SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

by Mary Beard

Overview

One of the world’s foremost classicists presents a revolutionary history of the Roman Empire that will become the standard for our time.
By 63 BCE the city of Rome was a sprawling, imperial metropolis of more than a million inhabitants. But how did this massive city—the seat of power for an empire that spanned from Spain to Syria—emerge from what was once an insignificant village in central Italy? In S.P.Q.R., Beard changes our historical perspective, exploring how the Romans themselves challenged the idea of imperial rule, how they responded to terrorism and revolution, and how they invented a new idea of citizenship and nation, while also keeping her eye open for those overlooked in traditional histories: women, slaves and ex-slaves, conspirators, and losers. Like the best detectives, Beard separates fact from fiction, myth and propaganda from historical record. She introduces the familiar characters of Julius Caesar, Cicero, and Nero as well as the untold, the loud women, the shrewd bakers, and the brave jokers. S.P.Q.R. promises to shape our view of Roman history for decades to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780871404237
Publisher:	Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	11/09/2015
Pages:	608
Sales rank:	42,063
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.40(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

A Professor of Classics at Cambridge University, Mary Beard, the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, is the author of the best-selling The Fires of
Vesuvius. A television presenter and the author of the universally popular blog “A Don’s
Life,” Beard delivered the six-part A. W. Mellon Lectures in Washington, DC, in 2011.
A frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, Beard lectures internationally and lives in Cambridge, England.