Rome: An Empire's Story

by Greg Woolf

The very idea of empire was created in ancient Rome and even today traces of its monuments, literature, and institutions can be found across Europe, the Near East, and North Africa--and sometimes even further afield. In Rome, historian Greg Woolf expertly recounts how this mammoth empire was created, how it was sustained in crisis, and how it shaped the world of its rulers and subjects--a story spanning a millennium and a half of history. The personalities and events of Roman history have become part of the West's cultural lexicon, and Woolf provides brilliant retellings of each of these, from the war with Carthage to Octavian's victory over Cleopatra, from the height of territorial expansion under the emperors Trajan and Hadrian to the founding of Constantinople and the barbarian invasions which resulted in Rome's ultimate collapse. Throughout, Woolf carefully considers the conditions that made Rome's success possible and so durable, covering topics as diverse as ecology, slavery, and religion. Woolf also compares Rome to other ancient empires and to its many later imitators, bringing into vivid relief the Empire's most distinctive and enduring features.As Woolf demonstrates, nobody ever planned to create a state that would last more than a millennium and a half, yet Rome was able, in the end, to survive barbarian migrations, economic collapse and even the conflicts between a series of world religions that had grown up within its borders, in the process generating an image and a myth of empire that is apparently indestructible. Based on new research and compellingly told, this sweeping account promises to eclipse all previously published histories of the empire.

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

383 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Bonnie_blu · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars.

Woolf sets himself a very ambitious goal. He states (please pardon the long quote, but it is necessary): "My subject, however, is empire itself. How did it grow? What enabled it to resist defeats and capitalize on victories? Why did Rome succeed when its rivals failed? How did empire survive crisis, dig itself in, and replace chaotic campaigns of conquest with stability? How did empire come to coordinate the great flows of wealth and populations on which it depended? How did it evolve to face new needs and new threats? Why did it falter, regain its balance, and then shrink under a series of military blows until it was, once again, a city-state? What circumstances and technologies made the creation and maintenance of an empire possible, in just this place and just at that time? What institutions, habits, and beliefs suited Rome for the role? And what did the fact of empire do to all the beliefs, habits, and institutions with which the world had been conquered? What part did chance play in its successes and its failures?"

Very ambitious indeed, and unfortunately not accomplished. Woolf wanders from his thesis and loses focus throughout the book. He does not investigate any of the questions above in depth and fails to develop insightful answers. The book is more an introduction to ancient Roman history rather than an analysis of the concept of empire as a sociological and geopolitical entity or of how Rome does or does not meet that concept.

In addition, there are errors / omissions scattered throughout. A few examples:
Page 88: "At all stages of this economic growth the propertied classes led the way. No new commercial classes emerged, as the capital came from the social elites and they entrusted the management of these enterprises to their clients, freedmen, and slaves." Without doubt, wealthy landowners were the elites in Roman society; however, as Rome grew, the Equestrian Order (Knights) grew in wealth and influence, and were found at the highest levels of government. True, they were not a "new commercial class" per se, but as Rome grew, the Knights grew from a group with limited power to one with wealth and power to equal the landowning elite. Of course with this newfound wealth, they often became landowners themselves. I feel Woolf's failure to recognize this group's development and contributions misleads the reader.
Page 105:
- "There were no easy frontiers before the Atlantic, and it took until the reign of Augustus to reach it." Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in the 50s BCE and not only reached the Atlantic, but crossed it to Britain.
- "The major tribal confederacies of temperate Europe could marshal armies numbered in the hundreds of thousands, were technologically on a par with Roman troops, and had impressive fortified sites, even if they did not possess an infrastructure of cities and roads." The tribes of temperate Europe were not as technologically advanced as Roman troops. They were amazed at the siege engines, fortifications (including nightly marching camps), etc. that Caesar's legionaries built quickly and almost effortlessly.
Page 141:
- "Despite granting amnesties to most of his [Caesar's] former enemies, and lavishing games and monumental building on the city of Rome, he failed to rally Rome around him." On the contrary, Caesar never lost the love of the great majority of the people, as evidenced by their horror at his murder and their overwhelming anger at the assassins. There was only one group who never "rallied" to Caesar: his enemies in the Civil War who he had pardoned and in many cases, awarded titles and recognition.

