A Brief History of the Roman Empire (Brief Histories) by Stephen Kershaw

by Dr Stephen P Kershaw

In this lively and very readable history of the Roman Empire from its establishment in 27 BC to the barbarian incursions and the fall of Rome in AD 476, Kershaw draws on a range of evidence, from Juvenal's Satires to recent archaeological finds. He examines extraordinary personalities such as Caligula and Nero and seismic events such as ...

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Historical, Roman, Ebooks

Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Sammi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great, compact book that's well written and easy to understand. Would recommend for an overview into Roman history. I only give it 4* because feel it became a little bit too packed in at the end, and honestly wouldn't have minded if it had been padded out a little bit, as too many names became a bit confusing, and became more focused on military/political events.

[Rob Petersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If by "brief" you think 400 pages, then this is the book for you. A fairly quick read of Rome's history from beginning to 410 CE or so. I would have rated the book higher, save for the fact that Kershaw seemed to take a perverse pleasure in being as graphic as possible with his translations of Latin quotations. Perhaps he felt the need to be salacious to sell history; I would have preferred the facts to be presented in a less coarse manner, personally.

[Phil Syphe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This history of the Roman Empire isn't as brief as the title suggests. It in fact covers a lot of ground but doesn't dwell on any one thing for too long. I read this as my knowledge of Roman history is patchy.

It's quite shocking how siblings would kill each other to gain power. In some cases - such as Caligula - the reverse to hatred happened: he married one of his sisters. I guess he was influenced by the Ancient Egyptians - or just plain mad as he's believed to be.

Worse than that was Nero's mother wanting to heal a rift between them by offering herself sexually to him. Glad he didn't go for this, but sad that he had her killed.

The author writes in an upbeat tone and informal style that appeals to me. I liked the book in parts rather than on the whole. At times there were so many different names referred to at once - many emperors have an average of five names - that it confused me as to who was whom.

Anyone with a passion for Roman history should like this tome. It's also worth reading if, like me, you have a mild interest in this period.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not an easy read. The names are difficult and look so similar that it's easy to get confused; it doesn't help that certain names re-appear in different periods and fathers often give their sons their name. Despite the confusion and re-reading, this book is very detailed and I learned a lot from it, but I could only read a couple of chapters at a time before my brain turned into a pretzel and I had to take a break.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great book for a bit of knowledge on the history of Rome, although for 400 odd pages I did find it an easy, relaxed read for the most part, it did become a bit crammed come the end, but still enjoyed reading 📖!

[Linniegayl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a class on the Fall of Rome. Only today did I notice the part of the title that indicates this is one of the "Brief Histories" books. At 440+ pages, it's probably not what many would consider brief. However, with hundreds of years of history to cover in those pages, it is just a "brief" or cursory look at most aspects of the Roman Empire.

This might be a great introduction for someone who is completely unfamiliar with Roman history, but for me, particularly in the latter portions of the Empire, it felt as if it was merely a listing of names. So while I did learn some things from the book, it didn't suit my needs for the most part. I need a much deeper dive into numerous parts of the Roman Empire.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a fantastic brief history. It covered from the end of the Roman Republic up until the last Western Roman Empire and did so concisely while still providing plenty of detail.
I especially liked all the primary quotes used within this book to illustrate the points and how the contemporary history was framed. With an expansive bibliography, I think this is a great introduction to the Roman Empire or a great supplementary resource.

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We are all, so far as we inherit the civilization of Europe, still citizens of the Roman Empire, and time has not yet proved Virgil wrong. And today the people who still admire the awe-inspiring relics scattered all over Rome are not looking so much at the ruins of a great civilization, but at the foundations of another."

[Danial Hume · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concise review:

Pros: Doesn’t shorten parts of the less well-known periods of Roman Empire history

Cons: Unimaginative writing; Excessive usage of full name of Emperors and Legions; Unclear writing style in some parts

Relative preference: Leans heavily on the earlier centuries; Discusses mostly on political history (invasions, imperial politics) and almost none on economic or socio-cultural history

[Linda Munroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a long history of course and for many years the position of Emperor seemed like an automatic death sentence. The author was able to keep it interesting right though. Still the facts are overwhelming. There are so many of them. I am interested to know more about life throughout this massive, diverse empire.

[Dan Vine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable. Although I did find it dragged towards the end, that is probably more a comment on the Empire than the book.

[Mile Tankosić · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're ever going to read a book on the Roman Empire, then this one will suffice. 400 years crammed into as many pages will suffice, you ask? Well...yes.

Neatly organized in a chronological order and outlining every major development on the late Republic - Empire timeline, this book is very educational without being dry and boring, as many of the books on the subject, unfortunately, are. Don't mean to disparage the hard work of the authors, but if you're not majoring in Classical Civilization, you don't need to know the weight and make-up of the sestertius throughout the history of Rome. It's enough to know that it's worth 1/4 of a denarius. If you get what I mean.

