Roman People

by Robert B. Kebric

This supplemental text explains the ancient classical Roman world by focusing on individual personalities―what is known about them and their world view. Each individual becomes a lens through which the student can view the values and characteristics of ancient Rome.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

339 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fin og lettlest oversikt over romersk historie. Tittelen føles noe misvisende og får det til å virke som boken tat for seg forskjellige aspekter ved livet i romertiden, men hovedfokuset ligger i stor grad på politikk og de mange intrigene som knyttet seg til de forksjellige keiserne, men enkelte sider ved livet i romerriket som påvirket alle både fattig og rik blir også tatt opp.

[Kevinch417 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have said much more about the people and much less about the politicians and influencers.

The title gives the impression that it would focus more on daily life of the average citizen throughout the Roman period but it turned out to be a majority Whig history with occasional primary sources from writers at the time (more often than not Robert Kendrick cites Tacitus).

It’s a good book but the title is misleading. Expect to read a lot about imperial succession.

[Carlos Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

這本同樣是對岸後浪出的，是《希臘人》的姊妹作。


作者同一位，風格基本不變，走介紹“Roman People”為主的路線，翻譯是同組人，流暢，無瑕疵，然後，圖文並茂。

特點都講完了(喂)。

好啦。基本上有看過姊妹作的朋友，如果對羅馬也有興趣的話，不用懷疑就買吧。至於只是單純喜歡這個主題的，本書走的是偏社會文化史的路線，它把重心放在了告訴讀者在羅馬千年史中，從上至下的人們是怎樣的過日子的，而且，比起直接述說，有時候作者Kebric更喜歡引用原文摘要，讓讀者自己去體會品嚐史料中不經意透露出的“片段”。這樣的方式或許對於大部分人來說，比冷冰冰的，專談政治軍事的專書更受歡迎吧！

作者依照每個時代挑選了些代表性的主題來討論，共和末他選的是布魯圖斯。筆者承認自己並不喜歡這個人，很明顯我是凱撒派，但矛盾的是我並不贊成專制王權，這樣的情況，讓我閱讀這篇章重新審視時，有了另外的體會。人類做很多事情的背後是很多理由，而且喜歡追根究柢(社會學大家Tilly寫了一本《Why》來探討這個主題，有興趣的可以自己去找)，布魯圖斯刺殺凱撒的原因必然不單純，神話也只是出於某些政治理由，但正如本書作者一直強調的，這位刺客的人品跟他的舅父小加圖相比可差遠了，那個放高利貸的痛腳一直被人抓著不放，加上他那反覆的態度，實在很難想像其動機有多崇高。當然，正如前面所述，行為的理由本身就不可能單純，或許該責怪的其實是做如是想的人，就像筆者也常思考“為什麼國防軍是在1944年發動女武神計劃”，更不要提本能寺之變這樣的千古懸案了。但，不管怎樣，事情發生了，但結果不如預期，或許這就是歷史的潮流。(好一個宿命論)或許我們唯一能得到的教訓是，暴力只會帶來更多的暴力。但說來，奧古斯都也已經死了兩千年了，這真是個讓人感慨的數字啊。

凱撒跟奧古斯都是兩個不一樣地位跟意義的歷史人物，但或許對一般人來說，帶來長久和平的人才是最被需要的吧。

接下來的主題中作者討論了塞維魯這位軍人皇帝一家，還有羅馬賽車手的風光一生，更有趣的是，羅馬人是否是跟英國、日本一樣靠左行駛的事情。

蠻建議大家買來品味一番的。

[Mikayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a textbook, this was a good read!

[Henry DeBenedetto · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text gives you a decent sense of what life was like during Roman times. It progresses through different stages of Rome and provides many primary sources for each era. Usually longer primary sources are separated into their own box or section of the text which can go on for pages, so at times you have to decide if you want to continue reading on with the chapter or finish the primary source selection and go back. If you are looking for a traditional survey type history of Ancient Rome then there are probably other books that would be better for that. However, if you are interested in Rome and would like to go beyond some of the generic information that you read about in more general texts then perhaps this would be a good start for you.

[Ry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of this book is a dear friend and my former professor. We keep in touch and he is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. I would also like to add that his two text books are the only ones currently allowed into China for education. Great teacher, good friend, and wonderful advisor.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several things I didn't like: the author has an obvious bias against Christianity and certain historical people and for certain people and elements of Roman society. He also seems to think that his opinions and ideas are very important and that everyone would be interested in them. Other than that it was interesting and I liked all of the primary sources interspersed throughout.

[Lurinda Smith]

The book gives a nice overview of Roman history that is a little easier to tap into the culture since it tries to focus more on a survey of individuals.