What survives from the Roman Empire is largely the words and lives of the rich and powerful: emperors, philosophers, senators. Yet the privilege and decadence often associated with the Roman elite was underpinned by the toils and tribulations of the common citizens. Here, the eminent historian Robert Knapp brings those invisible inhabitants of Rome and its vast empire to light.
He seeks out the ordinary folk—laboring men, housewives, prostitutes, freedmen, slaves, soldiers, and gladiators—who formed the backbone of the ancient Roman world, and the outlaws and pirates who lay beyond it. He finds their traces in the nooks and crannies of the histories, treatises, plays, and poetry created by the elite. Everyday people come alive through original sources as varied as graffiti, incantations, magical texts, proverbs, fables, astrological writings, and even the New Testament.
Knapp offers a glimpse into a world far removed from our own, but one that resonates through history. Invisible Romans allows us to see how Romans sought on a daily basis to survive and thrive under the afflictions of disease, war, and violence, and to control their fates before powers that variously oppressed and ignored them.

从罗马帝国流传下来的主要是富人和权贵的言论和生活：皇帝、哲学家、参议员。然而，通常与罗马精英阶层相关的特权和颓废是由普通公民的辛劳和苦难支撑的。在这里，著名的历史学家罗伯特-克纳普将罗马及其庞大帝国中那些看不见的居民带了出来。

他寻找普通人--劳动者、家庭主妇、妓女、自由人、奴隶、士兵和角斗士--他们构成了古罗马世界的骨干，以及在其之外的亡命之徒和海盗。他在精英阶层创作的历史、论文、戏剧和诗歌的角落和缝隙中发现了他们的踪迹。通过涂鸦、咒语、魔法文本、谚语、寓言、占星术著作，甚至是《新约》等不同的原始资料，日常生活中的人们变得生动起来。

克纳普提供了一个与我们自己的世界相距甚远的一瞥，但却是一个在历史上产生共鸣的世界。看不见的罗马人》让我们看到罗马人如何在疾病、战争和暴力的折磨下每天寻求生存和发展，并在各种压迫和忽视他们的权力面前控制他们的命运。