didn't know you had, giving you a vastly more complete picture of Rome under the Emperors.
Good resource book November 15, 2000
7 out of 15 found this review helpful
This is an interesting, well-written book that would be a good edition to the library of any student of Roman history as well as being a good resource for writers of historical fiction.
Fantastic discussion of "real life" in Rome... November 19, 1999
40 out of 41 found this review helpful
This book discusses aspects of Roman life that are frequently difficult to research... such as the kinds of toys Roman children enjoyed or the types of birth control that were popular. It covers such subjects as "feeding the city" and "entertaining the populace" as well as religion and other expected items. The work comprises a sweeping approach to "real life stuff" in a framework that is scholarly (with plenty of documentation) but highly entertaining. It's the kind of book I've been wanting to own for years.
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