British School at Rome

The British School at Rome is a centre for research into the archaeology, history and culture of Italy, and for contemporary art and architecture. Its publications reflect the range of its humanities research programmes. Their annual journal, Papers of the British School at Rome, publishes high quality work carried out in Rome and Italy by the BSR and its award-holders. Other publications include a series of Archaeological Monographs, an Art History series and material from their archive.

Villa Magna: an Imperial Estate and its Legacies Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 552
ISBN: 9780904152746
Pub Date: 28 Feb 2017
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Illustrations: b/w 295; colour 34
Description:
The evocative site of Villamagna, rising in lovely solitude against the steep wooded backdrop of the Monti Lepini, has enormous importance; but its imperial villa, known from the letters of Marcus Aurelius, has been largely ignored until recently, with interest focusing upon the medieval monastery that occupied the site. This volume presents the fascinating story of the site, from imperial villa, to a late antique successor, monastic complex, village, cemetery and late medieval castrum. Detailed, systematic study of the site and setting by non-invasive techniques and excavation has offered the scope to address a series of major questions; and the results are interpreted, setting them in the context of the documentary history of the site and its immediate neighbourhood, and of the broader history of central Italy, from around the first century through to the fourteenth.
Ocriculum (Otricoli, Umbria) Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 169
ISBN: 9780904152678
Pub Date: 30 Sep 2013
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Description:
The remarkable extent, state of preservation and monuments of Ocriculum make this one of the most important archaeological sites in ancient Italy. Located close to the river Tiber, north of Rome on the Via Flaminia, many travellers were drawn to Otricoli and its landscape, lured by its beauty. Significant monumental remains of the Roman town are still visible: the amphitheatre, the theatre, the forum area, basilica, baths and nymphaeum.
Veii. The Historical Topography of the Ancient City Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 432
ISBN: 9780904152630
Pub Date: 21 Feb 2013
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Illustrations: 142 illus, 2 colour plates
Description:
During the nineteenth century, antiquarians such as William Gell and George Dennis visited the ancient city of Veii, some 15 km north of Rome, and noted the rapid destruction of its archaeology. The city continued under to be under threat, and in the 1950s was the subject of ground-breaking survey and excavation by John Ward-Perkins. However, the results of his fieldwork were never published fully.
Vesuvian Sigillata at Pompeii Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 162
ISBN: 9780904152623
Pub Date: 21 Feb 2013
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Illustrations: 32 illus, 4 colour plates, CD Rom
Description:
The destruction of Pompeii in ad 79 provides a unique opportunity to explore the use of everyday items. It allows us to identify the source and variety of products available within the city, and enables us to track changes in the consumption of goods over time. In this volume, Jaye McKenzie-Clark presents the far-reaching results of her examination of the red slip tableware within three regions of the city.
San Vincenzo Maggiore and its Workshops Cover
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9780904152586
Pub Date: 01 Dec 2011
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Description:
The San Vincenzo Project began in 1980 as a collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archaeologica del Molise. Its initial focus was the small frescoed crypt of 'San Lorenzo' (later known as the Crypt Church), which was in urgent need of conservation. Over the following eighteen years, a large multidisciplinary project was undertaken involving archaeologists, historians and art historians.
Between Text and Territory Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 356
ISBN: 9780904152487
Pub Date: 08 Feb 2007
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Illustrations: c.180 b/w illus
Description:
The San Vincenzo Project, focused upon the Benedictine monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno, in central Italy, was launched in 1980. In addition to developing the archaeological potential of the well-known ninth-century painted crypt of San Lorenzo and to defining the general character of the early medieval monastery, a major aim of the project was through a combination of survey and small-scale excavation within the territory to define the relationship between the early medieval monastery and its dependent communities. This volume summarizes the archaeology of the territory, placing emphasis upon the long settlement history of which San Vincenzo al Volturno was a part, as well as the dependent communities of the Benedictine monastery identified during the fieldwork.
Portus Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 360
ISBN: 9780904152470
Pub Date: 03 May 2006
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Illustrations: 233 b/w illus, one fold-out
Description:
In AD 42, the Emperor Claudius initiated work on the construction of a new artificial harbour a short distance to the north of the mouth of the Tiber. The harbour facilities were enlarged at the instigation of the Emperor Trajan at the beginning of the second century AD, and Portus remained the principal port for the City of Rome into the Byzantine period. The surviving archaeological remains and comments by ancient sources make it clear that Portus lay at the heart of Rome's maritime façade.