One final word: the editing is atrocious. On just about any given page, the reader can find noun-verb disagreement, incorrect verb tense, run-on sentences, sentence fragments, and more. I felt as though I was reading a freshman paper wherein the freshman did not even run a spelling / grammar check. This seriously detracts from the book.

For those readers who may wonder, my credentials are a Master's Degree in history, decades of research into ancient Rome, and almost as many years as an editor.

[Cheryl Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was exceptional as an introduction to the Roman Empire. Easy to read and thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommended.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of the books assigned for my current Open University module on the Roman Empire, although we are only required to read parts of it, not the whole text. I decided to read it from cover to cover as it explores the whole history of the empire, from it's much-mythologised beginnings to the gradual end - an end so gradual that it's difficult to define exactly *when* the Roman Empire can be said to have ceased to exist.

I liked the fact that Woolf keeps things as chronological as possible and in some cases also illustrates points by looking at other similar empires - demonstrating in the process that no two empires can ever really be exactly the same. The timelines at the start of each chapter are also helpful in terms of giving the key events of an era and there are maps which show the extent of Roman territory at various points in it's growth and decline. It's a relatively short book, so there's no time to go into huge amounts of depth, but it does give a good general outline - and there are suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each chapter if you do want to delve into a particular topic in more detail. This makes it a good starting point for anyone wanting to learn about Roman history.

[Nanimonai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been translating the book into Chinese.
As a reader, I definitely recommend the book to everyone who has basic knowledge of Roman history (i.e., non-debutant): Mary Beard's SPQRSPQR: A History of Ancient Rome will be better for beginners. The fruitful questions and abundant sources that exhausted me as a translator will bring impressive insights for those who want to think deeper.
As a translator, however, I really can't bear the dry style Woolf uses in all his monographs... After consulting the Italian version, I assume that the Italian translator must have also struggled...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This shouldn't be your first introduction to Rome. But if it isn't, it's a worthwhile read: what the book lacks in the twists and turns of Roman politics, it makes up for in intelligent analysis of Roman society and thought. I wholeheartedly recommend it, with the additional warning that it contains many grammatical, and some factual mistakes.

[Legens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accessible and pleasantly written general history of the Roman Empire. Chapters dealing with chronological political history and thematic chapters alternate. The former present a good overview, especially for readers with limited previous knowledge of the period discussed, but it is the latter in which the book really shines due to the author's wide and deep scholarship. Both primary sources and scholarly treatments of antiquity are discussed with intimate understanding.

[Ricardo Vaca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was everything and all. 1,500+ years of history in 300 pages. When the author says 'neck-break speed', he means it. This was an excellent and comprehensive overview of the empire from its conception to its fall. The Kings. The Republic. The Emporers. Ocativan aka Augustus. The Wars. The Betrayals. Assassination. Just nonchalant everyone gets assassinated back then. Would you rather be stabbed or poisoned? Nbd. and ofcourse CARTHAGE!! For this being my first read on ancient Rome, I feel more confident in diving into more specific subjects.

[Tallianna Vanamee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vom Niedergang und Aufstieg einer Weltmacht

Rom hat die Welt unterworfen und sie zivilisatorisch und politisch geeint. Souverän und stilistisch bravourös schildert Greg Woolf, wie es gelang, diesen bis heute einzigen Weltstaat der Geschichte zu sichern und ihm Dauer zu verleihen: ein packender Parcours durch 1500 Jahre Weltgeschichte - das neue Standardwerk. (Klappentext)

Der nachfolgende Text kann Spoiler enthalten.

Seit ich das erste Mal davon gehört habe, freue ich mich auf dieses Buch und wurde auch nicht enttäuscht! Der interessierte Laie, aber auch Fachpersonen erhalten hier einen tiefgreifenden Überblick über die Werdung der Stadt und des Weltreiches Rom, aber auch Einblicke über ihren Niedergang.

