This volume investigates the multifaceted cultural, historical, and rhetorical functions of forgery, questioning how the act of fabrication shapes the value and perception of the ancient Roman past. Authors John North Hopkins and Scott McGill, both scholars in classical studies and art history, synthesize interdisciplinary research to argue that forgeries serve as more than mere instruments of deception. By analyzing the intersection of literature, physical artifacts, and historical desire, the authors demonstrate how these objects reflect a persistent human impulse to recover and possess the fragmentary remains of antiquity.

Scholars in the field of classical reception and material culture identify this work as a significant contribution to the study of how the past is constructed through imitation. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the breadth of the interdisciplinary approach, which bridges the gap between literary theory and archaeological practice.