Life in Ancient Rome: Everyday Life, Mysteries, and Curiosities

Ancient Rome at the height of the empire resembles a modern metropolis much more than we might think. One and a half million of its inhabitants faced the same problems as their descendants two thousand years later: high housing costs and traffic jams, an influx of immigrants and the need to “grease” city officials... The author invites us to “put on an invisibility cloak” and spend a whole day in Rome, from dawn to dusk, in 115 AD: jostle on a crowded street and peek into the Colosseum, attend a court hearing and luxurious baths, taste exquisite dishes and enjoy conversation at a dinner party. And end the day on a love bed — here, too, nothing has changed in two thousand years.