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Ancient Rome

Most Recommended Books

The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme

“This…is an absolute classic which is completely informed by Tacitus. It has that very mordant take on the way that power works and operates.”

Tom Holland, Classicist

Read more

Five Books offers a plethora of interviews on the best books covering Ancient Rome. It can be hard to know where to start learning about the Romans, but there are some highly accessible books that are good and popular introductions to various aspects of the ancient world.  As a general history of Rome, Mary Beard’s SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome is highly readable.

Our interviewees recommend a number of novels set in Ancient Rome as accessible introductions to aspects of the ancient world.  Mary Beard herself recommends the Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.  She feels the book has been unjustly traduced for its famous opening sentence, “It was a dark and stormy night.”  The book, in her view, offers a “fantastic reconstruction of the ancient world”.  Adrienne Mayor recommends Winter Quarters by Alfred Duggan, the book she credits with getting her hooked on ancient history.   Another recently published novel that gets our vote and has been widely recommended is Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Robert Harris.

Tom Holland, in one of the most popular interviews on the site, recommends his best books on Ancient Rome, but his own Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar is a highly readable and racy journey through early Roman imperial history.  Oxford historian Harry Sidebottom on his best books on Ancient Rome recommends the Atlas of the Roman World by Tim Cornell and John Matthews as a book he wished had been published when he first started studying classics.  He describes it as “incredibly accessible, very scholarly, very succinct” and with “beautiful maps and pictures”.  Adrienne Mayor recommends The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss on the Roman slave revolt as a history with a narrative that leaves you “in suspense at the end of each chapter”.

If you’re looking for an introduction to classical literature, Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome: Ancient ideas for modern times is a good place to start. And if you’re looking for an introduction to the Latin language, Harry Mount offers some ideas here, or you could just buy his own introduction, Amo Amas Amat: How to be a Latin Lover.

The Confessions of St Augustine is one of the most recommended books on Five Books.  If you want to understand more about St Augustine, you could start with Augustine of Hippo by Peter Brown, which Robin Lane-Fox in his interview on the best books on Religious and Social History in Ancient Rome describes as “the outstanding biography of the 20th century”.

    The best books on Ancient Rome, recommended by Tom Holland

  • Read
    The best books on Ancient Rome - The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius and translated by Robert Graves.

    1

    The Twelve Caesars
    by Suetonius and translated by Robert Graves.

  • Read
    The best books on Ancient Rome - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

    2

    The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
    by Edward Gibbon

  • Read
    The best books on Ancient Rome - The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme

    3

    The Roman Revolution
    by Ronald Syme

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    The best books on Ancient Rome - The Roman Triumph by Mary Beard

    4

    The Roman Triumph
    by Mary Beard

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    The best books on Ancient Rome - Pagans and Christians by Robin Lane Fox

    5

    Pagans and Christians
    by Robin Lane Fox

The best books on Ancient Rome, recommended by Tom Holland

How accurate is what we think we know about the Romans? Tom Holland, the author of Rubicon, tells us about the exercise of power, the staging of ceremony and the influence of religion in ancient Rome.

    The best books on Ancient Rome, recommended by Harry Sidebottom

  • Read
    The best books on Ancient Rome - Atlas of the Roman World by Tim Cornell and John Matthews

    1

    Atlas of the Roman World
    by Tim Cornell and John Matthews

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    The best books on Ancient Rome - The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme

    2

    The Roman Revolution
    by Ronald Syme

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    The best books on Ancient Rome - Enemies of the Roman Order by Ramsay MacMullen

    3

    Enemies of the Roman Order
    by Ramsay MacMullen

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    The best books on Ancient Rome - The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus by Paul Zanker

    4

    The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus
    by Paul Zanker

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    The best books on Ancient Rome - The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization by Bryan Ward-Perkins

    5

    The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization
    by Bryan Ward-Perkins

The best books on Ancient Rome, recommended by Harry Sidebottom

Oxford historian chooses books on Ancient Rome and counters recent arguments that the fall of the Empire was all about compromise, diplomacy and accommodation. It wasn’t, “it was all rape and murder”. Brace yourself!

    The Best Classics Books for Teenagers, recommended by Olly Murphy

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    The Best Classics Books for Teenagers - The Silence of the Girls: A Novel by Pat Barker

    1

    The Silence of the Girls: A Novel
    by Pat Barker

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    The Best Classics Books for Teenagers - SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

    2

    SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
    by Mary Beard

  • Read
    The Best Classics Books for Teenagers - Dynasty by Tom Holland

    3

    Dynasty
    by Tom Holland

  • Read
    The Best Classics Books for Teenagers - Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Robert Harris

    4

    Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome
    by Robert Harris

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    The Best Classics Books for Teenagers - The Hemlock Cup by Bettany Hughes

    5

    The Hemlock Cup
    by Bettany Hughes

The Best Classics Books for Teenagers, recommended by Olly Murphy

Caesar, Cicero, Achilles, Socrates, Plato: millennia later, we still talk about them. Olly Murphy, classics teacher at Wycombe Abbey, one of England’s top girls’ schools, recommends books and explains why classics remains one of the most exciting subjects for teenagers to study.

    The best books on Learning Latin, recommended by Harry Mount

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    The best books on Learning Latin - Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer by Benjamin Kennedy

    1

    Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer
    by Benjamin Kennedy

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    The best books on Learning Latin - So You Really Want to Learn Latin by NRR Oulton

    2

    So You Really Want to Learn Latin
    by NRR Oulton

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    The best books on Learning Latin - Asterix Gallus by Goscinny and Uderzo

    3

    Asterix Gallus
    by Goscinny and Uderzo

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    The best books on Learning Latin - Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin by Nicholas Ostler

    4

    Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin
    by Nicholas Ostler

  • Read
    The best books on Learning Latin - A Loeb Classical Library Reader

    5

    A Loeb Classical Library Reader

The best books on Learning Latin, recommended by Harry Mount

What books should you read if you want to learn Latin? Harry Mount (and Katie Walker) recommend the best books for learning Latin—the language of a small, central Italian tribe that managed to conquer most of Europe.

    The best books on Ancient History in Modern life, recommended by Mary Beard

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    The best books on Ancient History in Modern life - The Greeks and the Irrational by E R Dodds

    1

    The Greeks and the Irrational
    by E R Dodds

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    The best books on Ancient History in Modern life - The Annals by Tacitus

    2

    The Annals
    by Tacitus

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    The best books on Ancient History in Modern life - The Last Days of Pompeii by E Bulwer Lytton

    3

    The Last Days of Pompeii
    by E Bulwer Lytton

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    The best books on Ancient History in Modern life - Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology by Moses Finley

    4

    Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology
    by Moses Finley

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    The best books on Ancient History in Modern life - Purity and Danger by Mary Douglas

    5

    Purity and Danger
    by Mary Douglas

The best books on Ancient History in Modern life, recommended by Mary Beard

Cambridge classics professor Mary Beard explains how the Ancients are pertinent to modern life. Even the most “formative intellectual cultures” had a seething heart of irrationality underneath the sparkling surface.

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand interviews, or five thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

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