Revised edition of: A brief history of ancient Rome. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Are you intrigued by ancient Rome's myths, culture, and unimaginable rise to power? If so, this powerful history of ancient Rome will draw you in and keep you turning pages! Rome's astonishing history now spans 28 centuries, growing from obscurity into a massive empire stretching from Britain to the Middle East and south to Africa. Rome's culture and institutions left an enduring legacy that continues to impact civilizations around the world. In this engaging history of ancient Rome, we will unwrap the intriguing myths of the twin babies Romulus and Remus - left exposed to certain death-and their ancestor Aeneas, who escaped burning Troy and made his epic journey to central Italy. We will discover how all the drama, politics, and empire-building unfolded. We will explore the captivating stories of the brilliant and indomitable people who built Rome and the chaotically destructive people who destroyed it from within. This thoroughly-researched history vividly presents a fascinating insight into ancient Rome. The clear and compelling narrative provides a comprehensive overview without being pretentious and boring. A glimpse of the questions this book will uncover includes: What happened when a goddess met a handsome shepherd on a lonely hilltop? Who escaped from burning Troy to later become a king in Italy? What ill-fated romance impelled Queen Dido of Carthage to commit suicide? How did a Vestal Virgin get pregnant? Why were the babies floating down the river in a basket - and what happened to them? Did Romulus get blown away in a windstorm? Or was he torn to pieces by the senators? How did abuse of power by tyrannical kings lead to a democratic Republic? What led to the Celtic Gauls invading and sacking Rome? How did Rome rise from the ashes to reassert its dominant power? What strategies did the Romans learn to fight against war elephants? And how did Hannibal get those elephants through the snow and over the Alps? Which disastrous wars led to the term "pyrrhic victory?" Who was the Roman gladiator who led a slave revolt of 40,000 people? Did Caligula make his horse a priest? Why did Nero blame the great fire of Rome on the Christians? How did Rome cope with the Great Jewish Revolt? What canny strategies led to the conquest of Britain? Which Scottish people were covered with blue tattoos? Which power-hungry Grandma had one of her grandsons assassinated to put another one on the throne? What happened when Diocletian tried to convert or kill all the Christians in the empire? What vision eventually led Constantine to abandon paganism for Christianity? And much, much more! Scroll up and click the "add to cart" button to learn the stories of the incredible ancient Rome!

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

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Although the relationship of Greco-Roman historians with their readerships has attracted much scholarly attention, classicists principally focus on individual historians, while there has been no collective work on the matter. The editors of this volume aspire to fill this gap and gather papers which offer an overall view of the Greco-Roman readership and of its interaction with ancient historians. The authors of this book endeavor to define the physiognomy of the audience of history in the Roman Era both by exploring the narrative arrangement of ancient historical prose and by using sources in which Greco-Roman intellectuals address the issue of the readership of history. Ancient historians shaped their accounts taking into consideration their readers’ tastes, and this is evident on many different levels, such as the way a historian fashions his authorial image, addresses his readers, or uses certain compositional strategies to elicit the readers’ affective and cognitive responses to his messages. The papers of this volume analyze these narrative aspects and contextualize them within their socio-political environment in order to reveal the ways ancient readerships interacted with and affected Greco-Roman historical prose.