Ancient Rome: A History
D. Brendan Nagle, University of Southern California
Available February 21, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59738-021-8
475 pages / paper / student price $44.95
Table of Contents
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Sample Chapters
Reviewer Comments
Ancient Rome: A History by D. Brendan Nagle covers the history of Rome from its legendary founding in 753 B.C. to A.D. 732, when the Frankish successors of Rome turned back the conquering Arabs at the Battle of Poitiers.
Well illustrated with figures, photos, and original maps, the text is organized into seven parts, each covering a major issue or period of Roman history:
- The founding of the city and the rise of Rome as a power in the Mediterranean
- The fall of the Republic
- The refounding of Rome under Augustus
- The consolidation of the Principate
- Factors and institutions that held the Empire together
- Rome on the defense in the Third Century A.D.
- The world of Late Antiquity
The events and chronologies are subordinated to a series of master narrative questions which are developed in the introductions to the major sections of the text.
- Why did Rome succeed in creating an empire based on the city-state when every other Mediterranean city-state that attempted to do so failed?
- Why did the government of the Republic collapse after its stunning military success allowed it to conquer most of the Mediterranean and a good portion of Europe?
- Even more astonishingly, how did the Republic, phoenix-like, revive and recreate itself?
- And finally, in the fourth century A.D., how did Rome redesign itself under pressure from a resurgent Persia, the numerous warrior bands, and migrating peoples of the West?
Special attention is given to the early growth of Rome in Italy; the art and architectural program of Augustus; and the factors that sustained the Roman Empire; the world of Late Antiquity, the rise of Abrahamic religions; and the revolutionary role of monotheism in the culture of the classical world.
Click here to learn about Nancy Demand's History of Ancient Greece in Its Mediterranean Context, 2/E
Reviewer reaction:
This is far better than any other Roman history textbook I have seen (in more than one language).... The three strongest features are the problem-centered approach; the emphasis on contextualization and analysis; its chronological scope (up to the 8th century)....
[The problem-centered] approach is the principal distinguishing characteristic of the book and makes it stand out among existing titles. This means that for the first time it gives instructors real choice between conventional narrative and problem-centered account and analysis.
Walter Scheidel, Stanford University
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Nagle has a very clear and comprehensible writing style. I don't get the impression that he is dumbing down his text, nor do I find words that might baffle my students.... He pays attention to details.... Transition from one topic to the next is good, so that the narrative flows well.
In my view, this section (Chapters 15 & 16) is perhaps the strongest part of the textbook. Nagle effectively conveys an excellent sense of the process of Romanization, both in terms of the government and army (Chapter 15) and the social and cultural factors (Chapter 16). I have never seen a better description of the actual operation of Roman government after the Augustan settlement. His examples and primary sources are very effectively used.
Jane Laurent, University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
