Rome Victorious: The Irresistible Rise of the Roman Empire (Library of Classical Studies)

by Dexter Hoyos (Author), Dexter Hoyos (Author)

• New

  Illustrated
  2018

  $45.21

  Rome - Urbs Roma: city of patricians and plebeians, emperors and gladiators - was the epicentre of a far-flung imperium whose cultural legacy is incalculable. How a tiny settlement, founded by desperate adventurers beside the banks of the River Tiber, came to rule vast tracts of territory across the face of the known world is one of the more improbable stories of antiquity. This book vividly recounts the rags-to-riches story of Rome's unlikely triumph. It shows how, over the centuries and under the `boundless grandeur of the Roman peace' (as the Elder Pliny put it), imperial law, civilisation and language vigorously interacted with and influenced local cultures across western and central Europe and North Africa. Provincial subjects were made Roman citizens, generals and senators. In AD 98 Trajan became the first of many Romans from outside Italy to assume supreme power as Emperor. Poets, philosophers, historians and legalists all participated in the brilliant intellectual constellation secured by the pax Romana. Dexter Hoyos offers a masterful new treatment of the rise of Rome: from the viewpoints both of the city itself and the diverse peoples it came to rule and make its own.