A History of the Roman World 753 to 146 BC

by H.H. Scullard

First issued in 1935, this classic work of scholarship presents a comprehensive account of the Roman world from prehistory to the Age of the Conquests. Updated in 1991 to take account of crucial archaeological discoveries, A History of the Roman World 753 to 146 BC tours the reader through the critical events of early Rome: from the fall of the monarchy to the rise of the Republic, the Union of the Orders & the Constitution, the Great Samnite War, the Punic Wars, Hannibal's assault on Italy, the Macedonians Wars & the rise of the senatorial oligarchy. Scullard explores everything from arcaeological evidence to legends to develop his compelling narrative of the evolution of one of history's greatest cities.

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

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Howard Hayes Scullard, FBA, FSA was a British historian specializing in ancient history, notable for editing the Oxford Classical Dictionary and for his many books. His early education was at Highgate School, followed by St. John's College, Cambridge. He was a tutor and then reader at New College London, from 1935 to 1959, after which be became Professor of Ancient History at King's College London before retiring in 1970.

Perhaps his most widely known work is From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68, a text widely used by students studying Rome in the late republic, as well as Rome under the Julio-Claudians.

Reviews

[Fred Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scullard is a long time favorite. I have read From the Gracchi to Nero a couple of times. Cary and Scullard, A History of Rome (3rd ed.) was the textbook for the Roman history class that I had in college. Somehow I never got around to reading this one until now. After a chapter on prehistoric Rome, Scullard begins with regal Rome and continues to the end of the Third Punic War and the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC. He divides the book into four sections: Rome and Italy, Rome and Carthage, Rome and the Mediterranean, and Roman Life and Culture. The first three sections cover the history proper chronologically and by region. This necessitates some duplication and cross referencing. Scullard focuses almost entirely on traditional political and military history in these sections. The fourth and final section covers everyday life and culture by topic: family, the city itself, law, literature, religion, etc. It is a nice survey that succinctly explains the basics of Roman culture before the Gracchi.

Scullard is generally clear and engaging. He takes inscriptions and archaeology into account, but tends to stick to the traditional Roman accounts when there is no compelling reason to do otherwise (the most sensible course). Although Scullard knew the sources and the scholarship of his time thoroughly and provides extensive notes, there have been a number of developments since. A couple of examples. He recounts the traditional version of the destruction of Carthage: burning it, ploughing it under, sowing it with salt. That's what I learned in school. Only it turns out there is absolutely no ancient evidence for the salting, and the first references to it date from the nineteenth century. A good story that should be true and isn't. Another: he refers (no less than three times) to the Praeneste Fibula as one of the earliest examples of archaic Latin to survive, supposedly from ca. 650 BC. Also what I learned in a survey of Latin lit in college. But since Scullard wrote there has been a serious challenge to its authenticity; the jury is still out but many now believe it to be a nineteenth-century forgery. The dangers of reading an older book. But Scullard is informative and often entertaining; he gets a lot more right than not.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A History of the Roman World 753 to 146 BC
H.H. Scullard
Read it in used mass market paperback at 576 page including Bibliography, appendix, etc.

Scullard was born in 1903 and passed away in 1983 after retiring in 1970. He was a Fellow of the British Academy and Society of Antiquities. Scullard has a plethora of publications concerning Rome and is most definitely capable in his writing, although it is dated.

My loyal band of history readers decided to try and tackle Rome in four books this year, this is the first of that effort, starting at the beginning. Back when Rome was just a group of people raiding the surrounding countryside for women and goods and then eventually forming into a collective, so on and so forth. Eventually when Rome starts to consolidate and then command the Mediterranean with the defeat of their biggest early adversary, Carthage.

The writing itself is indeed old, this was first published in 1935 went through rewrites and re-published in 1970, and I would even say dry. Not so much of problem for me but the structure gets tough. Scullard decided to split his history into themes instead following a timeline. Each theme follows a loose timeline but it leaves the reader to collate it all together on their own. It can be jarring to jump around and this structure makes more sense from a teaching perspective. I can't recommend another work for the time period though and this is well received by many.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The history is there, but the writing is a bit dusty.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Except for scattershot mentions of early Roman history in high school Latin classes, my knowledge of the period before Julius Caesar is weak and mostly from the perspective of the Greeks. This period is, however, very important both in terms of establishing many of the forms instantiate under the Empire as well as in understanding what our own founding fathers were conversant with.

