The ruins of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Ostia have excited the imagination of scholars and tourists alike ever since early modern times. The removal of volcanic debris at Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the clearance of centuries of accumulated soil and vegetation from the ancient port city of Rome at Ostia, have provided us with the most important evidence for Roman urban life. Pompeii is the subject of numerous books but the other two cities are nothing like as well-served. This book, written by an archaeologist, historian and teacher, is designed for students of A-level and university courses on Classical Civilization. Its principal focus is status and identity in Roman cities, and how they were expressed through institutions, public buildings and facilities, private houses and funerary monuments, against a backdrop of the history of the cities, their rise, destruction, preservation and excavation.