The rise and fall of the Roman Empire remains a crucial event in the history of Europe and the Near East, yet many reference sources either omit important facts and figures about the period or take them for granted. Now, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome provides full access to the 1,200 years of Roman rule from the 8th century B.C. to the 5th century A.D., including information that is often hard to find and even harder to decipher.

Organized thematically, nine chapters provide in-depth analysis of all aspects of Roman life, the Republic and the Empire, military affairs, geography of the Roman world, towns and countryside, travel and trade, literature and the arts, religion, economy and industry and everyday life.

The myriad topics covered include rulers; the legal and governmental system; architectural feats such as the famous Roman roads and aqueducts, Hadrian's Wall and the Colosseum; the Roman system of names; coinage, weights and measures; even typical Roman leisure pursuits. Each chapter includes an extensive bibliography as well as site-specific photographs and line drawings, more than 125 in all.

Maps chart the expansion and contraction of the territory from the foundation of the city of Rome itself to the Byzantine Empire and the ultimate decline of the West. Clear, authoritative and highly organized, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome provides a unique look at a civilization whose art, literature, law and engineering influenced the whole of Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and beyond.