Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans: Visual Representation and Non-Elite Viewers in Italy, 100 B.C.-A.D. 315

This splendidly illustrated book brings to life the ancient Romans whom modern scholarship has largely ignored: slaves, ex—slaves, foreigners, and the freeborn working poor. Though they had no access to the upper echelons of society, ordinary Romans enlivened their world with all manner of artworks. Discussing a wide range of art in the late republic and early empire—from familiar monuments to the obscure Caupona of Salvius and little—studied tomb reliefs—John R. Clarke provides a tantalizi...