Book Review: The World of Ancient Rome: A Daily Life Encyclopedia

Abstract

Greenwood’s latest entry in their Daily Life Encyclopedia series is James Ermatinger’s The World of Ancient Rome. Ermatinger, a late Roman specialist and Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois Springfield, is the sole author of this two-volume resource, which covers ten main areas of daily life, including art, fashion, family and gender, recreation and social customs, and food and drink, as well as the usual politics and warfare. Sections are divided into alphabetical entries, and there are cross-references and an index to help locate topics. Entries have individual bibliographies and there is a comprehensive list of resources at the end of volume 2. A nice addition are translations into English of primary sources giving a contemporary view of Roman life. There are occasional black and white illustrations to enliven the text.