A Roman Villa: Inside Story

Inside Story

by Jacqueline Morley

Step inside a luxurious Roman Villa and discover for yourself what it was like to live and work in this rural estate. From the tools and techniques used to maintain the sprawling gardens and vineyards to the story of a slave's life, A Roman Villa provides detailed information about all aspects of daily life in this ancient household. Take a closer look at history with Spectacular Visual Guides, a series that scratches way past the surface of history, examining the legacies of long lost civilisations. Each title provides the reader with a detailed glimpse of people and places during pivotal periods in time. Astounding architectural acheivements are explained and explored with full-colour cutaway illustrations. Pinpoint enlargements focus on the day to day lives of the people, looking at how they ate, dressed, entertained themselves and sometimes fought. Illustrations of artifacts and paintings from the era help to support the main text by providing proof which explains how we know what we know. Informative captions, maps, a complete glossary and an index make these titles ideal educational texts. Each one features a sturdy flexi-bound cover with gold foiling.

Genres: History, Picture Books, Education

48 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

Jacqueline Morley studied English at Oxford University and has taught English and History. She is the author of numerous books, including award-winning historical nonfiction titles for children. Her books have won several TES Senior Information book awards.

Reviews

[Aneesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everybody loves a cross section. Also, seems to use primary sources as reference material.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Roman villa is a farm from the times of the Empire. It is often a very nice country home. I enjoyed this illustrated middle grade children’s book with detailed drawings. The information doesn’t limit itself to just the buildings, but also tells about what the people did who lived and worked in the house and on the farm. In I Claudius, Claudius mentions his villas and overseers several times so this book fit right into what I’ve been reading. This is the second book I’ve read in the Inside Story series, and I intend to read a few more as they are very informative. It might be that adults understand them better than the intended age.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has beautiful illustrations and nice information. I wish the author gave more details about social life during this era of both the masters/Roman and the slave. I am curious about the marriage custom of the slave because it's mentioned that they had a family too. Other than that, I think this book is a decent book, albeit a little too general for my taste, so the life of the family the author depicted in this book didn't come alive in my imagination. There are many questions still left to be answered.

[Landon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vivid description of what the villas were like

[What April's Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Loads of easy to understand information about Roman villas and the people who live in and take care of them.
Grade school or middle school level.