I'm still pretty ignorant of early Roman history, but Scullard's book was a good start towards remediation.

[Nick Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to Roman history.

[Michael Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history of early Rome. A broad reference for those new or experienced with the subject.

[Armand R.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive history of early Rome and the Mediterranean

H. H. Scullard, History of the Roman World: 753 to 146 BC (Routledge Classics, 2012, 522 pp, Kindle Edition)

H. H. Scullard, an eminent classical historian, gives a comprehensive history of the Roman Mediterranean World from its prehistory through the legendary founding fathers through Rome‘s early sacking by the Gauls; through the establishment of the various magistracies; the division of powers among elements of government; the Punic, Illyrian, Syrian and Macedonian Wars; and ending just before the Gracchi reforms.

H. H. Scullard had magisterial knowledge of the classical world, which he condensed very clearly for the scholar and student.

One leaves the work with a clear picture of the cultural, legal, political, economic and engineering prowess of Ancient Rome.

Mr. Scullard has presented an introduction which is the ideal starting point to begin studies of that time, with a taste to study that epoch more, with a sound knowledge of the scholarly and literary sources for continued studies, and with Scullard’s work as a treasured source to continually open to cherish and to read and study again and again to reacquaint oneself with great statesmen and military strategists.

This work highly recommends itself.

[Ryan Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are definitely signs that this was written in an earlier period (first edition was 1935, this fourth edition in 1980--wow, that's 45 years ago!), and its explanations of Roman imperialism are outdated, but it's still the best and most detailed account of the rise of the Roman empire, focusing as it does on political and military history. Nowadays, the textbook accounts of Rome focus too much on social and economic history, which is frankly a bit boring, and, more importantly, not good preparation for reading the literature of Roman imperialism. It's biggest drawback is that Scullard assumes a bit of knowledge of Latin and of the Classics. Fortunately, we live in the age of Google and ChatGPT!

[Ron Atchison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Other than the characteristic Eurocentric superiority expressions of the early 20th century, this is a very good readable history of Rome during that time.

[Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good refresher on things but I didn’t find it very fulsome. The footnotes are quite helpful though.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things have changed a lot since this book was first written, especially for the earliest dates. However it is still a good introduction for two reasons. 1) It is a easily understood narrative that is mostly true. 2) This is the history that most English writers learned. For example, what Ngaio Marsh wrote in "When in Rome" about the Etruscan influence on Rome was quite possible taken from an earlier version of this book.

This book covers Roman history from the origins to the conquest of Greece, making it the only major Mediterranean power. The civil wars and eventual triumph of Octavius/Augustus is in the next volume.

The author thinks the Romans succeeded because of their moral qualities. The reason the Carthaginians lost was because of their evil 'Oriental' character, and the Greeks were conquered because they were too effete.

If you are really interested in the origins of the Roman Republic I suggest the Routledge seriesThe Beginnings of Rome: Italy from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars, Ca 1,000-264 BC. The edition covering 264-44 BC will be coming out in 2011Roman Republic 264-44 BC.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

What do you say about a book that devotes as many pages to neolithic and pre-historic Italy as it does to Rome under its seven kings? Well, in my case, I say that I didn't finish it, and that I didn't like it very much, and that everything in the book I either knew already or had a hard time caring about. The consensus seems to be that this is an old but good book, whereas I just found it unreadable - not only because of the author's weird choice of what to cover, but also because it's divided up by theme instead of chronologically. Sometimes this works, but here it doesn't. I guess all you need to know was that I was already skimming within the first ten pages of how the old stone age turned into the bronze age. Skip.

[Dom Nuno · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing scholarly effort that reads beautifully. I do miss authors like Scullard, they sure are in very short supply these days, often more concerned with secondary aspects or vile iconoclasty than with veracity and context.
While the author does get loquacious in some parts which some may find boring (I certainly did), he magnificently summarises a lot of complex issues which would probably deserve several volumes.

[Mark Singer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed yet easy to read introduction to Roman history. It should be followed by From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68