History - Ancient - Rome

Why didn't the ancient Greeks or Romans wear pants? How did they shave? How likely were they to drink fine wine, use birth control, or survive surgery?In a series of short and humorous essays, Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants explores some of...

Gaius Plinius Secundus was a first century Roman writer, known by the name Pliny the Elder to differentiate him from his nephew and adopted son Pliny the Younger. His best known work, and the only one preserved in its entirety, is Naturalis Histori or...

From acclaimed author of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and historian Emma Southon, a groundbreaking history of Ancient Rome that explores how the empire was built, fueled, and shaped by its enslaved people. When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul he...

Cicero wrote On Obligations (De Officiis) in late 44 BC after the assassination of Julius Caesar to provide principles of behavior for aspiring politicians. It has subsequently played a seminal role in the formation of ethical values in western Christendom. Adopted by the fourth-century...

Make each of your days meaningful using Seneca's immortal guidance In On the Shortness of Life: The Stoic Classic, Tom Butler-Bowdon introduces the work of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, an ancient Roman philosopher who wrote on the fleeting nature of existence and the need to...

How many Muses are there? Who were the original twelve Titans? Why is Zeus (Jupiter) associated with power stations, and Poseidon (Neptune) with salt-cellars? Who were Aphrodite's (Venus') handmaidens? In this beautiful little book, packed with helpful details and rare early illustrations, picture-researcher Philippa...

From a "remarkably gifted historian" (New York Times), the definitive account of the golden age of Rome -- an ultimate superpower at the pinnacle of its greatness The Pax Romana has long been shorthand for the empire's golden age. Stretching from Caledonia to Arabia,...

From a "remarkably gifted historian" (New York Times), the definitive account of the golden age of Rome -- an ultimate superpower at the pinnacle of its greatness The Pax Romana has long been shorthand for the empire's golden age. Stretching from Caledonia to Arabia,...

An intimate and human portrait of Perpetua, a third-century woman author who was idealized as a Christian martyr On March 7, 203, in the monumental amphitheater at Carthage, Vibia Perpetua was one of five Christians who met their deaths after refusing to venerate the...

Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly called Parallel Lives or Plutarch's Lives, is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably written at the beginning of the second century...

Plutarch's Lives, written at the beginning of the second century A.D., is a brilliant social history of the ancient world by one of the greatest biographers and moralists of all time. In what is by far his most famous and influential work, Plutarch reveals...

Plutarch's Lives, written at the beginning of the second century A.D., is a brilliant social history of the ancient world by one of the greatest biographers and moralists of all time. In what is by far his most famous and influential work, Plutarch reveals...

The resonant ruins of Pompeii are perhaps the most direct route back to the living, breathing world of the ancient Romans. Two million visitors annually now walk the paved streets which re-emerged, miraculously preserved, from their layers of volcanic ash. Yet for all the...

A wide-ranging and dramatic account of the Antonine plague, the mysterious disease that struck the Roman Empire at its pinnacle In the middle of the second century AD, Rome was at its prosperous and powerful apex. The emperor Marcus Aurelius reigned over a vast...

'I treat the narrative of the Lives as a kind of mirror...The experience is like nothing so much as spending time in their company and living with them: I receive and welcome each of them in turn as my guest.'In the eight lives of...

A "magnificent" (Spectator) history of the epic rivalry between the ancient world's two great superpowers The Roman empire was like no other. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity...

How the Roman empire shaped the West and the emergence of the modern economy Most historians recounting the rise of the West begin their narratives somewhere in the Middle Ages. In this groundbreaking account, historian Taco Terpstra argues that if we want to understand...

"I sing of arms and the man" wrote Vergil at the start of the Aeneid, one of Rome's most iconic origin stories as it explores the tumultuous journey of Aeneas from Trojan prince to Roman hero. But did Aeneas actually flee from Troy? How...

A vivid historical account of the social world of Julius Caesar's Rome as it moved from republic to empire, from the acclaimed author of Dynasty and co-host of the hit podcast The Rest Is History "A fascinating picture of Roman city life . ....

In SPQR, an instant classic, Mary Beard narrates the history of Rome "with passion and without technical jargon" and demonstrates how "a slightly shabby Iron Age village" rose to become the "undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean" (Wall Street Journal). Hailed by critics as animating...