Ancient Rome

With commanding skill, Thomas R. Martin tells the remarkable and dramatic story of how a tiny, poor, and threatened settlement grew to become, during its height, the dominant power in the Mediterranean world for 500 years. Encompassing the period from Rome's founding in the eighth century BC through Justinian's rule in the sixth century AD, he offers a distinctive perspective on the Romans and their civilization by employing fundamental Roman values as a lens through which to view both their rise and spectacular fall.

Interweaving social, political, religious, and cultural history, Martin interprets the successes and failures of the Romans in war, political organization, quest for personal status, and in the integration of religious beliefs and practices with government. He focuses on the central role of social and moral values in determining individual conduct as well as decisions of state, from monarchy to republic to empire. Striving to reconstruct ancient history from the ground up, he includes frequent references to ancient texts and authors, encouraging readers to return to the primary sources.

Comprehensive, concise, and accessible, this masterful account provides a unique window into Rome and its changing fortune.

©2018 Thomas R. Martin (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Narrator?

This guy mispronounces most names we have all heard all of our lives, and a lot of regular words.

Friends, Romans, Countryman!

The information found in this title is wonderful and full of incites. It gives you a nice brief overview of Roman history and culture. However, I thought it was a bot reading for the first 3rd of the book. It was not until I looked it up that I found there is an actual narrator.

Roma para los no iniciados

Es interesante ver la historia del imperio más influyente en la trayectoria humana. Si bien el libro abarca una ambiciosa cronología (desde la fundación de Roma hasta la caída del Imperio del Este) lo hace de manera superficial, tratando de tocar los hechos y fuguras claves del desarrollo del Imperio. Buen libro para iniciarse en el tema.

well put together and easy to follow

not much. It could perhaps have been longer. I loved the in detail discussions

Great book

Just enough detail without getting bogged down in minutiae. Well paced and very insightful. Great