Woolfs Schreibstil ist sehr angenehm und klar, daher empfand ich das Buch nicht als trocken oder langweilig geschrieben (obwohl an ein paar kleinen Stellen der Fehlerteufel zugeschlagen hat – ja, ich sehe so etwas sofort). Trotzdem ist das Buch kein Happen, den man sich an einem Tag zu Gemüte führt, sondern er regt schon zum Nachdenken an und ganz allgemein dazu, seine kleinen grauen Zellen anzustrengen.

Sehr dankbar war ich über die den Kapiteln vorgestellten Zeitangaben, die noch einmal die Regierungszeiten der Kaiser und wichtige Ereignisse genannt haben. Natürlich hat mein braves Studentengehirn damals all diese Daten auswendig gelernt und so wäre es für mich eigentlich nicht mehr nötig gewesen … hust.
Ein paar Karten über die Ausdehnung des römischen Reiches wie auch einige Farbabbildungen am Schluss runden alles ab. Hierbei möchte ich feststellen, dass ich alles als E-Book gelesen habe und dort alle Abbildungen doch recht klein sind – auf dem Desktop sieht man es dann deutlicher und in seiner ganzen Farbpracht. Daher empfehle ich, gerade bei Fachbüchern, die Print-Ausgabe.

Zum Schluss dürfen eine ausgedehnte Literaturangabe, ein Glossar der Fachbegriffe und ein Personen- und Sachregister nicht fehlen.

Für mich war dieses Buch ein absoluter Leckerbissen, der mich doch wieder daran erinnert hat, warum ich mein Studium mit solcher Hingabe angegangen bin. Jeder, der sich für dieses Thema interessiert, wird an diesem Buch über kurz oder lang nicht vorbeikommen.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a introduction to the Roman Empire, which I would describe as "friendly" in the best sense of the word. In less than 300 pages, it touches on aspects of economics, religion, culture, and government spanning over a thousand years of history. While there are certainly better treatments of any individual topic, Greg Woolf gets a lot of credit for putting together a stellar bibliography for anyone who wants to delve more deeply. Each chapter boasts about 3 or 4 paragraphs of highly recommended reading, and the endnotes are about half as long as the main text itself, making me wonder how anyone writing a similar introduction to a historical topic could be taken seriously without providing such a variety of references.
For brevity, certain strengths of a good historical text are sacrificed, such as biographical elements of major figures; however, Woolf does a good job of briefly presenting alternative possibilities and viewpoints that make sense in light of the entire book's narrative. A good example would be the discussion of Constantine's Conversion. Was he a good Christian, a military pragmatism, or a traditional emperor seizing on a new cult to bolster his power? All these are given a brief but sensible treatment, in the context of the larger themes of the story. Furthermore, the bibliographical support provides plenty of opportunity for more depth.

Of slight distaste is an inconsistency of tone (hip and slangy in certain chapters, repetitive in others) and a high frequency of grammatical errors.

[Jeff Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew almost nothing about history before 1000 AD. I have wanted to better my understanding of the Roman Empire for some time now and when I came across a one volume history of Rome, I thought I found a good way to do that. In the end, it turned out that I learned a great deal about Rome. This book, however, wasn't the sole source of my understanding. It is written (for some reason) for an audience that already knows Roman history. I was able to read the book because it's well written and easy to follow, but every page is literally filled to the brim with information. In order for me to understand the author, I had to read a section of a chapter and then spend a some time googling various roman history sites to fill in any information that was missing because the author assumed that I already knew it. I think, probably, that it was my desire to know more about this time period that kept me reading the book in this fashion. Ordinarily I wouldn't have the patience to keep this sort of thing up. In the end I have a much better understanding of something that I knew almost nothing about. So...objective achieved, I guess.

I would not recommend this book to a casual reader. If you have a strong ancient history background, then you would most likely enjoy the book.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Mary Beard's SPQR is a more interesting overview of Roman history, but Greg Woolf's Rome: An Empire's Story has a couple advantages as a text: first, it's linear, providing a bird's eye view of history in the first chapter and then delving into the minutiae; second, it provides overviews of interesting trends in Roman historiography, like environmental and climactic readings; third, it extends up past Caracalla and through the "fall" of the western empire. To that last point it provides an interesting discussion of how to conceive of Rome's fall, though it's not wholly satisfying (it's probably impossible to be wholly satisfying).

