How did a single village community in the Italian peninsula eventually become one of the most powerful imperial powers the world has ever known? In A Brief History of the Romans, Second Edition, Mary T. Boatwright, Daniel J. Gargola, Richard J.A. Talbert, and new coauthor Noel Lenski explore this question as they guide students through a comprehensive sweep of Roman history, ranging from the prehistoric settlements to the fall of the empire in 476.Addressing issues that still confront modern states worldwide--including warfare, empire building, consensus forging, and political fragmentation--the authors also provide glimpses into everyday Roman life and perspective, demonstrating how Rome's growth as a state is inseparable from its social and cultural development. Firmly grounded in ancient literary and material sources, the text analyzes major political and military landmarks, from the Punic Wars through Constantine's adoption of Christianity. It also features thirty historical maps revised under the supervision of coauthor Richard J. A. Talbert, almost 100 illustrations, and textual extracts that provide fascinating cultural observations made by ancient Romans themselves.Package this book with Now Studying the History of Ancient Greece and Rome Through Film for FREE! To order, contact your Oxford Sales Representative and use package ISBN 978-0-19-934334-8.
Overall a pretty good breakdown on Roman Civ from start to finish. Learned that Caligula was nicknamed thus because of the little boots he wore as a toddler. IMO the most important fact in the book.
Prescribed text for University of Tasmania's Introductory Unit in Ancient Civilizations - "HTC104 Ancient Civilisations 1B: Introduction To Ancient Rome".
Brief, concise, compressed, a good jumping off point for further research and study and as an and aid for use with translated ancient and sacred texts, and especially as a reference book use in weekly seminars with the incredibly enthusiastic (for a pleasant change!) teaching staff in the unit.
Honestly can't recall when I read this, had it at Ignatius in a Roman History class but I don't think I read the whole thing & I would have reread the full thing in college. This book was an incredible eye-opening intro for me, particularly into the fall of the Republic from the Gracchi deaths to Augustus, this point for point mapped out everything for me & was for a long time my candidate for most epic century of all time.
My fault! There is no reason for someone who has been to Italy several times and understands its history from a meaningful perspective to read a book written by an American. Americans not only can't understand European history logically, but they filter it through their own perspective, as if they were writing their own history. American arrogance is simply incompatible with a multifaceted view of history, and that's why their PhDs are not worth the price of toilet paper. This book is incredibly boring and doesn't even grasp the many influences that made the Romans who they really were.
This is one of the books I picked up at my local Borders during their "Going out of Business" sale. Although I did study Latin, I did not read much ancient history. Since Donna Leon's fictional detective is always reading the classics for relaxation, Cicero, Tacitus, Vergil, etc., I thought I could benefit from a little background reading. This is a great change of pace, and quite enlightening.