Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day

A guide for Rome of 200 AD, it is full of history, advice to keep out of trouble, and lots of humor. It really gives you a sense of daily life during the height of the Roman Empire. The chapters really do their best to explain how to get around Rome, from places to eat to sites to see, from the games to the marketplaces, from the brothels to the temples. There is a section that even explains how to change your money. From the page numbers, to the list of useful phrases, you get the sense that this would be a great tour book for a time traveler. If only you knew how to speak Latin and had a Time Machine.

My husband and I were both Latin scholars when in school years ago. Imagine our delight at finding this wonderfully informative travelogue through Ancient Rome! This is not humor in the usual sense of the word, but rather a well-informed guide for the visitor to ancient Rome. It puts the reader back 2000+ years, and provide her with every bit of information needed to make a visit safe and enjoyable. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoyed their Latin studies, is a history buff, or is just curious about what life was like in the Rome of the Caesars. Readable, packed with little-known facts, and not at all stuffy. Written by someone who clearly has gone deep into the subject, and come up with a gem.

Potting elephants from a safe distance is for weenies. Climbing Mount Everest is for those who believe that the rest of us are impressed by enormous physical exertions if they are done sufficiently far away. Russian roulette is for people with little imagination. No, if you really want to live in interesting times, take a vacation to Ancient Rome, where the politicians aren't mafia connected because they ARE the mafia, and where mass murder and torture are considered entertainment and - to fill your cup of happiness - where the legal rights of a foreigner are about the same as those of a freedman in Louisiana before the Late Unpleasantness. The guide gives the usual information about how, what, where and how much. The mores and manners of the natives are described, so that you will know what to look out for. There are pointers on what to do and what to see and - more important - what to stay away from. There were a few times when I thought that the text should be read cum grano salis and the Useful Phrases in the back of the book are definitely in caveat emptor territory. For those of you who like stories about old time Roman private eyes such as Didius Falco and Gordianus the Finder this is a must read. For those who want an introduction to Roman social history it is a good starting point, but it should be taken cum grano salis.

I've read a lot of reference books to give myself a sense of what it was like strolling the streets of Rome 2,000 years ago. Turns out I could have just read this book and saved myself a lot of research! Mr. Matyszak writes with dry British wit and a sort of bifocal vision, not only reporting on what a tourist in 200 A.D. would see but tipping off the reader about what's going to happen to it over the next several centuries. It's a very easy and enjoyable read, peppered with appropriate quotes from Roman writers. As Michelinus would say, "Valet iter"!

"Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day" presents itself as a guide book for visiting ancient Rome -- not touring the remnants of ancient Rome as they exist today, but a trip back across eighteen centuries to Rome of about 200 AD, with advice on where to stay, information about quaint local customs, and suggestions of "must see" sights. Oh, and there is a list of useful phrases for the traveler such as "Noli me necare, cape omnias pecunias meas" ("Don't kill me, here's all my money"). The result is a fun way to almost experience what life in ancient Rome was really like.