The Colosseum: 19 (Wonders of the World) - Tapa blanda

A fascinating account for the Rome-bound traveler as well as the fan of European history.--George Cohen"Booklist" (10/01/2005)

A wonderful book, worthy of its subject: horrifying, impressive, blood-soaked, occasionally very funny and always entertaining.--Robert Harris

This lively book carries the reader painlessly through a complex record of legend and history. By the end the authors have touched authoritatively on architecture, mythological spectacle, imperial patronage, gladiators, sadism, early Christianity, and modern romantic impressions of the Colosseum. A delightful and instructive account.--G. W. Bowersock, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Gives a sprightly, entertaining account of this archetypal building in all its various incarnations, from the 'killing fields' of antiquity to the pilgrim's goal of the sixteenth century, the botanist's paradise of the nineteenth, and the archaeologist's puzzle of today--four different construction crews worked on separate quarters of the building, with conspicuously differing results.--Ingrid Rowland"New York Review of Books" (10/11/2007)

Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard, eminent classical historians, have written a superb new cultural history of the Colosseum. As well as documenting the variety of flowers that once grew wild among the ruins, they offer pithy and occasionally hilarious accounts of the three million tourists who descend on the monument each year.-- (03/07/2005)

This architectural icon of the classical world probably has been the subject of more myths and half-truths than any other building surviving from antiquity... This slim book, which would fit into a pocketbook or a knapsack, would make a worthy travel companion for anyone visiting Rome because it sheds so much light on 'what is likely to seem at best a confusing mass of masonry, at worst a jumble of dilapidated stone and rubble.'--Spencer Rumsey"Newsday" (02/26/2006)

It is a work of scholarship written with the general reader in mind. The scholarship is worn lightly, and the book is a pleasure to read. It sums up all that is known, and makes it clear that much must remain conjectural. Anyone visiting Rome and making the obligatory sightseeing tour of the Colosseum will do well to read it in advance and keep it to hand; enjoyment will be much enhanced.-- (03/19/2005)

Brisk and illuminating, with much surprising information.--Kirkus Reviews (09/01/2005)

[Hopkins and Beard] succeed remarkably in dispelling many of the myths surrounding the Colosseum... Lively writing brings the Colosseum and its denizens to life in great detail.--Rita Simmons"Library Journal" (08/01/2005)

Stirring stuff! This is a welcome and well-written book--scholarly but accessible and level-headed. It reassesses the myths, politely debunks many misconceptions about what we know--and what we don't know--to put the fabulous monument in context from its founding to the present. The practical notes for modern visitors made me yearn to be there in Rome again.--Lindsey Davis, author of the Falco series of ancient Roman mysteries