As is normally the case with the books in the collection Discoveries Gallimard, "Our ancestors the Romans" is very informative despite its small size (17x12 format, less than 200 pages), and packed with relevant illustrations. The text offers a general introduction to the Roman civilization, but never pays in simplicity (the authors are chairholder of ancient Rome at the College de France and professor of archeology and Roman art). The first chapter summarizes the stages of development of the Roman Empire. Then, the themes are family, citizenship, religion, culture, architecture ... The last 30 pages are the "Documents" (present in all the books in the collection): one finds there of extracts texts of the time and excerpts from academic works. Excellent little book!
