Rome: the Story of an Empire
About This Novel
The concept of "empire" originated in ancient Rome, and even today traces of Roman monuments, documents and institutions can be found in Europe, the Near East and North Africa, and sometimes even further afield. Greg Woolf tells the story of how this vast empire was created, how it sustained itself through crisis, and how it shaped the world of its rulers and subjects, a story that spans 1,500 years of history. The figures and events in Roman history that have become part of the lexicon of Western culture are brilliantly recounted by the author, from the wars with Carthage to Octavian's victory over Cleopatra and the peak of territorial expansion under the emperors Trajan and Hadrian, to the founding of Constantinople and the barbarian invasions that led to Rome's final collapse. The author explores the conditions that made Rome successful and durable, covering topics as diverse as ecology, slavery, and religion. It also compares Rome to other ancient empires and to its many later imitators, vividly demonstrating the empire's most distinctive and enduring characteristics. As Woolf shows, no one planned to create a state that would last some 1,500 years, yet Rome was ultimately able to survive barbarian migrations, economic collapse, and a series of conflicts between world religions that developed within its borders, and in the process the image and myth of a seemingly indestructible empire emerged.
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