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Book Review
The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea
In the book's Introduction, Edward Watts sets out his premise clearly. Roman politicians grew their power by destabilizing the present conditions of their society. As Watts points out, when trying to restore Rome, politicians often violated...
Book Review
Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life
Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life is a biography of the famous Carthaginian leader Hannibal Barca, who lived between 247 and 188 BCE. Son of the brilliant general Hamilcar, who had taken part in the First Punic War (264-241 BCE), Hannibal inherited...
Book Review
Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome
With this one, the entire premise of the book is in the title, it is all about sex and sexuality in ancient Rome. Trafford begins by outlining the language used in ancient Rome that has anything to do with sex or sexuality, she introduces...
Book Review
The Roman Empire in 100 Haikus
The history of the Roman Empire is a complex story. At its height (c. 117 CE) it was the largest empire of the ancient world extending from Britain to Africa and from Syria to Spain. It takes a brave person to tell this story through poetry...
Book Review
Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium
Those familiar with Byzantine history are aware that the Byzantines referred to themselves as Romans and lived in what they still considered the Roman Empire, or Romanía. But despite this well-known fact, Byzantinists have long avoided directly...
Book Review
The Emperors of Rome: The Story of Imperial Rome from Julius Caesar to the Last Emperor
The Emperors of Rome: The Story of Imperial Rome from Julius Caesar to the Last Emperor, by David Potter, tells the story of all the emperors of Rome from Augustus Caesar to Romulus Augustulus. Narrated with a general audience in mind, David...
Book Review
Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine
In Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine, Barry Strauss tells the story of ten notable Roman leaders. Strauss is a Professor of History and Classics at Cornell University, holding an MA and PhD from Yale University. Moreover...
Book Review
Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World
Sexuality and gender in Graeco-Roman antiquity has piqued the interest of historians in recent years. Unlike modern Western society, the lives of men and women were often separated into different social spheres in both public and private...
Book Review
Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny
In 12 chapters, Mortal Republic traces the Roman Republic's transformation into an autocratic empire by looking at key economic, social, and political developments. This book attempts to explain the death of the Roman Republic as its transformation...
Book Review
Environmental Problems of the Greeks and Romans: Ecology in the Ancient Mediterranean (Ancient Society and History)
Were the debates about global warming, air pollution, soil desalinization, and sustainable development born solely out of the environmental movements of the early 1970s or did these concerns have a much longer precedent? Ancient writers such...