Rome, Pollution and Propriety. Dirt, Disease and Hygiene in the Eternal City from Antiquity to Modernity.

8vo, br. ed. 1st paperback ed. XX,320p. ills.(B&W photographs and line drawings). Paperback. 'This volume aims ambitiously 'to identify the defining characteristics, functions and discourses of pollution in Rome' (XVIII) during antiquity and from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. It forms the proceedings of a conference held in 2007 at the British School at Rome, which brought together scholars with a wide range of specialisms all linked by an interest in the concept of pollution and its discourse through the lens of a singel city: Rome. Theories from Mary Douglas's 'Purity and Danger' (1966) are prominent in the majority of the papers in this volume, with a particular focus on her much-quoted statement that 'dirt is matter out of place' (.). Another theme linking this diverse collection of papers is the idea of pollution and purity as political weapons, especially wielded by religious authorities (3). Furthermore, the majority of the papers consider how pollution as metaphor interacts in multiple, and often conflicting, ways with pollution as a lived reality.' (.) This volume is as entertaining and thought-provoking as the conference itself and provides a novel way of thinking about the city of Rome, both past and present.' (ZENA KAMASH in The Journal of Romanan Studies, 2014, pp.252-53).