This is a very readable account of a momentous and exceedingly violent time in Roman history. It manages to navigate numerous historiographic debates on this period lucidly.
-- Christopher J. Dart, University of Melbourne, Ancient West and East
To sum up: Steel has provided a lucid and persuasive narrative of the late Republic, complemented by a series of perceptive and thought-provoking analyses: there is a real wealth of ideas here. I will certainly be recommending the book to my students, and consulting it frequently myself too.
-- Journal of Roman Studies, John R. Patterson, Magdelene College, Cambridge From the Back Cover
Catherine Steel's new treatment of the final phases of republican government in Rome is accessible, erudite, and incisive. She presents the ancient evidence clearly and her persuasive exposition is easy to read and informed by the latest scholarship. This introduction to the complex world of late republican politics will be invaluable for students and interested general readers. Harriet Flower, Professor of Classics, Princeton University A crucial and turbulent century for the Roman Republic By 146, Rome had established itself as the leading Mediterranean power. Over the next century, it consolidated its power into an immense territorial empire. At the same time, the internal balance of power shifted dramatically, as a narrow ruling elite was challenged first by the rest of Italy, and then by military commanders, a process which culminated in the civil war between Pompey and Caesar and the re-establishment of monarchy. Catherine Steel tells the history of this crucial and turbulent century, focussing on the issues of freedom, honour, power, greed and ambition, and the cherished but abused institutions of the Republic which were central to events then and which have preoccupied historians ever since. Key features: • traces the processes of change which transformed Rome from a republic to a monarchy • explores a period of political crisis in relation to its military and cultural dynamism • analyses the political culture of the Roman Republic as a dynamic and evolving system which reflected changes in citizenship and in the ruling elite Catherine Steel is Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow.
About the Author
Catherine Steel is Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow. She is the author of Cicero, Rhetoric, and Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2001); Reading Cicero (London: Duckworth, 2005) and numerous articles and book chapters on Cicero, Roman oratory and Roman history. She is currently leading a five-year project funded by the European Research Council to edit the fragments of the Republican Roman orators.
