Amanda Claridge, archaeologist acclaimed for her definitive Oxford guide to ancient Rome – obituary

Professor Amanda Claridge, who died aged 73, was an archaeologist who wrote the definitive English guide to ancient Rome in the Oxford Archaeological Guides series, a work which, according to classicist Robin Lane Fox, writing in The Daily Telegraph in 2006 had him revived the ancient city.

Amanda Claridge had years of familiarity with the sites and topography of Rome through her work for the British School at Rome, of which she was assistant director from 1980 to 1994. Her book, Lane Fox observes, “is clear, but so detailed that this allows you to spend a truly enriching holiday”.

It was full of fascinating details off the beaten path. From the Colosseum, she noted that gravediggers, actors and ex-gladiators were not allowed there and that until a major cleaning in 1871, 240 species of plants thrived there, including Asian species carried (it is supposed) in the fur of imported animals. for games.

In the Forum, she guided readers to the tribune, where the corpse of Julius Caesar was displayed while Marc Antony worked on the crowd of “Romans and compatriots”. “Armed with Claridge,” observed Lane Fox, “you can then descend to the end of the Forum and find the Regia, the royal house where Caesar is said to have done business as pontifex maximus. It was near this very building that the fiery plebs cremated his corpse after Marc Antoine’s speech.