It's an easy to read book, though there are some surprising typographic errors. Certain events that seemed like they deserved a little more discussion are elided and other events are treated at more length, but that's inevitable. I liked reading it, though I don't think Woolf as a clear a thesis as he promises concerning "empire" but I did appreciative when Woolf offered comparative history for his readers. Overall I liked it, even if again I'd recommend SPQR over this one.

[Vicki Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells the story of Rome from its founding in the 700s BC through the end of the Western empire in 476 AD and the shrinkage of the Eastern empire down to a small area around Constantinople in the late seventh century. The chapters dealing with historical events alternate with chapters about cultural and economic issues that have a bearing on the events. It's a very interesting way to read history - you get to absorb what happened and think about the overall impact of the events. Each historical chapter starts with a list of pertinent events with their dates, and all the chapters end with a section describing other books that might be of interest relating to the topic. I would love to read more history presented in this way.

[Karl F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

To cover more than a thousand years of people's history in less than 300 pages is no easy task.
The author's argument in Rome An Empire's Story is that it is persistence and survival that needs to be explained, not the decline and fall. In this he is most successful.

Rome's genius lay in the ability to recover from crisis after crisis. Its' success rested on the synergies engineered between imperialism on the one hand and aristocracy, slavery, family, city, on the other. Rome's history ends with the emergence of its three heirs: western Christendom, Islam, and Byzantium in the 7th century.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like nearly every Tyler Cowen book rec, this book covers a ton of ground but assumes a lot. I was doing some heavy Third-Year-Latin-Junior-Year-of-HS lifting to recall exactly how the first/second triumvirates differed. If you've got a basic narrative already, this rips along basically covers all the "how they did this empire thing" points quickly and cleanly.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the history of the Roman Empire, from inception to conclusion. Chapters provide several different vantage points of the empire but all are presented within a thoughtful context. Highly recommended as an introduction.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book covering the entire roman history within one book. As someone relatively new to the topic I found many parts hard to follow, but still worth the read.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history ....wonderful, but you have to be into ancient history.

[Publius Cornelius Tacitus · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 ⭐

[Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este livro tem como proposta o estudo do império romano (desde os dias de Augusto até sua efetiva queda com a deposição de Rômulo Augusto) através de bases comparadas (ora com o império persa, ora com o império chinês).

Contudo, é uma pesquisa acadêmica de leitura densa que trabalha com conceitos previamente apreendidos pelo leitor. E pela densidade com a qual o período romano é tratado, foge muito do escopo de trabalhar com o império, cansando, assim, o estudo do tema abordado pelo autor.

É, de fato, uma ambição trabalhar com toda a Roma Antiga. O historiador começa com a monarquia sem, todavia, aprofundar-se na relação das tribos que formavam Roma com os etruscos, helenos (do Sul) e latinos. Na realidade, a metade do livro trabalha com a República Romana e a construção do ethos militar que caracterizou sua expansão imperialista: a Roma que lutava contra indivíduos monárquicos era composta por um Senado fundamentalmente patricia que se colocava acima dos demais.

Tendo recentemente lido Cícero, “Da República”, fez sentido para mim identificar no texto de Woolf essa superioridade romana sobre outros povos: embora se devesse aos gregos sua herança filosófica, achavam-se acima dos mesmos.

De um modo geral, o livro enriquece o professor e o pesquisador que segue essa linha de Roma Antiga. Particularmente, achei que a abordagem do período republicano foi um ponto muito positivo do livro, contribuindo com outras interpretações de cunho sociológicas para as relações sociais dentro de Roma (Patrícios, Plebeus e Clientes) como fora dela (Reinos que foram absorvidos, tratados como clientes e outros como Corinto, que foram destruídos) em uma ação que preparou terreno para a Pax Romana iniciada por Gaius Octavius.

No entanto, quando abordou a proposta que leva o nome do livro, o Império, o autor foge de seu escopo quando compara com o império chinês e o persa, demorando-se na interpretação contemporânea e o debate que este assunto incita—acho que, neste sentido, a conceituação de império é melhor examinada pelos autores de “Império”, Jane Burbank & Frederick Cooper. Greg Woolf não mede esforços para abrangê-lo.

