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Loading... 69 AD: The Year of Four Emperors (edition 2005)by Gwyn Morgan
Work Information69 A.D.: The Year of Four Emperors by Gwyn Morgan
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Dense reading, but Morgan's scholarship is impressive. This book sheds more light on this very obscure part of history than I would have thought possible.Well written with a surprisingly fast pace given the subject, but still seems to be very thorough. Turns out it was a very momentous time for the western world. ( ) After Nero's suicide in 68 AD, four governours of military provinces succesively made a bid for the Purple, leading to the first major civil war after a century of internal peace during the reign of the Julio-Claudians. This book is a very detailed account and an insightful narrative history of a violent period in Roman history. It draws heavily on Tacitus, but does not neglect other sources, like Suetonius or Flavius Josephus. Anyone with a deeper interest in Roman history will enjoy this book. 69 A.D. is a history of the Roman Empire during the succession crisis that followed the suicide of Emperor Nero. The author composes his history based on an analysis of the various surviving ancient sources, with a particular emphasis on Tacitus. There is substantial discussion of these literary sources in addition to the narrative of the military campaigns of these civil wars and the brief successive reigns of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius. This work is not for those unfamiliar with the period. no reviews | add a review
"The year of four emperors, so the ancient sources assure us, was one of the most chaotic, violent, and frightening periods in all Roman history: a time of assassinations and civil wars, of armies so out of control that they had no qualms about occupying the city of Rome, and of ambitious men who seized power only to lose it, one after another." "In 69 A.D., Gwyn Morgan offers a fresh look at this period, based on two considerations to which insufficient attention has been paid in the past. First, we need to unravel rather than cherry-pick between the conflicting accounts of Tacitus, Plutarch, and Suetonius, our three main sources of information. And second, the role of the armies, as distinct from that of their commanders, has too often been exaggerated. The result is a remarkably accurate and insightful narrative history, filled with colorful portraits of the leading participants and new insights into the nature of the Roman military. Morgan ranges from the suicide of Nero in June 68 to the triumph of Vespasian in December 69." "An account of ancient Rome, 69 A.D. is an original and compelling account of one of the best known but perhaps least understood periods in all Roman history."--Jacket. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)937.05History and Geography Ancient World Italian Peninsula to 476 and adjacent territories to 476 Italian Peninsula to 476 and adjacent territories to 476 Civil strife 146-21 B.C.LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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