My housemate and I are a leeetle obsessed with HBO's Rome now and both of us are bemoaning our dearth of knowledge of actual Roman history. Does anybody have any recommendations for well written non-fiction about ancient Rome?
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lisah - Nov 07, 2005 8:18:33 am PST #9385 of 10002
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Betsy HP - Nov 07, 2005 8:26:34 am PST #9386 of 10002
If I only had a brain...
Robert Graves's I, Claudius is a classic for a reason. For fluff, Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didius Falco mysteries are a lot of fun.
lisah - Nov 07, 2005 8:33:55 am PST #9387 of 10002
Punishingly Intricate
Robert Graves's I, Claudius is a classic for a reason.
Thanks, Betsy. Yeah I definitely want to check that out but I was looking for some non-fiction too.
Betsy HP - Nov 07, 2005 8:38:30 am PST #9388 of 10002
If I only had a brain...
- pounds head* I read "fiction" for "non-fiction".
I remember enjoying Edith Hamilton's The Roman Way, although the scholarship is probably very dated by now. (1930s)
Kathy A - Nov 07, 2005 10:01:23 am PST #9389 of 10002
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I, Claudius was supposedly loosely based on Seutonius's The Twelve Caesars, which I have. It's quick good dish on Roman emperors, written by a near-contemporary with a love for the scandalous.
Jars - Nov 07, 2005 10:09:27 am PST #9390 of 10002
Does anybody have any recommendations for well written non-fiction about ancient Rome?
From the Gracchi to Nero by H.H. Scullard is fairly easy to read, and covers the period that the show seems to (though I've only seen the first episode so far). It's fairly long as it's a dense period of history, but it's easy enough to skim to the interesting bits.
lisah - Nov 07, 2005 10:15:29 am PST #9391 of 10002
Punishingly Intricate
It's quick good dish on Roman emperors, written by a near-contemporary with a love for the scandalous.
My brother mentioned that book last night. And then he named all of the Caesars in order. I was impressed because I only know the ones with the really bad reps.
Thanks for all the recs!
DavidS - Nov 07, 2005 10:28:06 am PST #9392 of 10002
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Can anybody name 12 Caesars in order?
(Without looking it up...)
Kathy A - Nov 07, 2005 10:32:18 am PST #9393 of 10002
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
Only the Julian-Claudians: Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. Then there's a few others before Hadrian.
Nutty - Nov 07, 2005 10:34:28 am PST #9394 of 10002
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I only know the ones who have monuments and walls named after them (which still exist, in whole or in part). Or who have Shakespeare plays, although I was gently informed, at age 12 or so, that Pompey and Pompeii are not the same thing, and that Pompey was not quite as he had been described in Julius Caesar. (Nor, for that matter, was anybody else.)