As ações dos imperadores foram abordadas, a meu ver, de maneira superficial e ficou um pouco corrido quando se abordou a queda do Império Romano. Discordo de sua posição quanto a trazer o Império Bizantino como prosseguimento do Império Romano. Entendo aquele como herdeiro deste, mas não seu alongamento: a latinização que dá espaço a helenização (em trajes, ideias e políticas) dos Basileus (título grego para rei) Bizantinos mostram mais conexão, retomada até dos impérios helênicos do que forte continuação com a dos romanos, não obstante a preservação das estruturas sociais do império de Roma.

Guardando, porém, tais observações, recomendo a leitura para quem deseja se aprofundar no tema, e quem tem por seriedade o exame das instituições romanas. É uma leitura de cabeceira para todo professor, mas seu estudo deve ser feito criticamente, à luz dos logos humanos como incitariam os helenos e também os romanos antigos.

[Selim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rome, An Empire’s Story by Greg Woolf was a good introductory book on the history of the Roman Empire. It chronicled the legendary tale of the civilization’s foundation to the vague early kings, the vaulted republic, the famous empire, and the infamous and prolonged decline.

It is a good primer for not just historical events, but for the often overlooked details of daily life as a Roman citizen. Woolf describes in detail the Roman diet, different climate changes, the attitudes of the citizenry, the influence of powerful families, and the inter workings of the Roman economy.

Woolf also thoughtfully documents the lives of numerous heads of state from the consuls to the emperors. In concert, he tracks how the original distribution of power veered from balanced to consolidated. And by providing critical context on various governmental functions, the reader is able to obtain a better understanding of key events, people, and policies instituted during the time. An example of this would be the descriptions of a prefect, the praetorian guard, provincial governors magistrates, priests, and later, bishops.

And with the illustrations of innovative building projects (aqueducts, roads, temples, churches, colosseums, bathhouses, etc) the success and eventual failures of the Roman war efforts, and the spread of famine and disease, the full picture of Rome and the challenges it faced are better appreciated.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I enjoyed Woolf’s book, I am still unsure of its intended audience. The author’s prose is clear and certainly accessible to a general reader, but the book seems too topically complex for novices and too elementary to engage specialists (except perhaps the author’s academic detractors).

Woolf emphasizes the lack of a true break between what moderns call the Republic and the Empire and proposes that those devices that Romans found would function properly in ruling a modest city-state might be successfully expanded to govern the whole Mediterranean. For instance, slaves had long managed the household of aristocratic Romans; therefore the Roman empire could be managed by the emperor’s slaves--at least, until such a time when it couldn’t.

My own enjoyment of the book came not from the thesis, of which I am dubious, but from the many interesting ideas that Woolf scatters about in attempting to making his case: for instance, why Romans chose to see themselves as descendants of the Trojans, how the position of the paterfamilias resembled respect for the aged in China, why Roman treatment of foreign gods as nominal equivalents of their own should have posed a philosophical problem, how ancient religion was subsumed in citizenship, and even why abandoning the persecution of Christians might have been a mistake for the Roman state.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very dense and short history of the Roman Empire. I would say it gives a good, general overview without going into much detail. What bothered me most of all is that there is an unmissable amount of mistakes (sentence structure, grammar, repetition) that suggests poor editing. That certainly dampened my enthusiasm for this book.
Overall, it is certainly not a bad book if you aim for a very generic overview of some key events of the Roman Empire. It is however quite ambitious for it to try tell an Empire's entire story within just 300 pages (in my editon). Once in a while the book veered off topic to deal with a single case/person for quite a while. That bothered me, because it meant there was even less space for an already rudimentary explanation of key concepts.
What I did appreciate were the timelines at the beginning of most chapters. They were quite helpful to read, especially as only the most important events are listed (which makes the whole thing a bit more comprehensible).
Beware, there is no element of storytelling in this. The text itself is dry and oftentimes reads like a listing of what went on during certain time periods. That certainly could have been more well-made.
I'm torn whether to recommend this book, but do not regret reading it.

