The Roman Empire

by Paul Veyne

This compact book--which appeared earlier in the multivolume series A History of Private Life --is a history of the Roman Empire in pagan times. It is an interpretation setting forth in detail the universal civilization of the Romans―so much of it Hellenic―that later gave way to Christianity.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Paul Veyne was a French historian and a specialist on Ancient Rome. A former student of the École normale supérieure and member of the École française de Rome, he was professor at the Collège de France.

Professeur honoraire au Collège de France, Paul Veyne était un des plus grands historiens français de l’Antiquité romaine. Ses nombreuses publications sur la sociologie romaine ou les mythes grecs, rédigés d’une plume alerte et joyeuse, l’ont fait connaître du grand public.

http://www.college-de-france.fr/site/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Veyne

Reviews

[Gautam Gopal Krishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Roman Empire by Paul Veyne focuses on the prevalent thoughts, attitudes and social structures of the ancient Roman empire (which a reader can roughly envision as the time period between 100 BC and 200 AD). The book is masterfully written as it is engrossing from start to finish and it beautifully builds the society of the Roman empire by answering all the relevant questions that might pop up in the reader's mind. The language is very easy to navigate and the story telling is very compelling.

Broadly, this book tackles the themes of marriage, slavery, nobles, notables, commerce, religion and philosophy. The author who is a French historian and a specialist of ancient Rome, provides some of his own interpretation to guide the reader but the book is largely presented in a manner which makes the reader a spectator of ancient times who is there to observe. There is careful exposition about the lens under which various aspects of everyday life (including sex, power dynamic, trade, entertainment and leisure) were viewed by the Romans. This book can serve as a wonderful introduction to the Roman empire as it doesn't require any prerequiste and it is written in an engaging manner.

[Erik Wirfs-Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as part of the History of Private Life series that my mom bought through Book of the Month Club in the late 80's? Read before I knew what structuralism was, so if I revisited it I would more be able to place it in an intellectual framework and judge it accordingly, but i definitely remember some interesting facts, and whenever I see Romans portrayed in more popular media I am always thinking "No, why aren't you portraying the whole complex Roman client system movie!"