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There Was a Roman in Your Garden

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Book Synopsis

It’s your LUCKY day! You’ve stumbled across an ancient treasure chest in your garden that was buried THOUSANDS of years ago by a child living in ancient Rome. And the chest is packed with 20 strange and curious items that tell us so much about their life, such as:

Armour made of REAL crocodile skin
Twinkling TREASURE said to protect its wearer from evil
A fun game made of a PIG’S KNUCKLE
Evidence of the world’s first PIZZA!

Unpack the treasure chest and discover the objects that a child just like YOU was using thousands of years ago. You’ll uncover fascinating facts and true tales about their school, family life, clothes, games, favourite snacks and so much more.

The true, real-life experiences of children in ancient times is a part of history that has been neglected for far too long – award-winning historian, broadcaster and bestselling author Bettany Hughes is here to dig up this newly discovered information for young budding historians everywhere.

Our Review Panel says...

The underpinning idea is that an imaginary time capsule has been buried by a Roman child and dug up in the reader’s garden. By taking objects as a starting point, Hughes can roughly mirror the processes followed by archaeologists. The book encourages children to think about sources in a critical way, rather than accepting facts on trust.

The objects themselves are carefully chosen to enable explanations of different aspects of the Roman world and explore connections and differences between then and now. A typical chapter on an incense burner explains how the tree resin was harvested, traded and used by the Romans (they thought it helped them to communicate with the gods). There’s a little bit of etymology, and then links are made to other (much less fragrant) Roman smells and the use of incense today.

Bettany Hughes has deep knowledge of the ancient world, and there is a richness of information here that is often missing from other books about the Romans aimed at this age group.

The book is designed to be accessible, with black and white illustrations and typographical effects breaking up the text. The tone is generally chatty, with liberal use of the first and second person, questions and exclamations. It would be an excellent Romans-themed addition to the class library.