[Joel Saraiva Correia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apesar de compreender que fica difícil fazer um retrato mais suscinto (com uso de metáforas e simplificação da linguagem), o livro é uma boa abordagem para quem quer compreender, levemente, a ascensão, evolução e queda do Império Romano, focando os momentos e os personagens chave que acabam por traduzir os vários momentos de vida do império. Além disso, a vasta bibliografia e potencial para continuar a conhecer a História de Roma a partir das referências que o autor deixa, tornam este livro num essencial. Se tivesses lido o livro no meu início do percurso académico tinha-me poupado muitas dores de cabeça em relação a bibliografia, pois, este é mesmo muito completo. Porém, uma vez mais, Hispânia, fica um pouco periférica na história global, apesar de ter boas sugestões para estudar essa geografia do império mais detalhadamente. Gostei do livro, em resumo, apesar de ter demorado imenso a lê-lo, fruto do cuidado que fui tendo em anotar diversas situações que me podem ser úteis no futuro.

[Richard Hessney · Rating 4 out of 5]

My interest in the classical world keeps luring me back to fiction and nonfiction about Rome and Greece. In this fairly scholarly but still accessible work, Prof. Woolf explores how the Roman Empire developed, what the concept of empire meant to the Romans, how Rome differed from other ancient empires, and how the soldier-emperors of the Late Empire were preoccupied with problems on the frontier and mostly ignored politics in Rome. What seems to be missing is an in-depth account of Roman military prowess and tactics. Major campaigns and wars are dealt with in passing, but, since the author states Rome was an "empire by conquest," it's curious that the how of that conquest isn't given more emphasis. At the end of the day, it's a very solid one-volume history.

[Kassidy Gamerdinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about everything known that the Roman Empire had or did to sustain itself into one of the greatest empires in all of history. This book includes everything from rulers to the environment the empire had or contained. I enjoyed the specifics that this book went into that seem unneeded, but really help you understand how this empire was, so great. It did have some parts that weren’t as interesting, so that felt like a chore to read. Though if you really enjoy history it’s a real page-turner, otherwise I wouldn’t recommend reading it as a fun read. I really enjoyed this book as the Roman Empire to me was the greatest part of history along with the Greeks. So, to finally be able to know so much on the topic makes me extremely happy.

[David Frederick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greg Woolf's book reads like something your professor would place on reserve at the library. If you don't have a firm, basic grasp of Roman chronology (who were the Horatii? the first triumvirate? what all did Caracalla do? &c.), you'll get a bit lost in this book. It provides extensive information about how imperial tax systems changed over time, but it isn't -- and isn't meant to be -- an overview of key figures and events in Roman history. Use it as reference if you want to dig deeper into a subject pertaining to Woolf's thesis -- the "contexts that made the success of the Roman Empire possible" -- but don't expect it to serve as an introduction to Rome on its own.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

History of the empire of Rome, with the emphasis being on empire - Woolf focuses on the idea of empire and what it meant over the centuries. I found this to be a really interesting way to look at ancient Rome, as it gave an interesting perspective particularly from the average Roman citizens's (or subject's) point of view. At the end of each chapter Woolf gives an enlightening and thorough recommendation list for further, more in-depth reading on the topic just discussed. It was a well written and interesting introduction to the Roman empire.

[Mike Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Greg Woolf is clearly a big picture guy and in this book his concern is with the nature of empire - how they evolve, persist and decline. While these are important matters and part of the historian's task, it inevitably makes for somewhat dry reading. Woolf seemed to skate through the chronological history of Rome and its empire, and there is very little about how Romans and their subjects lived or the personalities of the principal actors-the very things that make history live for me - but in all fairness, these are not areas with which he is concerned.

[Evan Layne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction on the Roman Empire and Roman Republic, both powerful and well-respected and feared entities in their own right. I particularly appreciated the alternation between a strictly chronological history book and the varying and oftentimes changing aspects of the Romans via use of swapping chapters. While not as in-depth historically as I was anticipating, this book is easily accessible to modern readers, putting them in the shoes of the average Roman of the time.

Overall, 4.5 out of 5 stars!

[WRH · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Roman history. This was a very well researched and written book on that subject. The history was presented differently from the standard chronological perspective. He approached it by subject such as emperors, generals, slavery, resources, etc. I don't think approach would be good for someone new to Roman history but to someone who already has some background, it put an interesting perspective to the history.