Life and Death in the Roman Suburb

By: Allison L.C. Emmerson

Narrated by: Janet Metzger

Defined by borders both physical and conceptual, the Roman city stood apart as a concentration of life and activity that was legally, economically, and ritually divided from its rural surroundings. Death was a key area of control, and tombs were relegated outside city walls from the Republican period through Late Antiquity. Given this separation, an unexpected phenomenon marked the Augustan and early Imperial periods: Roman cities developed suburbs, built-up areas beyond their boundaries, where the living and the dead came together in densely urban environments.

Life and Death in the Roman Suburb examines these districts, drawing on the archaeological remains of cities across Italy to understand the character of Roman suburbs and to illuminate the factors that led to their rise and decline, focusing especially on the tombs of the dead. Whereas work on Roman cities has tended to pass over funerary material, and research on death has concentrated on issues seen as separate from urbanism, Emmerson introduces a new paradigm, considering tombs within their suburban surroundings of shops, houses, workshops, garbage dumps, extramural sanctuaries, and major entertainment buildings, in order to trace the many roles they played within living cities.

©2020 Allison L. C. Emmerson (P)2020 Tantor

Fascinating and eye opening history

Like many others, I was taught that the ancient Romans strictly segregated the dead from the living in fear of ritual pollution, and Emmerson not only demonstrates why that is wrong but also constructs a new model of life outside the city wall. The book is academic but still lively.

The narration was also excellent and I appreciate that Metzger used proper Latin pronunciation.

interesting and informative!

This was a very interesting and informative book, which challenges the idea of "death pollution" frequently ascribed to republican and imperial Roman culture and describes various aspects of suburban development. I recommend it!

My one complaint is that the narrator doesn't put significant enough pauses between sections, or between paragraphs, so it can be a little awkward to track where one thought ends and a new thought starts.