Rome, Pollution and Propriety brings together scholars from a range of disciplines in order to examine the historical continuity of dirt, disease and hygiene in one environment, and to explore the development and transformation of these ideas alongside major chapters in the city's history, such as early Roman urban development, Roman pagan religion, the medieval Church, the Renaissance, the unification of Italy and the advent of Fascism. This volume sets out to identify the defining characteristics, functions and discourses of pollution in Rome in such realms as disease and medicine, death and burial, sexuality and virginity, prostitution, purity and absolution, personal hygiene and morality, criminality, bodies and cleansing, waste disposal, decay, ruins and urban renovation, as well as studying the means by which that pollution was policed and controlled.

'A sophisticated analysis … within this volume Rome has become an excellent test study for the examination of theoretical approaches to pollution and purity that should be sought after by students and scholars in anthropology, classical art and archaeology, and social and cultural history.'

Source: Bryn Mawr Classical Review

'… entertaining and thought-provoking … provides a novel way of thinking about the city of Rome, both past and present.'

Zena Kamash Source: The Journal of Roman Studies

'Rome, Pollution, and Propriety is a series of beautiful chapters offering a collection of inspiring reflections on Rome and its dark sides, approached through case studies spread across two millennia.'

Antonella Romano Source: Isis