When in Rome: Social Life in Ancient Rome

by Paul Chrystal

A vibrant, accessible social history of Rome, from 753 BCE to the fall of the Empire some 1300 years later. To support its findings the book features hundreds of translations of inscriptions and graffiti from original authors—Roman, Greek and Jewish—and evidence culled from the visual arts, curse tablets, official records and letters both private and official. Each comes with detailed commentaries, placing them into social and historical context. The result is a fascinating survey of how Roman men, women and children lived their lives on a daily basis taking in marriage, slavery, gladiators, medicine, magic, religion, superstition and the occult; sex, work and play, education, death, housing, country life and city life. There are also chapters on domestic violence, family pets and FGM. In short, ‘When in Rome’ gives a vivid description of what the Romans really did.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Paul Chrystal attended the Universities of Hull and Southampton where he took degrees in Classics. For the next thirty-five years he worked in medical publishing, much of the time as an international sales director for one market or another while latterly creating medical educational programmes for the pharmaceutical industry. He worked for companies such as Churchill Livingstone, Wiley-Blackwell, CRC Press, Academic Press and Elsevier.