Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome

Being on a break from university for almost two months, I decided to create for myself some foundation in non-fiction works. Moving on from Soviet/Stalinist history, I thought it would be necessary to hearken back to the ancients: Greece, Rome, and even Egypt. I started with Rome. One of the first books I read was Balsdon's "Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome" and it was certainly no mistake. This reasonably short history (which is not unsuprising, considering how little we really know of ancient empires - they unfortunately didn't have the luxury of the printing press or film) covers every conceivable aspect of an (almost exclusively) upper class Roman's life. From the chronological order of his day, which is confusing to the extreme; to the meals they eat; to, most interestingly, the details of gladiatorial games and chariot races, there is no lack of information - I was, indeed, suprised when I found no chapter on a Roman's bathroom etiquette or bed-making techniques, considering the great detail enclosed. Unfortunately for the casual reader or history buff, Baldson often goes into what is nothing short of excruciating detail when illustrating a simple point. He uses far too many anecdotes and they are more often than not jarring in the extreme and serve no useful purpose, other than taking up one paragraph in ten. However, every now and then, there is a touching or thought provoking example, which Balsdon deserves praise for including. Oddly enough, for a historian writing a very specific and not too exciting history, Baldson injects a very sharp, very British, sense of humour, ironic and sometimes black. These are rare occasions, but memorable. There is a comprehensive, if somewhat dated, bibliography, and very useful maps at the tail end of the book. Baldson has done a truly epic amount of research concerning a most un-epic subject matter. As such, this book is an authoritative edition. For anyone interested in the details of Roman history, this book is extremely useful and highly recommended.