Showing titles in Rome

In the popular imagination, Attila the Hun is among the most barbaric leaders ever. His warriors have the reputation of being ruthless, cruel, and bloodthirsty, as the Huns are believed to have been savages lacking any semblance of civilized culture. The reputation of Attila and his people, the Huns, is at odds with reality. But examining the few historical records of his character and deeds reveal quite a different story.

Marcus Licinius Crassus (115-53 BCE) was a modern man in an ancient world, a pioneer disrupter of finance and politics, and the richest man of the last years of the Roman republic. Without his catastrophic ambition, this trailblazing tycoon might have quietly entered history as Rome's first modern political financier. Instead, Crassus and his son led an army on an unprovoked campaign against Parthia into what are now the borderlands of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, losing a battle at Carrhae which scarred Roman minds for generations.

According to tradition, the Roman Republic came into being in 509 BC, following the overthrow of the monarchy, and it ended in 27 BC, when Augustus became the first emperor. During this period of nearly 500 years, Rome grew from a relatively small Italian city to a superpower that dominated the entire Mediterranean world, but the Roman Republic was characterized by an interminable internal power struggle between the aristocratic and populist factions (the Optimates and Populares) for control of the state and the distribution of its wealth.

"Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.” In that short line, Anatole Broyard, a 20th century American writer, compactly captures the timeless and enchanting beauty that resides within the Eternal City of Rome. This tourist destination is often one of the highest ranked on bucket lists, for how could one not want to experience its marvelous ruins, mirror-like rivers, and spectacular stretches of aqueducts, firsthand?

In this audiobook bundle, you get the best historical facts and knowledge you deserve. All in all, you get over plenty of explanations and clarifications of what the Romans and their empire looked about 2,000 years ago. In the first audiobook, various aspects of the Roman Empire, its government, and its place in human history will be discussed. In the second audiobook, a number of emperors come to light. In the third audiobook, Spartacus is covered in the first few sections.

"The Five Good Emperors", a reference to the five emperors who ruled the Roman Empire between 96 and 180 CE (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), was a term first coined by Machiavelli and later adopted and popularized by historian Edward Gibbon. This period of 84 years is generally regarded as the high point of the Roman Empire, at least after Augustus. According to some academics, the success these rulers had in centralizing the empire's administration, while undoubtedly bringing huge benefits, also sowed the seeds for later problems.

Esta historia comienza en el año 146 a.C. cuando los romanos, tras añadir Grecia a sus numerosas provincias, emprendieron su tercera guerra contra Cartago. Los cartagineses se defendieron con uñas y acero pero nada pudieron hacer ante el poder imbatible de las legiones comandadas por Escipión Emiliano.

Attempting to cover all the forms the "Goddess of Love" encapsulates is no small affair. The roles she played in romance, marriage, procreation, and all of the other desires of humanity were myriad, but the aim of this book is to paint a slightly different, perhaps more esoteric version of Aphrodite from the usual image of her in mythology books.

Book 5 of Mommsen's history of the Roman Republic brings to a conclusion this most magnificent of historical narratives. It begins with the death of Sulla and ends with the accession to power of the greatest and most fascinating Roman of them all, Gaius Julius Caesar.

From the center of imperial Rome to the farthest reaches of ancient Britain, Gaul, and Spain, amphitheaters marked the landscape of the Western Roman Empire. Built to bring Roman institutions and the spectacle of Roman power to conquered people, many still remain as witnesses to the extent and control of the empire. In this audiobook, Alison Futrell explores the arena as a key social and political institution for binding Rome and its provinces.

Pagans explores the rise of Christianity from a surprising and unique viewpoint: that of the people who witnessed their ways of life destroyed by what seemed then a powerful religious cult. These "pagans" were actually pious Greeks, Romans, Syrians, and Gauls, who observed the traditions of their ancestors. To these devout polytheists, Christians who worshiped only one deity were immoral atheists who believed that a splash of water on the deathbed could erase a lifetime of sin.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE) was one of the most influential figures in late republican Rome, a moment of great social, political, and cultural unrest that would lead to the transition from republic to empire. Cicero was a statesman who held the highest political office, the consulship, and then suffered politically motivated exile. His career was grounded in his continued success as an orator: his speeches were famous during his lifetime and, together with his rhetorical treatises, shaped the practice and theory of public speaking for centuries to come.

Written with occasional humor and an easy style, and thoroughly referenced, with many entertaining "gotcha!" moments, Not the Impossible Faith is a must-listen for anyone interested in the origins of Christianity. Richard Carrier, PhD, is an expert in the history of the ancient world and a critic of Christian attempts to distort history in defense of their faith.

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180.

Traversing more than seven hundred years of Roman history, this book explores how everyday Romans swapped gossip, spread rumors, told jokes, and chanted protests about their emperors—activity that amounted to much more than idle chatter. Caillan Davenport uses ancient evidence, including letters, graffiti, and songs, to reveal how Romans engaged in politics outside the senate house or imperial council. He argues that the idea of the Roman emperor was shaped not only by the political powers granted to him but also by the debate taking place in the streets, churches, taverns, and markets.

When the European armies of the Third Crusade were defeated at the Battle of Hattin in 1187 CE, the region of what is today southern Jordan was overrun by Saladin's armies, and over the following five centuries knowledge of Petra's existence was lost to the people of Europe. The ancient city and center of civilization hidden in the desert became a myth, drawn largely upon Biblical accounts of the people and places in the Holy Land.

Constantine the Great was one of the most pivotal figures in the history of the Roman Empire and the widespread expansion of the Christian religion. This is in no way an understatement; Constantine was not only one of the last truly powerful Roman emperors, but he also successfully reconstituted the whole empire according to his vision of Rome’s future. He played the most significant role in transforming the Empire from a Greco-Roman pagan dominion into a bulwark of the Christian faith, granting for the first time real temporal power for the early Christian church.

Born in 355 CE in the aftermath of Constantine's reign, Hypatia of Alexandria lived in a collapsing Roman Empire - a world where obedience to religious authorities trumped science, where reason and logic threatened the new world order. It was a world on the edge of the Dark Ages, a world deciding the question of science verses religion, freedom verses orthodoxy, tolerance verses hate.

A masterful new translation of Suetonius' renowned biography of the twelve Caesars, bringing to life a portrait of the first Roman emperors in stunning detail A Penguin Classic The ancient Roman empire was the supreme arena, where emperors had no choice but to fight, to thrill, to dazzle. To...

Ancient Romans liked money. But how did they make a living and sometimes even become rich? The Roman economy was dominated by agriculture, but it was surprisingly modern in many ways: the Romans had companies with CEOs, shareholders, and detailed contracts regulated by meticulous laws; systems of banking and taxation; and a wide range of occupations, from merchant and doctor to architect and teacher. How to Make Money gathers a wide variety of ancient writings that show how Romans thought about, made, invested, spent, lost, and gave away money.