Rome

This is a great read on the way that Rome became an empire. It puts the whole story of the city of Rome and what it developed into (i.e. the biggest power of the ancient world and a paradigm for many empires that followed) into context and into the history of the Mediterranean world. The book is so useful to read because it is well written and contemporary, but it also helps us to understand Hannibal. This is because Rome's version of Carthage and Hannibal is the only version that we have to deal with, Hannibal in many ways becomes… show more.

This book provides a brilliant and engagingly written overview of the long-term development of Rome from a small settlement in central Italy to the point where the city controlled an enormous empire stretching across the Mediterranean and beyond. How was it that Rome managed to control such a vast territory for so long? And what finally caused its power to decline? Woolf’s command of structural change in the Roman world, economic, cultural, and environmental, as well as political, is unparalleled. He grapples with a huge range of evidence, from archaeology, as well as ancient texts, to present a compelling account… show more.