SPQR

A book which covers the both side of the Roman history. Marvellous writing and detailed descriptions

Great book, mine of info.

An analysis of the Roman Empire from the auc to ca. 212CE written in a lucid easy to grasp way. Mrs Beard has to be commended for her gem of a book.

Very good

A beautiful book.She is a well known history writer and her facts are correct.The book keeps you engrossed for hours.I bought a second copy and sent it to my daughter

The author is a scholar in her writing. But she is no historian.. For example she says A did to B and then B did this to C.. she writes pages on it and then says there is no proof of A doing anything... In In She is too rational..and can't tell a story like a historian... Thanks for a detailed timeline of roman empire ...that was commendable ..

Book packaging was bad

Brilliant. A great read, and not just a list of emperors or battles from Roman history. Quite witty and empathetic.

Having spent 4 years in high school, lots of years ago, learning Latin, or trying to, I have always been fascinated by Rome and its history. All that's left today is my memory of the first few sentences of Caesar's Gallic Wars. With whatever bias that creates, I enormously enjoyed this book, which made human beings of all the personalities I read and heard about way back then and the lives they led. Less enthusiastic reviewers appear to focus on two issues. One, is that Beard is a typical Leftish English academician who is distorting history to make points about our current politics. Perhaps. After all, she's an academic, which is almost a synonym for lieftish. The question is whether she wrote a ood book. I think she did (and I am certainly not a leftish academician). I haven't done the studying which would be required to discredit her presentation. She has quite obviously spent lots of time reading other histories, and Latin (and Greek letters, books and inscriptions. I don't claim to know whether her occasional references to purported similarities between those times and ours are valid, but I would be surprised to hear that humans had changed much since those relatively recent times. And, frankly, I found them kind of interesting. The other complaint of some reviewers is that Beard was constantly noting that no one really knows the history of ancient Rome. All we have are clues, which sometimes conflict with other clues. I don't understand that objection--of course we can't know for sure what what happened in the middle of the West Coast of Italy. We don't even know for sure what is happening today in our own country--all we have is what we're told by others. It's like reading an Editorial in the New York Times and thinking you have all the facts you need. Now add 2,000 years to that uncertainty. And toss in the point of which she frequently reminds the reader--that the person who wrote some letter, book or inscription undoubtedly had biases, or wanted to persuade the reader of something about which there was doubt or uncertainty. Or maybe was just plain wrong. Do you believe everything thing our politicians and their enablers say? Perhaps needless to say, I found the writing engaging, and was interested in the parallels she found between the lives of people--important and otherwise--back then and now.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It shapes a new understanding of what the early days of Rome really were like according to actual records and archeology, not the myths we all heard about (while not discarding it completely). It also shapes a new identity of what it meant to be Roman and the history and reality of regular folks living in those days. If you are interested in the ancient world and already know a thing or two about it, this is a book you will enjoy.

Not the story of Rome you want but story of Rome you need. An extremely insightful work by Mary Beard into the history of Ancient Rome, its emperors, citizens, slaves and whatnot. First chapters may scream challenging book, but as the book progresses, you’ll see why the Author provides such rich content and notice that you have actually learned something. Thank you MB

great

Arrived ripped