Jerome Carcopino was born at Verneuil-sur-Avre (Eure) in 1881. He was educated at the Ecole Normale Superieure, where he specialised in history. From 1904 to 1907 he was a amember of the French School at Rome, returning as professeur of history to the lycee in Le Havre. In 1912 he became a lecturer at the University of Algiers and inspector of antiquities for Algeria until 1920, but his career there was interrupted by the First World War, in which he served in the Dardanelles and the East. He was a professor at the Sorbonne from 1920 to 1937 when he became director of the French school at Rome. Having retired from there, he continued his membership of the Academie des Inscriptions and was elected in 1955 to the Academic Francaise. He died in 1970.

Those born under the rule of the Emperor Claudius in the middle of the first century A.D., who lived through the reign of Nero, Trajan and Hadrian, witnessed the flowering of a mighty empire at the height of its prosperity and power.

In this extraordinarily detailed portrait of life in ancient Rome, Jerome Carcopino begins by painting a vivid backcloth on which the social, political, cultural and religious aspects of the community are drawn. Part Two enlarges on the details of everyday life, following the typical routine of a normal day from dawn (with the clatter of slaves and traffic) to dinner and the talk that continued long into the night.

This classic study, which includes a bibliography and notes by Professor Rowell, describes the streets, houses and multi-storeyed apartments of the city of over a million inhabitants, the social classes from senators to slaves, and the Roman family and the position of women, causing the Times Literary Supplement to hail it as a "thorough, lively and readable book".