The Ruin of the Eternal City provides the first systematic analysis of the preservation practices of the popes, civic magistrates, and ordinary citizens of Renaissance Rome. This study offers a new understanding of historic preservation as it occurred during the extraordinary rebuilding of a great European capital city.

It is the aim of the following pages to give the degree and kind of popular information believed to be wanted by the numerous visitors to the excavations at Wroxeter, who have no guidebook to explain what they see, and are not possessed of that amount of minute antiquarian knowledge which would enable them to understand everything without such explanation. It is the first instance in which there has been, in this country, the chance of penetrating into a city of more than fourteen centuries ago, on so large a scale, and with such extensive remains of its former condition; and when the visitor has walked over the floors which had been trodden last, before they were thus uncovered, by the Roman inhabitants of this island, he will appreciate more justly, and with greater interest, the objects which have been discovered, and are deposited in the Museum, at Shrewsbury; and he will learn to look forward with hope to the light which a continuance of these excavations must throw upon the condition and history of this country at so remote a period.

"An illuminating reassessment of the architect whose innovative drawings of ruins shaped the enduring image of ancient Rome"--

The enemy were overpowered and took to flight. The Romans pursued as far as their strength enabled them to run' Between 58 and 50 BC Julius Caesar conquered most of the area now covered by France, Belgium and Switzerland, and invaded Britain twice, and The Conquest of Gaul is his record of these campaigns. Caesar’s narrative offers insights into his military strategy and paints a fascinating picture of his encounters with the inhabitants of Gaul and Britain, as well as lively portraits of the rebel leader Vercingetorix and other Gallic chieftains. The Conquest of Gaulcan also be read as a piece of political propaganda, as Caesar sets down his version of events for the Roman public, knowing he faces civil war on his return to Rome. Revised and updated by Jane Gardner, S. A. Handford’s translation brings Caesar’s lucid and exciting account to life for modern readers. This volume includes a glossary of persons and places, maps, appendices and suggestions for further reading.

This volume explores the conflicting representations of ancient Rome—one of the most important European cities in the medieval imagination—in late Middle English poetry. Once the capital of a great pagan empire whose ruined monuments still inspired awe in the Middle Ages, Rome, the seat of the pope, became a site of Christian pilgrimage owing to the fame of its early martyrs, whose relics sanctified the city and whose help was sought by pilgrims to their shrines. C. David Benson analyzes the variety of ways that Rome and its citizens, both pre-Christian and Christian, are presented in a range of Middle English poems, from lesser-known, anonymous works to the poetry of Gower, Chaucer, Langland, and Lydgate. Benson discusses how these poets conceive of ancient Rome and its citizens—especially the women of Rome—as well as why this matters to their works. An insightful and innovative study, Imagined Romes addresses a crucial lacuna in the scholarship of Rome in the medieval imaginary and provides fresh perspectives on the work of four of the most prominent Middle English poets.