The Roman Empire

A History in 9 Chapters: a new accessible and entertaining history for anyone obsessed with the Roman Empire

By: Jacob F. Field

Narrated by: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart

For over five centuries, the Roman Empire ruled much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It produced some of history's greatest orators and statesmen, as well as some of its most debauched and corrupt tyrants. Shaping world affairs, the Roman Empire advanced economics, trade, archaeology and culture, but did so through conquest, bloodshed and enslavement of its enemies. This was the Roman way: vae victis, 'woe to the conquered'.

In this thrilling new book, acclaimed historian Jacob F. Field tells the entire story of Imperial Rome. Beginning with Julius Caesar first laying the foundations for the Empire right up to the collapse of Rome's power, follow the journey of the Empire's rise to unprecedented heights and learn what caused it to eventually fall. This accessible and entertaining history tells the stories of the greatest triumphs and most catastrophic disasters, the battles that defined the era, and what it was like to live under the Romans. And it explores in vivid detail the men who wielded ultimate power and moulded Rome into one of the world's greatest forces: the infamous emperors.

Fascinating and comprehensive, Vae Victis is the must-have history of Roman Empire in only nine chapters.©2026 Jacob F. Field (P)2026 Headline Publishing Group Limited