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This book explains the growth, durability and eventual shrinkage of Roman imperial power alongside the Roman state's internal power structures.
List of contents
List of illustrations; List of maps; Preface; Timeline; Abbreviations; 1. The long-term evolution of Roman power; 2. The Romans against outsiders, 400 BC to AD 16; 3. The Romans against each other, from republic to monarchy; 4. The Romans against outsiders, AD 16 to 337; 5. The Romans against each other: from empire to nation?; 6. The Romans against outsiders, AD 337 to 641; 7. The Romans against each other in two long crises; 8. Retrospect and some reflections; References; Index.
About the author
W. V. Harris is William R. Shepherd Professor of History at Columbia University, New York. The author of War and Imperialism in Republican Rome (1985), Ancient Literacy (1989), Restraining Rage: The Ideology of Anger Control in Classical Antiquity (2002, winner of the Breasted Prize of the American Historical Association), Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity (2009) and Rome's Imperial Economy (2011), he has also edited books about ancient money, the ancient Mediterranean, and the spread of Christianity, among other subjects. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, among other honours.
Summary
This book offers an ambitious and readable exploration of why the large and unusually durable Roman Empire came into being, what kind of state and people constructed it, how the structure was able to survive for so long, and what eventually went wrong. It will be important for all those interested in the history of empire and power.