Roman Bodies Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 266
ISBN: 9780904152449
Pub Date: 25 Aug 2005
Illustrations: b/w illus
Description:
This collection of seventeen essays explores the dramatic changes in Western conceptions of the body, encompassing the cultural shifts that occurred across Empire, religion and science, from antiquity to the eighteenth century.
Archives and Excavations Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 308
ISBN: 9780904152432
Pub Date: 01 Nov 2004
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Illustrations: 151 b/w illus
Description:
Archives and Excavations aims to stimulate a new approach to the history of excavation by drawing attention to a vast and important area of research that has been neglected for almost a century.
Bridging the Tiber Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
ISBN: 9780904152401
Pub Date: 03 May 2004
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Illustrations: 128 b/w figs, 8 col pls, 14 tabs
Description:
Few river valleys can claim the historical importance of the Tiber, and an understanding of the river and its valley is key to an understanding of Rome and its place in the ancient world. When Rome was in its ascendancy, the Tiber became a vital route for communication and trade, but when Rome went into decline, the Tiber became a buffer-zone between Rome and Byzantium. This ebb and flow, with the associated reorganisation of social, political and economic life are themes central to any study of Roman civilisation.
Visions of Rome Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 134
ISBN: 9780904152340
Pub Date: 01 Dec 2000
Illustrations: 40 b/w figs
Description:
Thomas Ashby (1874-1931), the first scholar and third Director of the British School at Rome died at a tragically young age when he fell from a train. His 'Roman Campagna in Classical Times' remains a classic work of topographic research. This book, written by another former Director, tells the story of his life as an academic, as the Director responsible for building the British School at Rome in the Valle Giulia, as an ambulance driver in the First World War, as an avid photographer and, in the author's view, as the victim of the British tendency towards dark moral judgement.
Excavations at the Mola di Monte Gelato Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 456
ISBN: 9780904152319
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1997
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Illustrations: with 255 figs and 77 tables
Description:
As part of a long-term survey of southern Etruria, the site of Monte Gelato, about 30 km north of Rome, was excavated from 1986-90. An exceptionally rich stratigraphy provided excavators with a detailed occupation narrative. An Augustan villa where dormice were eaten and eels kept as pets was abandoned in the early 3rd century AD.
San Vincenzo al Volturno 2 Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9780904152265
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1995
Illustrations: incl. 140 b/w illus and 36 colour plates.
Description:
This volume presents the second part of the detailed report on the British School at Rome's excavations between 1980 and 1986 at the early medieval Benedictine abbey of San Vincenzo in Molise, central Italy. It contains discussion of the Vestibule, the Assembly Room containing the reconstructed wall of painted prophets, the Refectory, the terraces, the hilltop cemetery, and the late Roman settlement. It also includes essays on the historical context of the site: Christians and countrymen' (Samuel Barnish) , Monastic lands and monastic patrons' (Chris Wickham) , and `San Vincenzo and the Plan of Saint Gall' (Richard Hodges) .
San Vincenzo al Volturno 1 Cover
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780904152241
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1993
Series: Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome
Illustrations: xxi, 236 including 215 b/w illus and 23 col plates.
Description:
This is the first of a number of volumes describing the 1980-86 excavations at the early medieval Benedictine abbey of San Vincenzo al Volturno in central Italy. This volume gives a general introduction to this important project, a description of the archaeological remains, and then detailed accounts of the excavation of the Carolingian Crypt Church, the `South Church', the Refectory, the Garden Court and the Entrance Hall. Also included is a reappraisal of the cycle of paintings in the crypt in the light of the excavations.
Gravina Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 259
ISBN: 9780904152227
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1992
Illustrations: b/w figs
Description:
This volume presents the evidence uncovered by the BSR between 1965 and 1974 for the Iron Age city of Silvium and for the Roman settlement that succeeded it. It concentrates especially on the defences of the city of the late 4th century BC which were partially destroyed by the Romans in 307 or 306 BC and on the economic and social transformations of the middle 2nd century BC.
Gravina Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 399
ISBN: 9780904152234
Pub Date: 01 Dec 1992
Illustrations: incl 120 figs & 21 plates