THE CLIMAX OF ROME

by Michael Grant

A richly detailed portrait of Rome at the height of its glory.

Genres: History, Roman History, Ancient History, Classics, Ancient

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Michael Grant was an English classisist, numismatist, and author of numerous popular books on ancient history. His 1956 translation of Tacitus’s Annals of Imperial Rome remains a standard of the work. He once described himself as "one of the very few freelances in the field of ancient history: a rare phenomenon". As a popularizer, his hallmarks were his prolific output and his unwillingness to oversimplify or talk down to his readership.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic command of detail and of shifts through time, but the high ambition to cram it all in can get you lost. Still, if your game is to find gems rather than achieve total recall, it's a great and entertaining resource.

[Falk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grant provides a great overview of the period covered by this book – on the other hand he has a tendency to simply present a barrage of facts with almost computerlike efficiency. Though there’s also a lot of ground to cover in this eventful period from the accession of Marcus Aurelius in 161 to the death of Constantine in 337. - From the Foreword: "My aim has been to combine in a single volume a discussion of the most important political and economic events and the outstanding cultural and religious developments, with some attention to their backgrounds and aftermaths... Spanning the gulf between two worlds, it is a time of rapid transition comprising changes that could scarcely gave been more far-reaching and decisive. But the idea that it is therefore a mere no-man’s-land, a trough between the ages, would be quite mistaken. The attribution of that somewhat shadowy, interim character to the period was encouraged by Edward Gibbon, who believed that the happiest age of mankind ended at the death of Marcus Aurelius, and that afterwards came decline and fall." – Grant agrees that politically and economically "gloom was justified", though he also to a large degree proves his point that it was also a period of exceptional achievements.

He turns first to the military situation, the economy and Roman Law. This was a period of continual pressure on the frontiers, which necessitated a more efficient frontier defence and also lead to the gradual development of Roman military into more mobile and flexible units. There were frequent monetary reforms, and as well increasing exploitation of the middle class - to the degree that it was almost extinguished: "..the urban middle class everywhere was almost taxed out of existence, or forced into direct service of the emperor." (p. 60.) Grant describes the rise of the great-house economies into self-sufficient feudal units. "Emperors at first favoured legislation to protect the coloni [tenants], but before the third century was far advanced this considerate attitude had become subordinated to the need for funds." (p. 63.) The small chapter on Roman Law is interesting and well written; as the senate no longer had a role in legislation, the "jurists now ushered in the most creative and philosophical period in Roman Law." (p. 78.) Grant shows how the effect of the increased standardization nevertheless was to "equalize people not upwards but downwards" (p. 82) and as well how the law treated people of different social standing in different ways. Although Roman citizens, those of the lower class (humiliores) "were liable to flogging, torture and summary execution, which only non-citizens had suffered before. Indeed their punishments were practically those of slaves, and that is what many ‘free’ tenants came to be called." (p. 83.)

In the next section, he turns to artists, architects, novelists and philosophers. The chapters on sculpture and architecture suffers somewhat from a lack of illustrations - while the book contains as many as 100 illustrations, none of them are directly referenced in the the text. The two chapters titled "The Culture of the Novel" and "Gospels of Self-Reliance" are possibly the best in this volume, and here Grant departs from the more summary presentation that characterizes much of the rest of this book; he is more relaxed, humorous and a bit more personal and even passionate in his approach to these subjects. The curiously titled "Gospels of Self-Reliance" deals primarily with Marcus Aurelius, Plotinus and the Middle Platonists.
The last section, "From Paganism to Christianity", is a bit more summary again, and as well somewhat simplistic in its approach, though – again – it does provide a fairly decent overview of the various developments in this period.
While Grant is perhaps not entirely convincing in his assertion that this period represents the "climax" of Rome, he nevertheless shows with great clarity that this was indeed a period of "far-reaching and decisive" importance both politically and culturally, and it’s well worth the read.




