Summary
Title: The Romans: From Village to Empire
Author: Daniel J. Gargola, Richard J. A. Talbert, and Mary Taliaferro Boatwright
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195118758
Pro:
• Thorough and comprehensive historical narrative that ties together many aspects of Roman culture
• Provides a solid overview of the nature of Rome and why it rose to prominence
Con:
• None
Description:
• History of Rome from the 8th century BCE to the end of Constantine
• Ties together important aspects of Roman history into a single, continuous narrative
• Includes excerpts from primary sources, timeline, reading list, over 100 illustrations, and a glossary
Book Review
Mary T. Boatwright, Daniel Gargola, and Richard J.A. Talbert, all recognized historians of the ancient world, have joined together to create a narrative of Roman history that begins with that tiny village and ends when Constantine adopts Christianity as the empire's new religion. All of this is woven together into a single work that allows a reader to trace the course of Rome's development from beginning to end, thereby gaining real insight into how Rome worked and why it succeeded.
The emphasis of the book is on outlining the historical development of Rome as a centrally organized state. There are plenty of side stories dealing with topics like the status of women and Roman religion, but much of the text deals with the nature of Roman government, the relationship the average person had to the government, and the importance of key figures in Roman government like the Gracchus twins (Tiberius and Gaius), Sulla, Vespasian, Pompey, Caesar, and Nero.
- "Our scope...[is] the evolving nature of the Roman community, its state institutions, and forms of rule, together with its expansion and some of the consequences. ...[This book's focus on] Rome's political and institutional history is coupled with an awareness of how such a narrative is inseparable from social, cultural, economic, art historical, and other types of history. We have sought to offer at least glimpses of many different aspects of Roman life..."
Although it looks a lot like a school text book, this isn't the dry history text that you might remember from history class. The authors are able to make the people and events come alive, helping the reader to see beyond the thousands of years that separate us from them.
I suppose that this book could be used in a high school or college course, but its primary audience is college-educated readers who didn't get a chance to study Rome while in college and are interested in rectifying that. In this, I can't think of a better book out there for exactly that purpose.
It will certainly take time to get through the entire work and you might want to consult other books along the way for more in-depth information on particular figures, but as a basic introduction and core resource on the Roman empire, this book should stand alone for quite a few years. I'd like to see Oxford University Press come out with similar books on Greece, Egypt, China, and other ancient civilizations.