I will come back to this book again and again, because it's fun.

My favourite Emperor? Claudius, hands down!

[Ishmael Soledad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compact and easily read history of the Roman Empire, Kershaw's history doesn't seek to replace other more complete works (such as Gibbon's voluminous effort) but rather to give a rapid-fire, 400 page treatment. Yes, there's some controversial treatment of events, and Kershaw's style and personal touches may seem a bit harsh, but they're only minor issues.

History, or more properly the interpretation of history, changes with society, so there's undoubtedly a touch of controversy in the volume when lined up with earlier interpretations. But that shouldn't put you off, it's a good starting point into the subject matter or, for the casual reader, a solid (if at times slightly sensationalist) coverage.

[Anton van Es · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives an overview of the whole history of the Roman Empire, starting with Caesar Augustus and ending with Romulus Augustulus. 422 pages might seem like a lot for a "brief history", however realizing that more than 500 years and almost 100 emperors have to be covered, we should have respect that the author managed to boil it down to only this size.

Overall, I enjoyed the frequent citation from contemporary sources, and was happy to see 8 maps and 6 genealogy tables included in the book.

The first dozen emperors are examined quite closely, also on a personal level, however as we enter the chaotic third century and beyond the book also gets a bit harder to follow.

[Tim.Larocco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kershaw's book is very compact and reads like pop lit. It's very easy to read, but the situation does become muddy towards the end and you're trying to follow Rome post-410CE. If you are new to the genre I would recommend it to learn about Rome from around the time of Julius Caesar until the period when New Rome (Constantinople) became the Byzantine Empire. If you are more of an amateur historian, there are denser pieces (Mary Beard for the most popular one) you could read that go into more details.

[Sumit · Rating 4 out of 5]

At 400 plus pages, the book is exactly not brief as its title suggests. However, in these pages the author does manage present a condensed history of the Roman Empire from 63 BCE to 476 CE. The book gives us a fascinating overview of Rome's republican roots, its vast empire stretching across Europe, Asia and Africa and its final descent into the chaos of fratricidal warfare. For anyone wanting explore the world of Roman history and culture, this book is a good starting point.

[Khairul Hezry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 'brief' overview of the rise and fall of probably the most famous empire in the history of the world. It is also a lesson for leaders today. Expanding your borders might be necessary for security and wealth but it also gives rise to incompetent leaders who are only interested in pleasure ("hey, we're powerful and rich, no one can beat us!" Oops!)

[Jocelyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and concise. The use of primary sources as well as pointing out the faults of some historical research in certain areas convinced me to give 4 stars. As someone not well versed in Rome however, I did end up lost in names and battles. Overall I took a general idea that I can use to strengthen my knowledge of Ancient Rome.

[Greg James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable summary of the Roman Empire from the end of the republic in 63bce to the fall of the empire in 476 ad. Great men and women, mixed with incompetents, debauched and plain evil characters. Fascinating stuff!

[Donnacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very tough read, took me months. Left it down for a while. There are thousands of characters, who are impossible to remember. It's well written and researched.

[Bugra Konur Alp Dönmez · Rating 3 out of 5]

In overall a good book to get a glimpse of the history of the Roman empire. But most of the time it got confusing with all the detailed mentioning of names.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, this is a brief history to the point of confusing. The story jumps around. For example, the author began with Caesar, then suddenly, the focus of the story shifted to Pompey, then he threw many names of regions/kingdoms along the way.


Edit: I think if you could continue reading after the first few pages, the book is actually decent.

[Coffee4Dawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you wanted to read a "concise yet compelling narrative of the Roman Empire" then pick something else.
This book might as well have been published as a series of tabloids instead.

[Caroline Custodio · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Brief History of the Roman Empire Rise and Fall. Brief? It feels like an eternity has passed since I started reading this book. But OK, this was a very difficult book, I think I should have more knowledge on the subject to understand things better. Well, I can't summarize it, that's for sure. Although this book reminds me of Civilization, now this game seems more real, seriously. But the most important thing I "learned" from this book is that after 16 centuries later humans have NOT evolved, each time I see some news about what's happening nowadays it reminds me of something that I read. Everyone still is being selfish, doing anything for power, doesn't respecting freedom of choice, gender or religion besides many other things. Actually our reality is not that different. And even though many Augustus and Caesars fought for the survival of the Roman Empire it fell in 500 years.

[Yoshua · Rating 1 out of 5]

Messy.

[Tom Ludwig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book, although it should be noted that the author writes his history as if he's writing for a tabloid (emphasis on grotesque sexual proclivities of the Emperors and their families). With that said, this is still a serious work of history.

[Kere]

Great history

[Zhiyi Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

too dry.

[Elentarri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does what it says on the cover - a BRIEF history of the Roman Empire (excluding the Byzantium Empire). Somewhat slow. The book has nice maps and genealogical tables, which were useful.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those interested in this subject, this book is a good potted history.