In this book Z. has produced a slim and engaging introduction to Roman urbanism within the classical tradition. The book will easily ground any student in the basics of Roman urban topography, yet still contains sufficient depth to engage more experienced readers. It is divided into four unequal parts, with the greatest attention going to the architectural development of Rome in the Republican (47 pages) and Imperial (34 pages) periods. A discussion of the architectural elements of empire – displays of power in monumental buildings and the moderation of that message in entertainment structures – make up the third section (17 pages). The final chapter contains an examination of six towns as case studies: Ostia, Tarragona, Timgad, Dougga, Leptis Magna and Trier (24 pages). The 80 figures are of high quality and relevance to the text. For the novice, these provide the requisite visual introduction, but more advanced readers will recognise many of the images and remember the publications from which they derive, turning the illustrations into a species of visual bibliography. For all, the narrative is engaging and neatly weaves the study of Roman buildings within their broader history, showing them as both hallmarks and catalysts of change.

The outline of Roman history is well known, but its push and pull effect on the fabric of Rome as a city has rarely been articulated as well or as efficiently. Here Z. is at his best: describing how military success and colonisation forced Rome to face problems of urban planning; how prosperity brought the construction of a commercial infrastructure that freed political spaces for more ornamental architecture; how those same forces of enrichment and hegemony within the Hellenistic world awakened in Rome a self-consciousness about her appearance, driving a flurry of competitive building that transformed the Campus Martius into ‘a laboratory of Hellenization’ (p. 42). Such competition only ends when it can be nearly completely co-opted by the emperors, as expressed in their imperial fora. To incorporate the sub-elites into this story, Z. adds a discussion of grave monuments at Rome and beyond.

Criticisms of the book are few and minor. First is how the book ends: the case studies are too brief, a fact which amplifies the surprising absence of any conclusion or summation. A second concern is one common to all books on classical urbanism that (perhaps naturally) rely on big buildings, broad histories and elite issues. Because these are the benchmarks of success, Z. describes the later first and second centuries c.e. as ‘stagnant’ (p. 117). Though they do not fit the ‘big history’ model, the transformation of the non-monumental infrastuctural and commercial landscapes in Roman cities had an equally profound impact on Roman urbanism. A discussion of these issues, moving beyond horrea and aqueduct lines, might have profitably replaced the final case studies. Such critiques notwithstanding, this book is one of those delightful little books in which the pieces of history fall neatly together, sometimes in striking or surprising ways. In the end, Z.'s is a work of elegance and erudition, both edifying and accessible, both building and doorway.