There are so many amazing resources out there on Ancient Rome, but today I thought I'd talk about two of my favourites, because not only are they informative, but they're incredibly fun.
Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day is written as a travel guide. It's Lonely Planet, if Lonly Planet was a couple of millenia old. This is the soft of fun and accessible book that you can dip in and out of, but it's also great to read in one hit. There aren’t any emperors or empire-defining battles in this one, just walking tours of the city, tips on where to eat and what to see, and where to go for shopping and entertainment. So put on your toughest sandals and check out the Eternal City back when it was still relatively new!
One of the most fun ways to learn how ancient people lived is to eat the same things they did! This is a great little book. Sally Grainger has taken a bunch of Apicius’s Ancient Roman recipes, which are notoriously vague when it comes to actual instructions, and put them together so that you can recreate Roman cuisine in your own kitchen. Disclaimer: I haven't tried all of these receipes. Some, because I'm not brave enough, and some because living in Australia means some of the ingredients aren't very easy to get hold of. I had to ask my mum what lovage was!
There are some I have tried that I'm still not sure about (looking at you, garum sauce!) but I can absolutely recommend the deep-fried honey fritters!
Do you have any favourite reference books that make research fun?
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