The Childhood of Rome

Long before Rome became an empire, it was a collection of hill tribes and wandering peoples, their stories half-legend, half-memory. This book imagines the childhood of Rome through the eyes of Marcia, a young girl skilled in basket weaving, who lives with her family on the slopes of the Mountain of Fire. Here, in the shadow of Vesuvius, ancient customs are lived and breathed: harvest routines, familial traditions, the rhythms of a world where the gods feel close and history hasn't yet hardened into fact. Then the mountain wakes. A volcanic eruption engulfs the village, forcing Marcia's family to flee the destruction of everything they know. What follows is not merely survival, but the quiet heroism of rebuilding, of carrying forward the customs and courage that will one day become the foundations of a civilization. Written in the early 20th century with a tender respect for childhood and ancient ways, this is the story of the people who came before Rome was Rome.