This is a vivid and intimate account of everyday life in ancient Rome during the Republic, from the downfall of the kings in 509 BC to the seizure of power by Augustus in 27 BC. Drawing widely on rich contemporary sources, Florence Dupont recreates the public and private lives, rituals, actions, institutions, and religion of the Roman Republic. She shows how Roman culture and society revolved around one kind of individual, the Roman citizen, whose roles encompassed soldier, voter, estate-owner, householder and slave-master, paterfamilias,priest, party-goer, farmer and city-dweller. It was citizenship, she reveals, that shaped Roman notions of space, time, human nature and the human body.

The author describes the profound effect of Rome's increasing power and wealth. Excess, luxury and greed gradually eroded the traditional values of order, thrift, honor and liberty: citizens became transformed into subjects. 'Streets flowed with precious wines and the blood of exotic wild animals and inumerable oxen,' she writes. 'Makeshift theaters were thrown up and bedecked with gold and ivory. In a hopeless attempt to empty both its own coffers and those of the nobility, the republic endowed the city with temples, basilicas and colonnades. But the world was too rich, too vast, and Rome, at its center, choked on all its wealth.'

"Far better than anyone else who has written on daily life in ancient Rome, Dupont conveys a sense of the city itself as both physical and symbolic space." Times Literary Supplement

"Dupont's book is filled with fascinating minutiae of the material aspects and customs of Roman life." Choice

"A fascinating study of Roman society....This translation from French is lively and enjoyable." Library Journal

"This book presents fascinating reading-material, made available in a well-written style."Mnemosyne

"The author's often unusual approach and her striking ability to understand the Roman mind give it a unique stamp. She is very well served too by her translator whose version is remarkably fluent and graceful."Classics Ireland

This book, now available in paperback, concerns the everyday private and public lives of the citizens of ancient Rome. Drawing on a broad selection of contemporary sources, the author examines the institutions, actions and rituals of day to day life.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [297]-298) and index.

Florence Dupont is Professor of Latin at the University of Nice.

Christopher Woodallis a freelance translator and journalist.