Greg Woolf

The collected proceedings from the Ancient Libraries conference held at St Andrews in September 2008. I was there, and without ostentatiously blowing my own horn, my modest contribution is one of the papers contained within. This is, however, a fantastic resource on ancient libraries, with all of the authorities in the field represented. Although academic in content and orientation, the layman who is interested in the subject will find all of them lucid, readable and informative. In fact show more anyone who is interested in the ancient world will find plenty worthwhile and fascinating to read here. show less

I liked the book, but hesitate to like it too much as I can't get behind historians that only recommend recent work. Surely of all the things said about Rome, some of what was written more than 30 years ago is still worth reading. That Gibbon isn't even in the bibliography breaks my heart.

This is an excellent overview of how Rome built and sustained an Empire.

Woolf considers a range of factors in turn - such as geography, climate, culture/religion, the economy, and the institutions they established - and describes how they contributed to the success of the Empire. His comparisons to other empires of similar scale were informative.

The 'further reading' sections at the end of each chapter are particularly helpful for those who want to explore a particular aspect of Roman show more history in more depth.

Partly because of its succinct breadth, the author sometimes favours dry details over the more interesting personalities or happenings. Occasionally a tantalisingly interesting fact is just left hanging, eg:

Signs of the seriousness with which the Senate treated Hannibal's victory at Cannae in 216 included [...] the live burial of a Gallic couple and a Greek couple in the Roman fourm. p. 73.

Why?? This is not footnoted, or explained.

The book devotes far less time to the decline of the Empire, but does consider it in relation to the factors that had driven its establishment. show less

Terrible book. . . repetitive, lacking focus and thesis,

Caesar's murder described, analyzed, sources from Roman historians, versions of Caesar's death becomes grist for writers and historians ever since. Was his murder justified as tyranocide? or were Brutus and the others criminals? No real conclusions, and what's worse, no insight. And pub with the imprimatur of Harvard University Press! Amazing. . . .