@article{10.4159/harvard.9780674065345,
      recid = {466291},
      author = {Mayer, Emanuel.},
      title = {The ancient middle classes urban life and aesthetics in  the Roman Empire, 100 BCE-250 CE / [electronic resource] :},
      publisher = {Harvard University Press,},
      address = {Cambridge :},
      number = {10.4159/harvard.9780674065345},
      pages = {1 online resource (xiv, 295 p.) :},
      year = {2012},
      abstract = {"Our image of the Roman world is shaped by the writings of  Roman statesmen and upper class intellectuals. Yet most of  the material evidence we have from Roman times--art,  architecture, and household artifacts from Pompeii and  elsewhere--belonged to, and was made for, artisans,  merchants, and professionals. Roman culture as we have seen  it with our own eyes, Emanuel Mayer boldly argues, turns  out to be distinctly middle class and requires a radically  new framework of analysis. Starting in the first century  B.C.E., ancient communities, largely shaped by farmers  living within city walls, were transformed into vibrant  urban centers where wealth could be quickly acquired  through commercial success. From 100 B.C.E. to 250 C.E.,  the archaeological record details the growth of a  cosmopolitan empire and a prosperous new class rising along  with it. Not as keen as statesmen and intellectuals to show  off their status and refinement, members of this new middle  class found novel ways to create pleasure and meaning. In  the décor of their houses and tombs, Mayer finds evidence  that middle-class Romans took pride in their work and  commemorated familial love and affection in ways that  departed from the tastes and practices of social  elites."--Jacket.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/466291},
}