Amanda Claridge, an archaeologist who brought ancient Rome and its environs to life — most notably in her oft-cited 1998 book, “Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide,” which helped curious visitors understand what they were looking at as they wandered through that history . rich city — died on May 5 in London. She was 72.
Her brother Jolyon Claridge confirmed her death at a hospital. A report from the Classics Department at the University of London’s Royal Holloway College, where she was an emerita professor of Roman archaeology, said the cause was cancer.
Professor Claridge was in her mid-20s when she became a scientist at the British School in Rome, where she quickly acquired a reputation as an expert in sculpture and the marble trade. After teaching at Princeton University for three years in the late 1970s, she returned to the British School in 1980 as assistant principal; she served until 1994, conducting important fieldwork in several locations.
She enjoyed the intricacies of the Roman cityscape.
“Three thousand years of continuous occupation have created one of the most deeply layered and complex urban sites in existence,” she wrote in “Rome.”
Her research revealed the details of what seems, to a casual observer, a homogeneous chunk of long ago.
“Ancient Rome,” she wrote in the book, “was a place where every temple, basilica, arch, road, or aqueduct was potentially a political act: it mattered a lot who built what and when.”
Although Professor Claridge has written numerous scientific papers, her “Rome” guidebook was intended for a general reader. After a historical overview, it went through the city, temple by temple, arch by arch, descriptive and explanatory. Over the years, the book, which was reissued in 2010, has been praised from many quarters.
“Amanda Claridge’s indispensable ‘Oxford Archaeological Guide to Rome’ lets the stones speak,” wrote writer Elizabeth Speller in The Independent of Britain in 2003. so with spirit.”
A fellow historian, Robin Lane Fox, was equally impressed.
“For years I found most of the ancient monuments almost incomprehensible, especially the Forum, with its scattered stone foundations and random pillars, where fourth century AD buildings perplexingly intrude into the vague remains of Cicero’s world,” he wrote. in The Daily Telegraph of London in 2006. “Finally, the place has come to life for me. The essential part is ‘Rome’ by Amanda Claridge, an expert archaeologist who has been familiar with the sites for many years thanks to her work for the British School in the city. Her book is clear, yet detailed enough to turn it into a true self-improvement vacation.”
Early in her career, Professor Claridge was an assistant to noted archaeologist John Ward-Perkins. Her first major project in archeology was to co-curate ‘Pompeii AD 79’, an exhibition of art from the doomed city that was staged at the Royal Academy in London in 1976 and later came to the United States.
It was an early opportunity for her to explore the differences between ancient and modern times as well as the similarities. In 1976, a reporter for The Daily Telegraph from London asked her about Pompeii’s garden statues and whether they resembled the gnomes some contemporary gardeners like to place among their plants.
“Their statues of satyrs were about the same,” she agreed. “The difference is that their garden image was vaguely erotic.”
Erotic paintings were also common in Pompeii, but they weren’t a major part of that 1976 exhibition. This was partly because most of the murals weren’t easy to transport, but also because — well, at least Professor Claridge wasn’t impressed. the impression.
“They’re not really that interesting,” she told The Daily Telegraph. “The pornography has a pretty low character.”
Amanda Jacqueline Claridge was born on September 1, 1949 in a Royal Air Force hospital near Wendover, England. Her father, John Gaskin Claridge, had been a bomber pilot during World War II, and her mother, Marie Innes (Cooper) Claridge, was an intelligence officer.
Professor Claridge said she was interested in archaeology from an early age. She received a bachelor’s degree from the Institute of Archeology in London and, as a tribute posted by Royal Holloway put it, “was one of the last generation of scientists who didn’t need a doctorate to pursue an academic career.”
One of the projects she oversaw was the excavation, which began in 1983, of Vicus Augustanus, a workers’ settlement on an estate used by Roman emperors. In 1994 she returned to England to work at the Institute of Archaeology. She moved to Royal Holloway in 2000.
Professor Claridge, who lived in London, is survived by her brother. A younger brother, Michael, died in 2015.
Richard Alston, head of Royal Holloway’s classics department, said Professor Claridge not only had her own scholarship, but was also generous with help and advice.
“If anyone had a problem understanding anything in archeology,” he said by email, “it was Amanda who wrote you, and it was Amanda who got you the answers you needed.”
