Rome in the Late Republic

by Mary Beard, Michael Hewson Crawford

This well-established textbook outlines the key factors that every student must assess for a proper understanding of the period of the Late Roman Republic - from the attitudes of the aristocracy and the role of state religion to the function of political institutions.

An essential book for the beginner, it also has much to offer the more advanced student. This updated second edition also contains an extended Introduction, a new section assessing recent scholarship, and an supplemented bibliography.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics, Ancient History, Classical Studies, Roman History, Roman

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Winifred Mary Beard (born 1 January 1955) is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and is a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "A Don's Life", which appears on The Times as a regular column. Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist".

Mary Beard, an only child, was born on 1 January 1955 in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Her father, Roy Whitbread Beard, worked as an architect in Shrewsbury. She recalled him as "a raffish public-schoolboy type and a complete wastrel, but very engaging". Her mother Joyce Emily Beard was a headmistress and an enthusiastic reader.

Mary Beard attended an all-female direct grant school. During the summer she participated in archaeological excavations; this was initially to earn money for recreational spending, but she began to find the study of antiquity unexpectedly interesting. But it was not all that interested the young Beard. She had friends in many age groups, and a number of trangressions: "Playing around with other people's husbands when you were 17 was bad news. Yes, I was a very naughty girl."

At the age of 18 she was interviewed for a place at Newnham College, Cambridge and sat the then compulsory entrance exam. She had thought of going to King's, but rejected it when she discovered the college did not offer scholarships to women. Although studying at a single-sex college, she found in her first year that some men in the University held dismissive attitudes towards women's academic potential, and this strengthened her determination to succeed. She also developed feminist views that remained "hugely important" in her later life, although she later described "modern orthodox feminism" as partly "cant". Beard received an MA at Newnham and remained in Cambridge for her PhD.

From 1979 to 1983 she lectured in Classics at King's College London. She returned to Cambridge in 1984 as a fellow of Newnham College and the only female lecturer in the Classics faculty. Rome in the Late Republic, which she co-wrote with the Cambridge ancient historian Michael Crawford, was published the same year. In 1985 Beard married Robin Sinclair Cormack. She had a daughter in 1985 and a son in 1987. Beard became Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement in 1992.

Shortly after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, Beard was one of several authors invited to contribute articles on the topic to the London Review of Books. She opined that many people, once "the shock had faded", thought "the United States had it coming", and that "[w]orld bullies, even if their heart is in the right place, will in the end pay the price".[4] In a November 2007 interview, she stated that the hostility these comments provoked had still not subsided, although she believed it had become a standard viewpoint that terrorism was associated with American foreign policy.[1]

In 2004, Beard became the Professor of Classics at Cambridge.[3] She is also the Visiting Sather Professor of Classical Literature for 2008–2009 at the University of California, Berkeley, where she has delivered a series of lectures on "Roman Laughter".[5]

Reviews

[Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classicist colleague tells me that Beard's volume co-written with Michael Crawford (as the present work is) are orders of magnitude better than Beard's stand alone texts. Am unable to judge whether or not this is true, but will vouch for the quality and concision of the writing in this book. Beard and Crawford pose as their problem, why and when did the Roman republic devolve such that it was eventually replaced with single-man imperium? Much of the text is taken up with simply defining the different majoritarian views of the problem and its answer. The authors eschew a historical narrative of the problem in favor of a set of explanations of various elements of the late Roman republic. (As a matter of fact, in structuring their narrative this way, they still manage to do quite a bit of narrative history.) The aim in these contextual discussions is to render more transparent the eventual developments within the late republic, to make them legible for a modern readership. For instance, an early chapter distinguishes the Roman conception of religion as fundamentally political and public from modern views that tend to view religion as private and personal and ethical. Similarly, the authors illustrate the progressive narrowing of political opportunities available for the political elites (twenty quaestors, four aediles, eight praetors, two consuls) that generated intense competition for highest offices. In this explanation, they account for the different conception of what a politician is in the Roman context (not a professional in the modern sense). Not least among the excellent features of this book are its brevity and its very complete notes and bibliography. The notes are at the bottom of the page (where they bloody well belong) and do a fine job of concisely situating the authors' positions amongst the views prevalent in the current scholarship. An altogether tight and essential examination of the key issues for anyone interested in the devolution of the late Roman republic.

[Vicki Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good overview of Rome in the first half of the first century BC, organized by topic (religion, politics, etc.) rather than chronologically. The footnotes are especially helpful, with pointers to books covering the topics this one only touches on.

[Linniegayl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, that rather than focusing on the "great men" of the Late Republic, focuses on such things as the culture, religion, and political institutions of Rome, and how they changed over time. The authors (I read a version that is not simply by Mary Beard but also by Michael Crawford) caution upfront that this is not for beginners to the fall of the Republic, but presumes a good deal of knowledge. Fortunately, I've now read enough that it was not a problem for me.

This is a very short book, and while I enjoyed it, ended up wanting more of every part of the discussion. Fortunately, the version I read includes an updated section at the back that suggests further, more recent readings for each section of the book.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite a four star, but not enough to give it three. I think that if you haven’t read all that much detailed writing of the period this will be useful and more towards the four stars. I’d like how the authors listed the prevailing wisdom in the field and why they agreed or disagreed with that.

This book in particular covers in their mind the salient. Which was 150 to 50 BC.

[Julia Deptuła]

* fall and rise od rome*

[Nicole Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provided some useful framing and ways of thinking about Ancient Rome.

[Plant-Based Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent introduction, quite concise and clear. Very helpful for someone with little understanding of the topic like myself.

[Brandon Current · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read once and pass on (keep if Roman history is your field). The book is targeted at those with a working knowledge of Roman history, but is useful for those without. It teaches how to think about history at the same time as it fills in some gaps in understanding of Rome. I learned many things about the environment of the latter republic that helped to build a better picture of what life and politics were like in that era.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

Required reading for anyone studying this period. In addition the book demonstrates that the Judeo-Christian model of religious belief and sentiment is not the only one.

[Saul Dunning · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone with an academic interest in this era ...

[Kirsty Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprisingly easy read for a text book. Packs a lot into it's 116 pages.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, solid, if a teeny bit dated intro.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant little book.

[Glenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Mary Beard

[Drianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of the period, if a bit polemic in parts.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really easy to digest.