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Life and Death in the Roman Suburb introduces new ways of understanding Roman cities as well as ancient attitudes towards death and the dead. Drawing on recent archaeological projects from across Italy, Emmerson shows how Roman cities created suburbs where the living and the dead came together in a new type of urban neighbourhood.
List of contents
- 1: City and Suburb in Roman Italy
- 2: Three Suburbs
- 3: Death in the Suburb
- 4: Waste Management from Center to Suburb
- 5: Shops, Workshops, and Suburban Commercial Life
- 6: Italy's Suburban Amphitheaters
- 7: Gods outside the Walls
- Epilogue
About the author
Allison L. C. Emmerson is Assistant Professor of Classical Studies at Tulane University.
Summary
Life and Death in the Roman Suburb introduces new ways of understanding Roman cities as well as ancient attitudes towards death and the dead. Drawing on recent archaeological projects from across Italy, Emmerson shows how Roman cities created suburbs where the living and the dead came together in a new type of urban neighbourhood.
Additional text
The written style is clear, accurate, and readable throughout, and the text is richly supported with well-chosen photographs and high-quality plans, both often in color. The author deserves... credit for ensuring that the city plans consistently include contour lines, which can be difficult to achieve for want of suitable source material, but does a great deal to clarify the factors governing the placement of monuments and the relationships between them once built. Here, it particularly enhances the discussions of the amphitheaters at Herdonia and Ocriculum, showing clearly how they responded to the local topography, and how and from where they were visible within the surrounding landscape. I will certainly be recommending Emmerson's book to my own students, and I expect it to become an important point of reference for all those interested in Roman Italy, funerary customs, and the organization of space.
