A History of the Roman People

by Allen Mason Ward, Fritz M. Heichelheim, Cedric A. Yeo

Extensively revised, this survey of Roman history takes readers on a fascinating journey from prehistoric Italy to the death of Justinian (565 A.D.). Centered around a traditional political and military narrative core, it presents in-depth coverage of social, economic, and cultural developments, making continual references throughout of supporting evidence and providing up-to-date explanations based on the evidence and current scholarship.Considers new archaeological evidence, advances in historical demography, and recently excavated and restudied artifacts to shed new light on our understanding of the origins and early development of Rome. Provides source analyses at the beginning of all major chronological periods, constant cross-references to other relevant pages, and chronological reminders to keep readers oriented. Rewrites sections on the Regal, early Republican, and late Imperial periods to incorporate latest research and provide more social and cultural history, with major sections added on women and the growth and impact of Christianity. Also includes additional, upgraded maps throughout. For historians.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, School, Roman, Classics, Roman History, Textbooks

574 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I'm about halfway through, and I think they did an excellent job--with the parts they could do well. As a political and military history, this works. When they attempt to analyze culture, the authors run into problems.

The authors argue that "one of the most visible signs of the increased power and independence of upper-class women is...their sexual liberation." They proceed to give a list of women who have been divorced or been slandered for "promiscuity," which isn't exactly a sign of "increased power."

This continues. On page 257, the authors speak about female slaves, but something appears to be amiss. The slaves were "available to masters for sexual purposes, to which neither they nor their wives necessarily objected." While perhaps, some slave women didn't mind, it seems fair to say that most would, but the authors felt more comfortable talking about the outliers--those women who did not mind being exploited by their owners. Phrasing the rape of slaves so positively like this is white washing history, and I think the fact that they discussed so many social issues in this sort of manner is detrimental to the quality of the text as a whole.

I understand the authors, much like myself, must have a significant regard for Roman history, and perhaps the social problems made them uncomfortable. But these problems existed, and the authors do their work a disservice by white washing these issues.

I know the work was reprinted significantly later, and I can only hope that these kinds of issues were remedied; it's a good read otherwise.

********************************

Edit upon finishing: Yup. This book was pretty biased. I only got through it by sheer force of will.

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a long, sometimes satisfying, and sometimes complicated journey across Roman History. We are presented with around 1300 years of the state that in so many ways laid the foundation for most of western culture. We see not only Rome’s history as the description of their political expansion, wars and loses, but also, of their culture and legacy. Although it is divided in many chapters, the author roughly divides the book In different epochs of the Roman Empire, the most interesting and well written parts were the small introduction to the people inhabitant Italy at the time of the creation of Rome and its first years under kings, with very interesting description of Italic people and of the Indo-European expansion into Italy and the early republic; the chapter on the third century crisis offers a very well narrated recount of the many rebellions and emperors without rendering it a bunch of names and successors only. The last chapters become a bit confusing and feels very shallow in comparison to the first ones, theology controversies and emperors takes the center away from the roman people.

In each state there is an exhaustive description of the different periods’ contexts. Outside events and kingdoms takes a greater part in the narrative for the republic as in the Empire, as well as different people, specially wealthy Romans and the senatorial class takes a much lower paper in the Empire, eclipsed by the deeds and intrigues of the emperors and military leaders. Some epochs probably due to sources are better described than others. We get a great deal of information from the main actors of the republic and into Augustan time, getting lower with each new emperor to a point that just some paragraphs are devoted to each, some of these sections are poorly written.

Nonetheless, one still can read about every big/known event and aftermath of the different wars that brought up Rome into its early expansion and later empire. Moreover, on each of the sections, after the chronology of events is explained and comment on with ancient and modern sources the author dives into the life of the Romans, their political structures, their own beliefs and costumes, not only in religion but also in literature, work, economy, architecture, etc.

One of the more interesting aspects of the book is the description of the ancient sources commented by the author at the beginning of each chapter and the realization that so many works are known to be written; with invaluable information for most of the periods discussed by the author and yet, we only know that they existed, as either just small parts of them came into our days or none at all. The dark ages and middle ages before the renaissance did left a dark stain in the literature of ancient times.

As this book is already the Sixth edition from its original issue decades ago, some passages could feel out of place, one of this and rather outrageous is the use of Indochina to refer to a geographical place in the middle of the XXI Century. The book can be read only for the interested periods or as a bulk, but as the Roman History, it is very massive for the whole thing. Nonetheless seems to be the perfect book for anyone knowing or not knowing much of the Romans, and because of its structure it works also well for people interested in specific knowledge.

[Victor Whitman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished this. It is one of the better Roman history textbooks that I have read. Roman history can be overwhelming because of the length of time (nearly 900 years), and the scale of the empire. This book lays it all out from the foundation through the end of the empire. Also good about it is that it contains separate chapters on the source material for a period, and also daily life. This is used as a college textbook, so the newest edition is really expensive. I picked up an earlier edition, which was perfectly fine, for less than $20.

[Richard Klueg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful overview of the entire scope of Roman history, including an epilogue on the Byzantine Empire survived another 1,000 years after the "fall" of the western empire.

It's not hard to tell what Romans the author likes and dislikes. Not that I would necessarily disagree with his judgments, it's just that many historians do not make it so obvious!

[dat bene gesserit witch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introductory sections on roman history. had to read this for school so I don't have much to say except that it is great for cursory reference when you have like one hour to read it before class.

[Boris · Rating 4 out of 5]

erg droog, maar wat een schat aan details over de Romeinse geschiedenis. Aanrader als je extra inhoud of details zoekt als leerkracht.

[Coleman Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful and derailed historical analysis of the Roman empire. Only for the avid reader. It is a large piece of literature!

[maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

it’s a textbook I mean

[Mark Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

★ - Most books with this rating I never finish and so don't make this list. This one I probably started speed-reading to get it over with.
★★ - Average. Wasn't terrible, but not a lot to recommend it. Probably skimmed parts of it.
★★★ - Decent. A few good ideas, well-written passages, interesting characters, or the like.
★★★★ - Good. This one had parts that inspired me, impressed me, made me laugh out loud, made me think - it got positive reactions and most of the rest of it was pretty decent too.
★★★★★ - Amazing. This is the best I've read of its genre, the ones I hold on to so I can re-read them and/or loan them out to people looking for a great book. The best of these change the way I look at the world and operate within it.

[Mark Materum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I plan on writing a more thorough review. However, here are some of my initial thoughts. While it was a very clear book on the whole, I thought the book was lacking in illustrations, diagrams, and maps. I would have much rather preferred something more akin to the Landmark series, where illustrations and maps are found every few pages; doing so would have helped put things more in their geographic and cultural context. Apart from that, it is an excellent book and serves as a fine introduction to Ancient Roman history. Be sure to supplement it with other texts for more information on culture, military, etc.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew. That's some history!

[Alison]

Textbook used by Ron Mellor in History of the Roman Empire class (Augustus-Constantine), UCLA, winter 2004.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

So well written and accessible.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry as a bone. Does not make hisotry come alive...

[Lauren Langford · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as 'name and date' history texts go, this one is not so bad!