Showing titles in Rome

Cowardice in a legionary carries a heavy punishment: the sentence of decimation—to live or die at the whim of the gods with the unlucky ones clubbed to death by their fellow soldiers. Ursus, the man killed in Quintus's group, lays a heavy charge on the youth, asking him to look after the remaining men and to take care of his family back in Rome.

In the third volume of the critically acclaimed Marching with Caesar series, Titus Pullus and his friends in the 10th Legion are called on to serve as the agents of change as their general, Gaius Julius Caesar singlehandedly changes the Roman Republic to Empire.

The sixth-century AD witnessed a remarkable turn-around in the Roman Empire's fortunes. Justinian's general, Belisarius, recovered North Africa and Italy from the barbarians. An impressive new law code was inaugurated that would endure to this day. Astonishing building projects rivalled the great monuments of Old Rome.

The famous conqueror from the European continent came ashore with thousands of men, ready to set up a new kingdom in England. The Britons had resisted the amphibious invasion from the moment his forces landed, but he was able to push forward. In a large winter battle, the Britons' large army attacked the invaders but was eventually routed, and the conqueror was able to set up a new kingdom. Over 1,100 years before William the Conqueror became the King of England after the Battle of Hastings, Julius Caesar came, saw, and conquered part of "Britannia", setting up a Roman province.

Before the Romans could become masters of the Mediterranean, they had to first conquer the people of their own peninsula. This book explores the origins of Roman imperialism and the creation of Rome's early Italian empire, bringing new light and interpretations to this important but problematic period in Roman history. It explains how and why the Romans were able to expand their influence within Italy, often through the use of armed conflict, laying the foundations for their great imperial project.

It is April of 69 A.D., and Rome’s first civil war in a hundred years has ended. Emperor Otho, who violently overthrew the tyrannical Galba just three months before, is dead. The triumphant armies of the Rhine coerce the senate into ratifying their governor, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. While there is an uneasy hope that peace has returned to Rome, Vitellius’ cronyism and utter incompetence soon alienates most of Rome’s patricians, along with many of the provinces.

The end of the ancient world was long regarded by historians as a time of decadence, decline, and fall. In his career-long engagement with this era, the widely acclaimed and pathbreaking historian Peter Brown has shown, however, that the "neglected half-millennium" now known as late antiquity was crucial to the development of modern Europe and the Middle East. In Journeys of the Mind, Brown recounts his life and work, describing his efforts to recapture the spirit of an age.

The extant letters of Pliny, written between AD 97 and 112, give us a unique insight into Imperial Rome under the early Antonine emperors. Organised into 10 books, the letters reflect a wide range of topics, mirroring Pliny’s own public and private interests. Among many other subjects, the letters also include an eye-witness account of the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, with the final book containing the exchange of letters between the writer (whose career culminated as Governor of Bithynia) and the emperor Trajan.

Rome, AD 67. Vespasian is tasked with the impossible: should he quell the revolt in Judaea, as the emperor Nero has instructed? If his conquest succeeds, he risks becoming the sole object of the emperor's jealousy. If he fails, then his punishment will be severe. But Nero has committed suicide. Sabinus, Vespasian's brother, is caught between the warring factions of Aulus Vitellius, a cruel opportunist, and the noble Marcus Salvius Otho, who finds himself severely outnumbered.

Appian's Civil Wars offers a comprehensive account of the unstable epoch from the time of Tiberius Gracchus (133 BC) to the great conflicts which followed the murder of Julius Caesar. For the events between 133 and 70 BC Appian is the only constant surviving narrative source, making his diaries an invaluable source to understand this brutal and formative moment in history.

The rise and fall of the Roman Republic occupies a special place in the history of Western civilization. From humble beginnings on the seven hills beside the Tiber, the city of Rome grew to dominate the ancient Mediterranean. Led by her senatorial aristocracy, Republican armies defeated Carthage and the successor kingdoms of Alexander the Great, and brought the surrounding peoples to east and west into the Roman sphere. Yet the triumph of the Republic was also its tragedy.   

They were sent to die. Unfortunately for Rome, they didn’t. When a ragtag legion of Rome’s least inspiring soldiers is dispatched to a remote border post no one’s ever heard of, even they assume they’re being quietly exiled. But between a commander who thinks maps are propaganda, a scout who’s legally dead, and a tent full of cursed chickens, the Damned Legion might accidentally become heroes —if they don’t kill each other first.

The Empire That Built Your World (and Set It on Fire)You may have slept through history class, but Rome has been shaping your life this whole time. The alphabet you’re reading right now? Built on Latin. Your calendar? Roman. Your laws, your government buildings, and your favorite dramas packed with power plays and betrayal? They all carry echoes of a civilization that never really died. This is not another dusty textbook or a glorified list of emperors. It is a fast-paced, brutally honest ride through 1,200 years of violence, innovation, chaos, and unlikely survival.

The gripping, definitive account of how the Romans lost their Republic. “An incisive history … The parallels to the present day are striking.” —New Yorker In Mortal Republic, prize-winning historian Edward J. Watts offers a new history of the fall of the Roman Republic that explains why...

A bold new portrait of Livia, ancient Rome’s first First Lady, who shaped the empire from behind the throne Livia was no ordinary Roman woman. As wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius―the first and second Roman emperors―she stood at the heart of the first imperial dynasty, wielding...

Immerse yourself in the history of ancient Rome - from its origins as a small settlement on the Palatine Hill to its peak as an empire reigning over 90 million people, and its tumultuous decline. Covering more than 1,000 years of history, and an empire that stretched from Scotland to Syria...

Uncovering Roman Mythology takes listeners deep into the legendary world of ancient Rome, where gods ruled human fate and myths shaped an empire. Explore the powerful stories of Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Venus, and more along with the heroes, creatures, and legends that defined Roman culture, politics, and belief. Blending timeless myths with clear explanations and historical insight, this audiobook reveals not just the stories themselves, but the deeper meanings behind them.

The Secret History, written by the sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius, is one of the most extraordinary and scandalous documents to have survived from the early Byzantine period. Procopius, the leading official historian of his time, lived during the testing and indulgent time of...

The Civil War is Julius Caesar’s personal account of his war with Pompey the Great - the war that destroyed the five-hundred-year-old Roman Republic. Caesar the victor became Caesar the dictator. In three short books, Caesar describes how, in order to defend his honor and the freedom of both himself and the Roman people, he marched on Rome and defeated the forces of Pompey and the Senate in Italy, Spain, and Greece.

The Gallic Paradox: Achievement and AtrocityThe sentence that launched a thousand classrooms also launched a genocide. For two millennia, students have parsed Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres as a masterpiece of prose. They were rarely told it was a declaration of ownership—the opening move of a campaign that killed one million people and erased sixty tribal nations. The Gallic Paradox by Robert Walker reconstructs the world Caesar destroyed alongside the machine he built to do it.