Status
Call number
Collection
Publication
Description
The idea of empire was created in ancient Rome and even today the Roman Empire offers a touchstone for thinking about imperialism. Traces of its monuments, literature, and institutions can be found across Europe, the Near East, and North Africa, and sometimes even further afield. In this work, the author, a historian recounts how this mammoth empire was created, how it was sustained in crisis, and how it shaped the world of its rulers and subjects, a story spanning a millennium and a half of history. The personalities and events of Roman history have become part of the West's cultural lexicon, and the author provides retellings of each of these, from the war with Carthage to Octavian's victory over Cleopatra, from the height of territorial expansion under the emperors Trajan and Hadrian to the founding of Constantinople and the barbarian invasions which resulted in Rome's ultimate collapse. Throughout, he considers the conditions that made Rome's success possible and so durable, covering topics as diverse as ecology, slavery, and religion. He also compares Rome to other ancient empires and to its many later imitators, bringing into vivid relief the Empire's most distinctive and enduring features. As is demonstrated, nobody ever planned to create a state that would last more than a millennium and a half, yet Rome was able, in the end, to survive barbarian migrations, economic collapse and even the conflicts between a series of world religions that had grown up within its borders, in the process generating an image and a myth of empire that is apparently indestructible.… (more)
Media reviews
User reviews
Woolf considers a range of factors in turn - such as geography, climate, culture/religion, the economy, and the institutions they established - and describes how they contributed to the success of the Empire. His comparisons to
The 'further reading' sections at the end of each chapter are particularly helpful for those who want to explore a particular aspect of Roman history in more depth.
Partly because of its succinct breadth, the author sometimes favours dry details over the more interesting personalities or happenings. Occasionally a tantalisingly interesting fact is just left hanging, eg: Signs of the seriousness with which the Senate treated Hannibal's victory at Cannae in 216 included [...] the live burial of a Gallic couple and a Greek couple in the Roman fourm. p. 73. Why?? This is not footnoted, or explained.
The book devotes far less time to the decline of the Empire, but does consider it in relation to the factors that had driven its establishment.