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[Jeff Lanter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since there are currently no written reviews of this book, I will try to present information to people interested in this book or just Rome in general. Overall, this is an interesting survey book on a grim, but interesting period of Roman History. Emperors had enormous power and responsibility during this period. Michael Grant gives you a brief summary of the rulers from the Severan to late Roman period, but if you have any background knowledge of the emperors that will help you appreciate this book even more. He covers military and cultural achievements as well as the decline of paganism and the rise of Christianity. The prose is dense, but quite readable and at times very interesting. Grant occasionally gets bogged down in summarizing literature or philosophy from this period for several pages. As important as these texts are, his detailed accounts are not nearly as interesting as the rest of information and quite honestly, if the reader was interested, they could track the sources down on their own. Don't let that keep you from reading this great book though. It is an excellent way to learn about Rome's mid to late period which is just as interesting as the more glamorous period with Julius Caesar and Augustus.

[Turkish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Очень непривычный взгляд на последние дни Римской Империи, как на расцвет ее интеллектуального величия в работах индивидуальностей. Труд сам по себе колоссальный, а приведенные автором аргументы весьма интересны и убедительны. Особенно, что касается решающей роли личной приверженности Константина христианству в изменении облика всего Средиземноморья, а как следствие всей истории человечества.
Сильно советую перед прочтением одолеть что-нибудь из вузовских учебников. Автор явно предназначал труд прежде всего для людей уже знакомых с историей Рима.
Пространное и высокопарное словесное описание архитектурных ансамблей все же напрягает. Хотя в центре есть картинки, о которых я не знал, т.к. я вор.

[Tony Gualtieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive survey of the history and culture of this poorly documented period. While this era is often seen as a period of decline, Grant's thesis is that the ability of Rome to survive the increasing pressures of foreign invaders and to assimilate diverse ideas is a mark of a civilization at its height, even if those pressures and ideas would ultimately bring an end to Roman culture. The book gets more interesting as it passes from a recitation of political and military history to art, literature, philosophy, and religion. I thought the section on Marcus Aurelius's stoicism and Plotinus's Neoplatonism was especially fine.

[Alan Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this work, Grant traces developments in the Roman Empire from the reign of Marcus Aurelius (mid 2nd century) to Constantine (early 4th century). Grant organizes his treatment by topics, such as military developments, economics, law, the arts, and religion. Sometimes his analysis gets a little granular and tedious, but he also presents interesting insights on subjects that most casual students of history might not have considered, such as how the shift from the hyper-realistic sculpture of the classical period to the more simple and stylistic forms of the Constantinian era went hand in hand with shifts in politics, philosophy and religion.

My favorite section was the last two chapters, which contains an excellent description of the religious currents in the later empire, including the decline of paganism, the influence of Neo-Platonism,the popularity of the mystery cults, and the rise of Christianity. Maybe it is because this is the subject area I knew the most about before reading this book, but it is also the section where I had the most issues with Grant. For example, he makes a big deal about the historical figure of Mani, founder of the popular sect known as Manichaeism, but when it comes to Christianity, Grant focuses mostly on the movement and not on Jesus himself, apart from a tepid acknowledgment that Christians believed Jesus to be a historical figure. The effect is a subtle suggestion that a difference exists between the Jesus of history and the religion that grew up around him. However, Grant does acknowledge that the Christian emphasis on love gave it a huge advantage over the competing sects and ideologies within the empire.

Grant closes the book with an epilogue musing on the lessons the modern West can learn from the later empire. He concludes that there are enough similarities that we should be seek to learn from the empire’s mistakes, but that are also important differences that make it hard to draw strict comparisons. For example, Grant (who also had experience as a British diplomat) suggested some of the military crises Rome experienced with the Persians and others could have been avoided if Rome had focused more on diplomacy earlier, rather than putting its faith in its military might. It is not hard to see the point Grant was trying to make as it applies to the West. However, Grant wrote in the late 1960s, before the resolution of the Cold War and the rise of global terrorism. Some today might argue that diplomacy works best when backed up by credible military strength.

All in all, this is a good book from one of the world’s leading experts on the Greco-Roman world. It might be a bit dry to the casual reader, but definitely worthwhile to those who already have an interest and some familiarity with Roman history.

[Anna Klement · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book The Climax of Rome is more complete and informative than the popular work of our time SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard. If someone is interested in looking at Rome more deeply and thoroughly, and not superficially, it is better to take this book.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some elements are decent but towards the sections on Religion and Christianity the author tends to regurgitate discredited tropes of early Christianity.