Mike Duncan

This was a fast paced and well written account of the crucial decades leading up to the end of the Roman Republic. To someone who both had studied and has a particular interest in this area of history, most of the content was already quite familiar, but Duncan does a very good job at taking the complex political, social and economic issues from the period and tying them together into a cohesive ‘storyline’. I felt that the underpinning of the entire narrative with the collapse of the mos maiorum and the interweaving of relevant references to digestible excerpts of ancient sources was especially well done. There was unavoidably some simplification of certain events and relationships, and I did feel the treatment of certain elements was a little bit dated, such as the ‘optimates’ and ‘populares’ division. Overall though, a solid telling of some of the most underrated years of Roman Republican history, and an enjoyable read.… (more)