A History of the Roman Empire: From its Foundation to the Death of Marcus Aurelius: 27 B.C. – 180 A.D.

by John Bagnell Bury

This extraordinary work on Roman history by J.B. Bury covers the period of more than 200 years from the time of Julius Caesar until the end of Marcus Aurelius' reign. Through the 30 chapters of this book, readers will gain a complete insight into the political history of the golden age of the Roman Empire. • From the Battle of Actium to the Foundation of the Principate • The Principate • The Joint Government of the Princeps and Senate • The Family of Augustus and His Plans to Found a Dynasty • Administration of Augustus in Rome and Italy — Organisation of the Army • Provincial Administration Under Augustus — the Western Provinces • Provincial Administration Under Augustus — the Eastern Provinces and Egypt • Rome and Parthia — Expeditions to Arabia and Ethiopia • The Winning and Losing of Germany — Death of Augustus • Rome Under Augustus — His Buildings • Literature of the Augustan Age • The Principate of Tiberius (14-37 A.D.) • The Principate of Gaius (Caligula) (37-41 A.D.) • The Principate of Claudius (41-54 A.D.) • The Conquest of Britain • The Principate of Nero (54-68 A.D.) • The Wars for Armenia, Under Claudius and Nero • The Principate of Galba, and the Year of the Four Emperors (68-69 A.D.) • Rebellions in Germany and Judea • The Flavian Emperors — Vespasian, Titus and Domitian (69-96 A.D.) • Britain and Germany Under the Flavians — Dacian War • Nerva and Trajan — the Conquest of Dacia • Literature From the Death of Tiberius to Trajan • The Principate of Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) • The Principate of Antoninus Pius (138-161 A.D.) • The Principate of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 A.D.) • Literature Under Hadrian and the Antonines • The Roman World Under the Empire — Politics, Philosophy, Religion and Art • Roman Life and Manners

Genres: History, Roman History, Italy, Historical

384 pages, Paperback

First published June 29, 2008

About the author

John Bagnell Bury (often published as J.B. Bury) was a classical scholar, historian, and philologist. He held the chair in Modern History at Trinity College, Dublin, for nine years, and also was appointed Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity, and Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University.

Reviews

[Mark Porton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I commenced this book without knowing much about the author, Professor John Bagnell Bury (b1861 – d1927). J.B. Bury was a respected academic who wrote about Greek, Roman, and Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) history; classical philology (study of literary texts and oral and written records) and literature; and the theory and philosophy of history.

From the sources I have read, Bury is right up there with the likes of Edward Gibbon, even having edited one of Gibbon’s works – no small thing. I have been wading through History of the Roman Empire (27BCE – 180CE) for a a few months. It covers the period from Emperor Augustus to the death of the Philosopher Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Bury commences with Julius Caesar – who wasn’t an Emperor, rather a Dictator – but he did set the scene for young Octavius (Augustus) to spend 40 years running the show. Augustus spent this time slowly changing laws to move power from the Senate to the Emperor, setting the scene for the Imperial era - put simply.

Bury, systematically and chronologically (I love it when things are in order) proceeds through the periods of great Emperors like Augustus, Vespasian, Trajan (my favourite), Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius and the terrible ones such as Caligula, Nero, Domitian and Tiberius. We slowly but happily trudge through the mess, that was, the year of the four Emperors and learn about the ‘middle of the road Emperors (my term)’ such as Claudius. Bury discusses life in the Empire, major legal changes, foreign wars, civil wars, the economy, religion, foreign affairs, other significant players in each reign, politics of client states – the lot!

Bury finished the book with several chapters outlining “Life in Rome and Manners”. Here we learn about health, etiquette, food, law and order, religion, education across all the reigns and what things were like for the ordinary person. I thought this was a wonderful way to finish this book.

This is a very dry and jam-packed account of this period. Bury is famous for saying "History is a science, no less and no more”, he firmly believed history was not a branch of literature. It seems he questioned the need for an author’s narrative on the historical subject at hand. This really comes through in this piece of work, he only states the ‘facts’ as gleaned from historical sources. Whereas other writers, including the likes of Mary Beard sprinkle their writing with opinion, humour and interpretation (which is wonderful too BTW). They very clearly put their own personal flavour into their work – Bury has none of that. His approach really does appeal to the Scientist (Pathology) in me, I slowly devoured this book, as you would a large family block of Cadbury’s Rum ‘n Raisin – not wanting to rush it and letting all the information, fascination and joy settle into my bones.

I MUST purchase a hard copy of Bury’s works, I would truly love to have his books alongside bound copies of books by Edward Gibbon on my bookshelves to refer to when I forget something or am trying to settle a debate with other history nerds. Also, something I can hand down to my kids one day. Who knows, maybe these books could inspire a grandchild or a great-grandchild to become a historian one day?

J.B. Bury is considered an expert on the history of the Byzantine Empire, I must read his work on this subject before my first trip to Istanbul after our little RNA Virus is dealt with - hopefully at the end of 2021. He is considered a major player in the revival of Byzantine studies. This is important, as most of us know something about Ancient Rome but fewer of us know much about the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) with that wonderful, teeming city of Constantinople as the capital.

This is a stellar piece of work.

5 Stars

[Galicius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rather scholarly history that fills the two hundred year gap before Gibbons’ volumes start. I liked the added chapters on literature, architecture, civil engineering, and Roman manners that Bury adds to his history. This takes up about 15% of the book. The bulk though like in Gibbons is a litany of wars and horrors of humanity. About 85% is military history or directly pertaining to lives of the emperors and principal figures in government. It’s curious to me that with the history’s cross over from BC to AD there is no mention of that major event. It’s mentioned briefly during Nero and the first persecution of Christians 64 AD when they are blamed by several individuals and groups for the fire of Rome.

[Kamran syed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must say that I had No or very vague idea of the Roman Empire and had absolutely no idea of its emperors. Wanted to study about them and stumbled upon "John Bagnel Bury". I had never heard him before. Now I know him much better after reading the first volume of "The History of Roman Empire".
The History of Roman Empire is a huge book so I decided upon audio book and would daily listen for two hours on my drive to/from work.
The Book starts with the Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus; the grand nephew and adopted son of the Roman dictator C. Julius Caesar and ends on Marcus Aurilius. The book is a chronology of the events through which the Roman Empire went.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bury is a little more measured, but also a little less eloquent, than Gibbon. There's a very thorough explanation of the Augustan system and the modifications made to it down to the time of Marcus Aurelius. Unlike his Greek history, social and artistic history gets more attention, though this is still primarily a political history.

[Tim Deaton · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a 'How It Worked' than a story of what happened

I was looking for a story of what happened and why, and of the people who made it happen. To put it a different way, I wanted to see the forest, but the author seemed focused on the bark on the trees.

[Luis Delgado · Rating 5 out of 5]

History o the Román Empire.27BC - 180 AD

Este interesante libro me ha permitido conocer como se llevó a cabo la expansión del Imperio romano y el esfuerzo para Roma.

[Radwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very rich and informative narrative of the Roman Empire, but rhere us so much details that you could so easily get lost through it. It is not for the casual history reader.